Vietnam targets year-end completion of national land database

Vietnam has launched one of its most ambitious digital governance projects to date: the complete overhaul and digitalization of its national land database, covering approximately 106 million land parcels, with a target completion date of December 2026.

The scale of the task is striking. A recent 90-day nationwide campaign to clean and enrich land data has reviewed more than 61 million parcels, of which just over 24 million now meet the government's quality benchmark, defined as "accurate, sufficient, clean and live". Around 38.9 million plots carry incomplete data requiring further verification, while 43.2 million have yet to be incorporated into the system at all. In total, roughly 77.5 % of the country's land parcels still require some degree of data work.

From campaign to transformation

The Vietnamese government has urged ministries and local authorities to accelerate cadastral mapping, land registration and database development, framing the initiative as essential to improving market transparency and advancing the country's broader digital transformation agenda. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, working alongside the Ministry of Public Security, has been tasked with guiding localities through the process, with full integration into the national system required by year-end.

Once complete, the database is intended to support AI-driven analysis of strategic land use objectives and enable digital public services linked to land data, a significant leap for a system that in many areas still relies on manually compiled records and outdated survey technology.

Funding constraints and uneven local progress remain the principal obstacles. In the newly merged Thai Nguyen province alone, a comprehensive cadastral overhaul is estimated to cost nearly VND400 billion (approximately US$16 million), a figure that underscores the scale of investment required to bring Vietnam's land governance fully into the digital age.