The Muong have a population of more than 914,6000 living in the northern provinces. The largest part is concentrating in Hoa Binh province and the mountain districts of Thanh Hoa province. The Muong are also called Mol, Mual, Moi, Moi Bi, Au ta and Ao ta. The Muong language belongs to the Viet-Muong Group. The Muong practise polytheism and ancestor-worship.

The Muong lead a sedentary life in mountain areas where arable land is available, near the roads and very convenient for production. The Muong have practised farming since time immemorial. Wet rice is their staple food. In the past, they preferred sticky rice to ordinary rice. Aditional family occupations include exploiting forest products including mushrooms, jew's ears, amomum, sticklac, cinnamon, honey, timber, bamboo and rattan. Handicrafts are popular such as weaving, basketry and silk spinning. Muong women are very skillful in loom weaving.

Muong men dress in indigo pyjamas. Women wear white a rectangular scarf, bra, short vest open at the front (or at the shoulders) with no buttons and a long skirt. The skirt is enhanced with a very large silk belt embroidered with various motifs such as flowers, figures, dragons, phoenixes, deer and birds.

In former days, the lang dao system characterised Muong social form. The lang dao families, including the Dinh, the Quach, the Bach and the Ha continuosly ruled the Muong regions. Several villages form a muong. A head of a muong was a lang cun, under lang cun were lang xom or dao xom who ruled a hamlet (xom).

The Muong custom of marriage is manifested in the same way as the Kinh, including plighting ceremony, betrothal ceremony, wedding approval and fetching the bride from her parents. When a woman is giving birth to her child, her family surrounds the main ladder with a bamboo fence. The child will be given a true name when it is one year old. The Muong hold funerals with strict rituals.

The Muong hold many ceremonies all the year round such a going to the fields (khuong mua), praying for rain (in the fourth lunar month), washing rice leaves (in the seventh and eighth lunar months) and the new rice ritual.

Muong popular literature and arts are rich including long poems, mo (ceremonial songs), folksongs, dialogue duets, proverbs, lullabies and children's songs. Gongs are a peculiar musical instrument of the Muong, apart from this, there are two-stringed violin, flutes, drums and pan-pipes. The Muong from Vinh Phu province use bamboo pipes to tap on the wooden floor to make lyrical sounds. This is called dam duong.