The study was conducted to identify the malnutrition and the mental and motor development status of children from 1 to 3 year old at one rural commune and one urban commune in Hai Duong province. Methodology: cross-sectional study was carried out from Oct. to Dec. of 2009 with involvement of 492 couples of mother and 1 to 3 year old child Results: The percentage of kindergarten attendant of children from rural commune is higher than that of children from urban commune (p0.001). Rural children almost owned the simple toys but urban children almost owned model and expensive toys (p0.001). The prevalence of underweight and stunting of children from rural commune is higher than that of children from urban commune, respectively 19.6 percent and 10.6 percent (p 0.05) for underweight
29.8 percent and 12.3 percent (p 0.001) for stunting. Prevalence of retardation of mental and motor development status of children from 1 to 3 year old in rural commune is higher than that in urban commune in Fine motor- Adaptive area (p0.05) and Gross-motor area (p0.01). The prevalence of retardation of mental and motor development status of children from 1 to 3 year old of Personal - Social (getting along with people and caring for personal needs) is highest, and following by Language (hearing, understanding and using language). Conclusion: Prevalence of underweight and stunting of children from rural commune is significantly higher than that of children from urban commune. The prevalence of retardation of mental and motor development status of children from rural commune is higher than that of children from urban commune in Fine motor- Adaptive and Gross motor areas.