Recognizing the socio-economic and biophysical causes of land degradation at the national level is important for cause-targeted strategies when designingin the designing of policies for combating land degradation. This study aims to identify the biophysical and socio-economic factors that exert significantly effects onaffect land degradation across Vietnam and to interpret the causalities underlying the effects. The dependent variables considered in the study are spatial, the extent and intensity of both degradation extent and degradation intensity in three different land-use zones (agriculture, forest and severely degraded abandonment). The hypothesized explanatory variables are not only common economic and demographic drivers, andbut also bio-physical factors such as soil, terrain constraints, and neighborhood land-use structures that are often neglected in many large-scale land degradation assessments. Instead of using a single inferential statistic technique, we used multi-linear regression and binary logistic regression in a complementary manner to increase the detect ability and credibility of the degradation cause analyses. The results showed strong and consistent effects of agricultural production growth had strong and consistent effects on land degradation extent and intensity. Population growth, especially in rural areas, had a strong effect on the extent of overall land degradation extent. The importance of a neighboring forest was revealed for its ability to reduce land degradation intensity in abandoned, unproductive lands. The concrete faceting of the causal analysis for each land-use zone as social-ecological stratum allowed us to combine the defined social-ecological contexts, contemporary theories, and hypotheses in the field to clarify the causal factors of a complex phenomenon like land degradation. The study served as an exemplary case that demonstrates these contemporary inferential statistics can be complementarily used to sufficiently detect and the above-mentioned methodological innovations in the comprehensive understand assessment of land degradation causes at the national level. The results rationally suggests implications for national land management policy: internalizing land degradation costs in the farming system evaluation for payment for ecosystem services policy, restricting forest conversion, and improving extension services and education in agrarian communities.