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The database provided here forms the basis of a study which is published in the journal World Development (year 2020) under the title ' Vietnam’s forest cover changes 2005-2016: veering from transition to (yet more) transaction?'. The database contains two hundred province-level data variables provided by government agencies. The database includes potentially relevant indicators of the Vietnamese provinces’ terrain and geography (G variables), forestland and tree plantation cover/changes (F), population density/changes and ethnic composition (P), labor and poverty (L), development of infrastructure (S) and hydro-electric capacities (H), agricultural cultivations/changes and productivity (A), industrial wood processing capacities (W), illicit logging (C), forestland tenure/contracts (T), payments for forest ecosystem service (PFES) funding/coverage (E), as well as various indices of governance, institutional and public administration, and socio-economic performance (I). Each variable contains 63 data (i.e. 63 Vietnamese provinces) and is described in detail in the file, including data type and summary statistics. The variables were mostly accessible directly from government sources, or indirectly from NGOs or via international publications (the sources are indicated in the file).

The sources of the data variables are indicated within the data file; these original sources may be directly cited when using the data file.