Viet Nam to launch economic census from January 5, 2026

The large-scale census aims to collect fundamental information on the current state of production and business units, which will serve as a basis for evaluating and formulating socio-economic development policies for the new period.

These business units include groups, corporations, enterprises, cooperatives, and people's credit funds; non-state public service units; societies and associations; individual business establishments in non-agricultural, forestry, and fishery sectors; cooperative groups; religious and belief establishments; as well as the branches and representative offices of foreign enterprises and non-governmental organizations in Viet Nam.

The census will focus on five main categories of information: (1) identification details, industry of operation, and economic classification of the unit; (2) information on business conditions such as labor, assets, and capital; (3) business and production performance results, including products, revenue, and expenses; (4) the level of application of science and technology, particularly information technology, the digital economy, and e-commerce in the unit's operations; and (5) other in-depth specialized information.

The census will be conducted in two phases:

Phase 1, from January 5, 2026, to March 31, 2026, will gather information from individual business establishments (non-agricultural, forestry, and fishery), cooperative groups, and religious and belief establishments.

Phase 2, from April 1, 2026, to August 31, 2026, will collect data from enterprises, non-state public service units, societies, associations, and the branches and representative offices of foreign enterprises and organizations.

Preliminary results of the census are expected to be announced in January 2027, with the official results to be published in the third quarter of 2027./.