Under Decision No. 2837/QD-BTC, issued by the Ministry of Finance on August 18, the 2026 National Economic Census across Vietnam will be conducted from January 5, 2026.

This large-scale census aims to gather 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.

The census will be conducted nationwide to collect information on all economic establishments. This includes 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 Vietnam.

The census will focus on collecting five main groups 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 information collection period will be divided into two phases in 2026.

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.