Phạm Văn Đổng was born October 25, 1919, in Quốc Oai district, Sơn Tây, Tonkin (now North Vietnam), when Vietnam was still part of French Indochina. He grew up in his father's village of Xuân Đỗ, Gia Lâm district (then part of Bắc Ninh Province) and went to school in Hà Nội where he earned the "Thành Chung" (Diplôme d'Etudes Primaires Superieures Indochinoises (DEPSI)) upon his graduation from Đỗ Hữu Vị School.
