Ha Nam, 50km far from Hanoi, is in the southern gate of the capital; it borders Ha Tay in the north, Hung Yen and Thai Binh in the east, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh in the south and Hoa Binh in the west. With this geographical position, the province has a lot of favourable conditions in socio-economic development. Ha Nam has 6 town and district administrative bodies: the town of Phu Ly (the capital of the province), the districts of Duy Tien, Kim Bang, Ly Nhan, Thanh Liem and Binh Luc.

The province is located on the important north-south road with the national highway No. 1 and the north-south railway running thought the province for nearly 50km, and other important roads such as national highways No. 21, No. 21B and No. 38. More than 4,000 km of roads, including national highways, provincial roads and roads connecting districts, communes and towns, have been asphalted or concreted, more than 200 km of waterway have become convenient with 42 consolidated bridges and there are thousands of kilometres of rural roads, all of which have made a convenient traffic network, creating favourable conditions for traffic and goods delivery. It is convenient and fast to go from Phu Ly town to provinces in the Red river delta.

The strategic and important location together with waterway, highways and railway has provided Ha Nam with advantages in economic, cultural, social and technological exchanging with other provinces in the region and in the whole country, especially with the capital of Hanoi and the north’s main region of economic development.

Land resources and diversified terrain are important motivation sources for the province's economic development. Ha Nam has the area of 850 square km in the low land of the Red river delta and borders mountainous areas of Hoa Binh and the north-west area. The west of the province is the area of limestone mountains, mountains and hills with forests. The land in this area is very suitable with different kinds of trees in forestry and industry and orchards. The eastern delta of the province is created by alluvial soil from Day, Chau and Red Rivers. The fertility of the land is very suitable with the cultivation of rice, vegetables and other food. The alluvial deposits are especially suitable with short-term industrial trees such as sugar canes, mulberry, peanuts, soya beans and fruit trees. Besides, this is also the area which is convenient for aquaculture and poultry raising.

There is a large reserve of limestone, the major mineral in Ha Nam, which is of more than 7 billion cubic metres. This is the important material to develop industries of producing cements, lime and powder as construction materials. Most of the mineral reserves are located near roads, which is very convenient for exploitation, delivery and processing. But Son cement is used in almost every big construction work in the country. With the potentiality in minerals, Ha Nam, in the future, will become one of the big centres for construction material manufacture in the northern plain.

Since the re-establishment of the province in 1997, Ha Nam has made considerable progresses and important achievements in socio-economy. The province's GDP increases by 11.1% yearly, faster than the growth rate of the whole country and some other provinces in the region. There is an increase of 6.1% a year in the total products of agriculture, forestry and aquaculture, of 14.3% a year in industry and construction and of 7.3% a year in services.  The changes in structures of crops, plants, domestic animals, seeds and breeds, trees for exportation, the production of seed rice and many other  models of good production and business such as the production in low land, the model of farming and the model with gardens and hills… have been making agricultural economy shift into goods production.

There is a positive change in economic structures with higher proportion of industry and services. The proportion of industry and construction rose from 18.6% in 1994 to 34.6% in 2003; services went up from 31.6% in 1996 to 31.8% in 2003; agriculture, forestry and aquaculture decreased from 49.6% in 1996 to 33.7% in 2003. The changes with the diversification of production and business have made economic activities in each sector more exciting, especially the household economy in industry, small-scale industry, commerce and services.

The structures of economic sectors in the province have had considerable changes. The proportion of the state economic sector increased from 17.56% (between 1991 and 1996) to 30.29% in 2003.

Ha Nam has made planning for 5 industrial zones with the total area of nearly 800 hectors in suitable positions for traffic. The construction of infrastructure for 3 industrial zones is being completed. The province also has preferential policies to attract investors in the country and from abroad.

Its geographic position, the diversification in land and terrain, the suitable weather condition, the plentiful well educated human resource with the ability to learn and apply new scientific and technological progresses and the developed socio-economic infrastructure are positive factors to develop a modern industry, advanced and diversified agriculture in husbandry, planting, forestry and aquaculture. The great potentiality of economic development with logical investment, exploitation and utilization will boost up the province's future socio-economic development.