Market Research Companies in Vietnam

Key figures for researchers

Population

102.3 million (2025)¹

Rural population

61.4% of the population (2025)¹

Age structure

22.8% aged 0–14, 14.5% aged 60+ (2025)¹

Ho Chi Minh City

more than 14 million people after the July 2025 merger⁸

Hanoi

8.59 million people (2023)⁹

Ethnic groups

Kinh 85.3%, plus 53 ethnic minority groups (2019 census)²

Internet users

87.1% of the population (2025)⁵

Smartphone users

80.3% of the population (2025)⁵

Mobile subscriptions

128 per 100 people (2024)⁶

GDP per capita

about US$5,070 (2025)⁷

Research guide

Research landscape

Most market research agencies are based in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s commercial centre, and in Hanoi, the capital. Local independent agencies work alongside offices of international research networks, and fieldwork in other provinces is often run through regional teams or partners.

Ho Chi Minh City became much larger on 1 July 2025, when Binh Duong and Ba Ria – Vung Tau were merged into it, giving a city of more than 14 million people. The same reform cut the number of provinces from 63 to 34: check that your agency’s regional quotas and sample frames use the new boundaries.

Languages and fieldwork

Vietnamese is the national language under the 2013 Constitution and the fieldwork language for almost all studies. The Kinh majority makes up 85.3% of the population, and the 2019 census counted 53 ethnic minority groups, six of them with more than one million people (Tay, Thai, Muong, Mong, Khmer and Nung). Every ethnic group has the constitutional right to use its own language: studies in the northern mountains, the Central Highlands or among Khmer communities in the Mekong Delta may need interviewers who speak the local language.

A national sample should cover both poles: the North around Hanoi and the Red River Delta (22.5 million people in 2019), and the South around Ho Chi Minh City and the South East, the most urbanised region (62.8% urban in 2019). Consumer habits, tastes and price levels differ between the two, so most national studies set separate quotas for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, then add Da Nang, Can Tho or other provinces. Do not forget rural areas: 61.4% of people lived outside urban areas in 2025.

Which methods work

Connectivity is high: 87.1% of the population used the internet and 80.3% used a smartphone in 2025, and there are more mobile subscriptions than inhabitants. Online surveys and mobile-first questionnaires work well for urban, younger and educated targets, and telephone interviews (CATI) are used for B2B and follow-up studies.

For the general population, including older people, rural households and ethnic minority areas, face-to-face interviews (CAPI) with quotas by region, area type, age and gender remain the reference. Online panels tend to over-represent the two largest cities: ask the agency how the panel is recruited and weighted. Focus groups are usually held in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, and in Da Nang or Can Tho when regional views are needed.

Timing

Tết (Lunar New Year, January–February) is the big fieldwork stop. Employees are entitled to 5 days of Tết holiday under Article 112 of the Labour Code, and in practice the break is longer: nine consecutive days (14–22 February) in 2026, and seven days (4–10 February) approved for the public sector in 2027. Many people travel back to their home provinces, so city samples are disrupted and business respondents are hard to reach for about two weeks around Tết; consumption studies before Tết also differ from the rest of the year.

Plan around the other public holidays: Hung Kings Commemoration Day (10th day of the third lunar month), Reunification Day (30 April) and International Workers’ Day (1 May), which often make a four- or five-day break, and National Day (2 September, two days off), which runs from 2 to 5 September in 2027. Exact dates are set each year by the government.

Data protection

Personal data is governed by the Personal Data Protection Law (Law No. 91/2025/QH15), adopted on 26 June 2025 and in force since 1 January 2026, and by its implementing Decree No. 356/2025/ND-CP, which also applies from 1 January 2026 and replaced Decree No. 13/2023/ND-CP. Consent must be voluntary, informed, specific to each purpose and recorded; silence or no response is not consent, and pre-ticked boxes are not allowed. Publishing data on the private life of a child aged 7 or over requires the consent of both the child and the parent or legal representative.

Sending survey data abroad, or processing it on an overseas platform, counts as a cross-border transfer: the organisation must prepare a transfer impact assessment and file it with the data protection authority of the Ministry of Public Security (A05) within 60 days of the first transfer. Fines can reach 5% of the previous year’s revenue for cross-border transfer violations and VND 3 billion for other violations. Ask your agency who files the impact assessment, how consent is recorded and how the data will be transferred to you.

Working with a local agency

• Share a clear brief: objectives, target, sample size, cities and provinces, method, languages and deadline.
• Ask how the sample is split between the North and the South, and which provinces are covered beyond Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
• Check translations: a native Vietnamese translation, and local-language interviewers for ethnic minority areas where needed.
• Plan the schedule around Tết, 30 April–1 May and 2 September.
• Ask about quality control: back-checks, GPS or audio checks for face-to-face interviews, supervision of CATI calls.
• Agree in writing who handles consent and the cross-border transfer impact assessment under the Personal Data Protection Law.
• Compare several proposals: you can send one request to up to 5 companies from this page.