Nong Duc Manh was born on September 11, 1940. Native place: Cuong Loi village, Na Ri District, Bac Can Province. Ethnic group: Tay. He joined the revolution in 1958 and the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) on July 5, 1963.

-          1958 - 1961: Student at Agriculture - Forestry College, Hanoi

-          1962 - 1963: Forestry worker, forest survey technician at the Bac Can Forestry Service and later the Deputy Chief of the Bach Thong Wood-exploiting Team.

-          1966 - 1971: Student at the Forestry Institute, Leningrad, the Soviet Union

-          1972 - 1973: Deputy Head of the Inspection Board of Bac Thai province's Forestry Service.

-          1973 - 1974: Director of the Phu Luong State-owned Forest Farm in Bac Thai province

-          1974 - 1976: Student at the High-Level Nguyen Ai Quoc Party School.

-          1976 - 1980: Member of Bac Thai province's Party Executive Committee, Deputy Director of the Forestry Service and Director of the Forestry Construction Company of Bac Thai, and then Director of the Forestry Service.

-          1980 - 1983: Deputy Chairman of Bac Thai province's People's Committee.

-          1984 - October 1986: Deputy Secretary of Bac Thai province's Party Committee, and Chairman of the provincial People's Committee.

-          November 1986 - February 1989: Secretary of Bac Thai province's Party Executive Committee.
At the 6th tenure of the 6^th Party National Congress, he was elected an alternative member of the Party Central Committee

-          March 1989: Full member of the Party Central Committee.

-          August 1989: Chairman of the Committee on Nationalities under the CPV Central Committee.

-          November 1989: he was elected in a supplement election as deputy to the National Assembly, Eighth Legislature, and elected deputy chairman of the National Assembly's Council of Nationalities.

-          June 1991: At the 7^th National Party Congress, he was elected member of the Central Committee of the CPV and member of the Politburo by the CPV Central Committee. 

-          September 1997: Chairman of the National Assembly, 10th Legislature; assigned to serve as permanent member of the CPV Central Committee's Politburo 

-         April 2001: At the 9^th National Party Congress, he was elected member of the Central Committee of the CPV and General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee.