District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

District 1 and the other seven districts of Ho Chi Minh City were founded on May 27, 1959. Before 1975, District 1 was divided into 2 different districts and divided by Công Lý Street (it is Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa Street nowadays and it is the borderline of two central wards of the city are Saigon and Bến Thành), the first district on the east side of the street only had four small subsets (wards) which were Bến Nghé, Hòa Bình, Trần Quang Khải (now is known as the northern part of Tân Định) and Tự Đức (later known as Đa Kao of District 1 then now is the southern part of Tân Định; both latter are named after major historical characters), and the second district had seven different wards which were Bến Thành, Huyện Sĩ (later merged into Bến Thành), Bùi Viện (later known as Phạm Ngũ Lão, District 1 and now is part of Bến Thành), Cầu Ông Lãnh, Cầu Kho, Nguyễn Cảnh Chân (later merged into Cầu Kho) and Nguyễn Cư Trinh (all now are part of Cầu Ông Lãnh since July 2025). In May 1976 the first and second districts were combined into District 1. On 1 July 2025, the districts of Ho Chi Minh City were abolished, and District 1 central area which are former Bến Nghé ward with part of Nguyễn Thái Bình and Đa Kao since corresponds to the Saigon ward.

District 1 was subdivided into ten wards, namely Bến Nghé, Bến Thành, Cô Giang, Cầu Kho, Cầu Ông Lãnh, Đa Kao, Nguyễn Thái Bình, Nguyễn Cư Trinh, Phạm Ngũ Lão and Tân Định. Each ward had its own People's Committee, subordinate to the People's Committee of District 1.^[3]

District 1 had a population of 204,899 people over the total of 7,162,864 in Ho Chi Minh City. The total area of the district was 7.7211 km² (2.9811 sq mi). The district's density was 26,538 inhabitants per square kilometre (68,730/sq mi), very high compared to Ho Chi Minh City (3,419/km² (8,860/sq mi)) and Vietnam (259/km² (670/sq mi)) respectively.

District 1 was located towards the center of Ho Chi Minh City.^[2]

When Saigon was governed by South Vietnam, Air Vietnam's head office was located in District 1.^[4]

District 1 is considered the financial center of Saigon and Vietnam. It is home to the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, State Bank of Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City branch), and Vietnamese headquarters of international banks such as HSBC, ANZ (sold retail business in Vietnam to Shinhan, currently located at Thủ Thiêm), United Overseas Bank, Standard Chartered, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of China, and Maybank. District 1 also known as the best spot for shopping in Vietnam, with a high concentration of shopping centres and luxury brands.

District 1 was effectively shutdown for tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, causing many restaurants, bars, clubs, and hotels, to suffer major financial distress.^[5]

Many of the best public schools in the city are located in District 1. Vietnam's system of private schools is relatively new and is still in the developing stage.^{[citation needed]}

Mostly grade A office towers of the city are located in District 1.