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Updates: 

According to various sources, Côte d'Ivoire is now divided into fourteen districts: Abidjan, Bas-Sassandra, Comoé, Denguélé, Gôh-Djiboua, Lacs, Lagunes, Montagnes, Sassandra-Marahoué, Savanes, Vallée du Bandama, Woroba, Yamoussoukro, and Zanzan. Two of the districts, Abidjan and Yamoussoukro, are metropolitan. The other twelve are subdivided into thirty regions. The regions are Agnéby-Tiassa, Bafing, Bagoué, Bélier, Béré, Bounkani, Cavally, Folon, Gbêkê, Gbôclé, Gontougo, Gôh, Grands Ponts, Guémon, Hambol, Haut-Sassandra, Iffou, Indénié-Djuablin, Kabadougou, La Mé (Massan), Lôh-Djiboua, Marahoué, N'Zi, Nawa, Poro, San Pedro, Sud-Comoé, Tchologo, Tonkpi, and Worodougou. The next level is departments, of which one source says there are 107 and another, 92. I will provide HASC codes later this month.

Sources [7]-[9] say that a change has been made to the subdivisions of Côte d'Ivoire. Apparently, there will be 12 economic districts plus the two autonomous districts of Abidjan and Yamoussoukro on one level. On the next level, there will be 30 regions. Below the regions, there will be 95 departments, and then 497 sub-prefectures. The date of the decision is given as 2011-09-28.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter I-8, published on 2007-04-17, has ISO codes for the new regions of Côte d'Ivoire. They are shown in the table below.

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It assigns new FIPS codes to the current Ivorian regions, superseding the department codes formerly in effect.

Speaking of "Ivorian regions", there is disagreement over the correct gentilic for inhabitants of Côte d'Ivoire. The CIA World Factbook specifies "Ivoirian" under the Nationality heading, but goes ahead and uses "Ivorian" everywhere else. Google returns almost seven times as many hits for Ivorian as Ivoirian. In French, Ivoirien is correct. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary evades the issue by saying "Ivory Coaster".

According to the Presidency of Côte d'Ivoire (source [1]), after 2000-04-26 there were 18 regions and 57 departments. (This is probably an error. There should be 58 departments. Their list omits Soubré, which is given in many other sources.) Their list includes Fromager and Moyen-Cavally regions. The decree forming these regions, dated 2000-04-20, is cited in source [3]. Source [2] confirms those new regions, and shows that Bafing region was split from Worodougou. The decree which created Bafing is cited in source [4].

Note: In the book "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries", I identified the departments as the primary divisions of Côte d'Ivoire. It appears that the regions, as listed below, have become the primary divisions.

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on December 15, 1998. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard). For Côte d'Ivoire, the draft standard showed ten regions, further subdivided into 50 departments. The final standard showed sixteen regions (with no obvious relation to the former ten), and no departments.

Country overview: 

Short name	COTE D'IVOIRE
ISO code	CI
FIPS code	IV
Language	French (fr)
Time zone	+0
Capital	Abidjan, Yamoussoukro

 

Ivory Coast, as it was called by English speakers until recently, was a French colony in 1900. In 1904, it became a territory, as part of French West Africa. On 1932-09-06, Upper Volta (Haute Volta) was partitioned among Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger, but this change was nullified on 1947-09-04. Ivory Coast became independent on 1960-08-07.

Other names of country: 

Côte d'Ivoire requested in 1986 that all languages use the French form of its name.

1. Danish: Elfenbenskysten, republikken Elfenbenskysten (formal)
2. Dutch: Ivoorkust, Republiek Ivoorkust (formal)
3. English: Republic of the Ivory Coast (formal), Ivory Coast (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Norsunluurannikko
5. French: Côte f d'Ivoire m, République f de la Côte d'Ivoire (formal)
6. German: Elfenbeinküste f, Côte d'Ivoire
7. Icelandic: Fílabeinsströndin
8. Italian: Costa f d'Avorio m, Côte d'Ivoire
9. Norwegian: Elfenbenskysten, Republikken Elfenbenskysten (formal) (Bokmål), Elfenbeinskysten, Republikken Elfenbeinskysten (formal) (Nynorsk)
10. Portuguese: Costa do Marfim, República f da Costa f do Marfim m (formal)
11. Russian: БСК (abbr), Берег Слоновой Кости, Республика Кот-д’Ивуар (formal)
12. Spanish: Costa f de Marfil m, República f de la Côte f d'Ivoire (formal)
13. Swedish: Elfenbenskusten
14. Turkish: Fildişi Kıyısı (variant), Fildişi Sahili Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

French for Ivory Coast. Trade in ivory was conducted there.

Primary subdivisions: 

Côte d'Ivoire is divided into nineteen régions.

Region	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Agnéby	CI.AG	16	IV74	525,211	9,234	3,565	Agboville
Bafing	CI.BF	17	IV75	139,251	8,922	3,445	Touba
Bas-Sassandra	CI.BS	09	IV76	1,395,251	26,440	10,209	San-Pédro
Denguélé	CI.DE	10	IV77	222,446	20,997	8,107	Odienné
Dix-Huit Montagnes	CI.DH	06	IV78	936,510	16,782	6,480	Man
Fromager	CI.FR	18	IV79	542,992	6,903	2,665	Gagnoa
Haut-Sassandra	CI.HT	02	IV80	1,071,977	15,242	5,885	Daloa
Lacs	CI.LC	07	IV81	476,235	8,875	3,427	Yamoussoukro
Lagunes	CI.LG	01	IV82	3,733,413	13,323	5,144	Abidjan
Marahoué	CI.MR	12	IV83	554,807	8,698	3,358	Bouaflé
Moyen-Cavally	CI.MV	19	IV84	508,733	14,268	5,509	Guiglo
Moyen-Comoé	CI.MC	05	IV85	394,761	6,921	2,672	Abengourou
N'zi-Comoé	CI.NC	11	IV86	633,927	19,242	7,429	Dimbokro
Savanes	CI.SV	03	IV87	929,673	40,210	15,525	Korhogo
Sud-Bandama	CI.SB	15	IV88	682,021	10,677	4,122	Divo
Sud-Comoé	CI.SC	13	IV89	459,487	7,252	2,800	Aboisso
Vallée du Bandama	CI.VB	04	IV90	1,080,509	28,518	11,011	Bouaké
Worodougou	CI.WR	14	IV91	378,463	22,166	8,558	Séguéla
Zanzan	CI.ZA	08	IV92	701,005	38,251	14,769	Bondoukou
19 regions				15,366,672	322,921	124,680
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO standard 3166-2, issued December 15, 1998. For full identification in a global context, prefix "CI-" to the code (ex: CI-08 represents Zanzan). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 1998-11-21 census (source [6])

Further subdivisions:

See the Departments of Côte d'Ivoire page.

The departments are subdivided into sous-préfectures (sub-prefectures). The number of sub-prefectures was 108 in 1967, 127 in 1972, 162 in 1977, 183 in 1993, 258 in 2004, and 393 in 2008. When departments are split, the division almost always preserves sub-prefectures intact.

Origins of names: 

Several of the regions are named after rivers of Côte d'Ivoire: the Bafing, Bandama, Cavally, Comoé, Marahoué, and Sassandra. Translations below are from French.

1. Abidjan: Supposedly, when the first colonists asked native women the name of the place, the women misunderstood and replied "T'chan m'bi djan": "I've just been cutting leaves".
2. Bas: = Lower
3. Bouaké: Named for Gbouéké, native king, founder of the city.
4. Centre: = Center
5. Dix-Huit Montagnes: = Eighteen Mountains
6. Est: = East
7. Fromager: = Kapok Tree (The basic meaning of "fromager" is "cheesemaker". One Web site explains that cheese boxes were made from the kapok tree; another, that its ripe seedpod smelled like cheese.)
8. Haut: = Upper
9. Lacs: = Lakes
10. Lagunes: = Lagoons
11. Moyen: = Middle
12. Nord: = North
13. Ouest: = West
14. Savanes: = Savannas
15. Sud: = South
16. Vallée du Bandama: = Bandama Valley

Change history: 

1. 1960: At independence, Côte d'Ivoire was divided into 19 cercles, and further into 49 subdivisions de cercle.
2. 1961-01-03: Côte d'Ivoire reorganized into four départements: Centre, Nord, Sud-Est, and Sud-Ouest. These were subdivided into 102 sous-préfectures.
3. 1963-03: Est department created; name of Sud-Est department changed to Sud; name of Sud-Ouest department changed to Ouest.
4. 1963-10: Centre-Ouest department split from Ouest.
5. 1969-06-16: A new subdivision into 24 departments was published. The government had insufficient resources to establish the required administrative machinery immediately, so the departments were implemented one by one, finishing in 1974-09. This list shows the regions, their capitals, population estimates, and the departments that were formed from each region. The department capitals had the same names as their departments. There were also two communes de plein exercise (autonomous municipalities), Abidjan and Bouaké. I consider them to be included in their departments, but some may disagree. Population data come from source [5], which calls the regions "départements", and identifies the 109 sub-prefectures into which they were subdivided.

Region	Capital	Population	Departments
Centre	Bouaké	1,132,000	Bouaflé, Bouaké, Dimbokro, Katiola
Centre Ouest	Daloa	365,000	Daloa, Gagnoa, part of Sassandra
Est	Abengourou	286,000	Abengourou, Bondoukou
Nord	Korhogo	758,000	Boundiali, Ferkessédougou, Korhogo, Odienné, Séguéla, Touba
Ouest	Man	494,000	Biankouma, Danané, Guiglo, Man
Sud	Abidjan	1,075,000	Abidjan, Aboisso, Adzopé, Agboville, Divo, part of Sassandra
6 regions		4,110,000

1. 1983-03-21: President Félix Houphouët-Boigny announced plans to move the national capital from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro. On that date, Yamoussoukro became the political capital, while Abidjan was and is still the administrative capital.
2. 1986-01-01: Côte d'Ivoire declared that the only correct form of its name in any language was the French one. This wish has been honored, for the most part, by those who are aware of it.
3. ~1987: I have found very few references to the ten regions listed below. I found population figures for these regions attributed to the 1988-03-01 census, so we can guess that the regions were created before that date. Most reference works during this period list the departments rather than the regions, suggesting that the regions were less significant. Draft international standard ISO/DIS 3166-2, published in 1996, listed the regions and the departments as separate levels. For the geographical extent of these regions, see the "Old" column in the main table on the Departments of Côte d'Ivoire page.

Region	ISO	Lic	Population	Capital
Centre	01	07	815,664	Yamoussoukro
Centre-Est	02	05	300,407	Abengourou
Centre-Nord	03	04	915,269	Bouaké
Centre-Ouest	04	02	1,542,945	Daloa
Nord	05	03	745,816	Korhoga
Nord-Est	06	08	514,134	Bondoukou
Nord-Ouest	07	10	522,247	Odienné
Ouest	08	06	968,267	Man
Sud	09	01	3,843,249	Abidjan
Sud-Ouest	10	09	647,696	San-Pedro
10 regions			10,815,694
ISO: Codes from ISO/DIS 3166-2. These codes should not be used, as they conflict with the region codes issued in the 1998 update. Lic: License plate suffix. Source: Where's That Vehicle Come From?  Population: 1988-03-01 census.

1. 1997-01-15: Côte d'Ivoire reorganized from ten regions into sixteen regions.
2. 2000-04-20: Fromager region formed from parts of Haut-Sassandra region (Gagnoa department) and Marahoué region (Oumé department); Moyen-Cavally formed by taking Duékoué, Guiglo, and Toulépleu departments from Dix-Huit Montagnes. The former HASC codes for these regions were CI.DM for Dix-Huit Montagnes, CI.HS for Haut-Sassandra, and CI.MA for Marahoué.
3. 2000-07-12: Bafing region formed by taking Touba department from Worodougou (former HASC code CI.WO).
4. 2012-09-26?: Côte d'Ivoire reorganized from nineteen regions into fourteen districts. Twelve of those districts are further subdivided into thirty regions.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Abidjan: Abiyan (Spanish)
2. Agnéby: Agnébi (variant)
3. Bas-Sassandra: Cavally inférieur (variant)
4. Haut-Sassandra: Sassandra supérieur (variant)
5. Moyen-Comoé: Comoé central (variant)

Sources: 

1. [1] http://www.pr.ci/cote_d_ivoire/ci/regions/, on the website of the Presidency of Côte d'Ivoire, now a dead link (retrieved 2002-04-30).
2. [2] http://www.isa-africa.com/ci/mairies.htm was a list of mayors of communes, grouped by department and region. It was found on the Internet & Services - Africa website. This link is also dead (retrieved 2002-04-30).
3. [3] http://www.pr.ci/gouvernement/conseil/cm2000/cm20000420.html, a communiqué of the Council of Ministers dated 2000-04-20, also dead (retrieved about 2002-06).
4. [4] http://www.pr.ci/gouvernement/conseil/cm2000/cm20000712.html, a communiqué of the Council of Ministers dated 2000-07-12, also dead (retrieved about 2002-06).
5. [5] "La Population de la Côte d'Ivoire en 1965", a report of Institut de recherche pour le développement, Bondy, France: Table V, fourth column, contains estimates of the 1965 de facto population by region. Retrieved from http://www.bondy.ird.fr/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_4/sci_hum/19802.pdf about 2002-04.
6. [6] The legend of this map of the Administrative Structure of Côte d'Ivoire  has populations (1998 and 2006), areas, and capitals of the regions. However, the ratio of the 2006 population to the 1998 population is 1.27924 in every case. Obviously they just estimated the 2006 population and scaled all of the region populations by the right factor to produce the desired result. The map credits INS (Institut National de la Statistique) and is dated April 2007. The 1998 populations should be the most reliable, because that was the year of Côte d'Ivoire's last census.
7. [7] People's Daily Online , French edition (Chinese news site, dated 2011-09-29, retrieved 2011-12-03).
8. [8] Official Portal of the Côte d'Ivoire Goverment  (dated 2011-10-11, retrieved 2011-12-03).
9. [9] Council of Ministers  report (dated 2011-09-28, retrieved 2011-12-03).
10. [10] District of Yamoussoukro  website (retrieved 2011-12-03).
11. [11] Liste des nominations des préfets de région et de département  (retrieved 2013-05-08).