Regions of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

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.

According to the Presidency of Côte d'Ivoire , 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.) The new regions on their list are Fromager and Moyen-Cavally. Fromager contains the departments of Gagnoa and Oumé; Moyen-Cavally includes Duékoué, Guiglo, and Toulépleu. From the list of departments in each region, it is evident that Fromager was formed from parts of Haut-Sassandra and Marahoué regions, and Moyen-Cavally was split from Dix-Huit Montagnes region. The decree forming these regions, dated 2000-04-20, is cited on this page .

Another source  confirms these deductions, and shows that Bafing region was split from Worodougou. The decree which created Bafing appears on this page .

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 It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard).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: 

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. Spanish: Costa f de Marfil m, República f de la Côte f d'Ivoire (formal)
12. Swedish: Elfenbenskusten

Origin of name: 

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

Primary subdivisions: 

Côte d'Ivoire is divided into nineteen régions.

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, and 183 in 1993. 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. Here are translations of French words in the (old and new) region names.

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: 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.
6. The source for the population data is La Population de la Côte d'Ivoire en 1965 , Table V, fourth column, containing estimates of the 1965 de facto population by region. This report calls the regions "départements", and identifies the 109 sub-prefectures into which they were subdivided.

1. 1983: President Félix Houphouët-Boigny announced plans to move the national capital from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro. At the present date, Abidjan is still the administrative capital, while Yamoussoukro is the capital of state.
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.

1. 1997-01: 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 split 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 split from Worodougou (former HASC code CI.WO).

Other names of subdivisions: 

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