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Updates: 

Guatemala announced on 2006-04-19 that it would be going on daylight saving time from April 29 to September 30 that year. The experiment was abandoned the following year.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. For Guatemala, the only change is in the spelling of Quetzaltenango. The spelling was changed from Quezaltenango to Quetzaltenango in about 1988. ISO has now caught up with this change.

Country overview: 

Short name	GUATEMALA
ISO code	GT
FIPS code	GT
Language	Spanish (es)
Time zone	-6
Capital	Guatemala City

 

Guatemala has been an independent country for the whole of the 20th century. It has also asserted a claim to possession of Belize (formerly called British Honduras) during the entire period.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Guatemala
2. Dutch: Guatemala, Republiek Guatemala (formal)
3. English: Republic of Guatemala (formal)
4. Finnish: Guatemala
5. French: Guatemala m
6. German: Guatemala n
7. Icelandic: Gvatemala
8. Italian: Guatemala m
9. Norwegian: Guatemala, Republikken Guatemala (formal)
10. Portuguese: Guatemala f, República f da Guatemala f (formal)
11. Russian: Республика Гватемала (formal)
12. Spanish: Guatemala, República f de Guatemala (formal)
13. Swedish: Guatemala
14. Turkish: Guatemala Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Theory 1: Aztec quauhtemallan: rotten tree; theory 2: Mayan guhatezmalha: mountain of vomiting water

Primary subdivisions: 

Guatemala is divided into 22 departamentos (departments).

Department	HASC	FIPS	CP	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Alta Verapaz	GT.AV	GT01	16	776,246	8,686	3,354	Cobán
Baja Verapaz	GT.BV	GT02	15	215,915	3,124	1,206	Salamá
Chimaltenango	GT.CM	GT03	04	446,133	1,979	764	Chimaltenango
Chiquimula	GT.CQ	GT04	20	302,485	2,376	917	Chiquimula
El Progreso	GT.PR	GT05	02	139,490	1,922	742	Guastatoya
Escuintla	GT.ES	GT06	05	538,746	4,384	1,693	Escuintla
Guatemala	GT.GU	GT07	01	2,541,581	2,126	821	Guatemala City
Huehuetenango	GT.HU	GT08	13	846,544	7,400	2,857	Huehuetenango
Izabal	GT.IZ	GT09	18	314,306	9,038	3,490	Puerto Barrios
Jalapa	GT.JA	GT10	21	242,926	2,063	797	Jalapa
Jutiapa	GT.JU	GT11	22	389,085	3,219	1,243	Jutiapa
Petén	GT.PE	GT12	17	366,735	35,854	13,843	Flores
Quetzaltenango	GT.QZ	GT13	09	624,716	1,951	753	Quetzaltenango
Quiché	GT.QC	GT14	14	655,510	8,378	3,235	Santa Cruz del Quiché
Retalhuleu	GT.RE	GT15	11	241,411	1,856	717	Retalhuleu
Sacatepéquez	GT.SA	GT16	03	248,019	465	180	Antigua Guatemala
San Marcos	GT.SM	GT17	12	794,951	3,791	1,464	San Marcos
Santa Rosa	GT.SR	GT18	06	301,370	2,955	1,141	Cuilapa
Sololá	GT.SO	GT19	07	307,661	1,061	410	Sololá
Suchitepéquez	GT.SU	GT20	10	403,945	2,510	969	Mazatenango
Totonicapán	GT.TO	GT21	08	339,254	1,061	410	Totonicapán
Zacapa	GT.ZA	GT22	19	200,167	2,690	1,039	Zacapa
22 departments				11,237,196	108,889	42,045
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the state codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. CP: First two digits of postal code. Population: 2002-11-24 census (source [1]).

Postal codes: 

Guatemala uses five-digit códigos postales (postal codes). The first two digits represent the department. The third digit appears to be 0 in every case. The full five digits usually represent a municipality.

Further subdivisions:

See the Municipalities of Guatemala page.

The departments are further subdivided into municipios (municipalities).

Origins of names: 

1. El Progreso: Spanish for progress.
2. Guatemala: same as the country name.
3. Huehuetenango: Nahuatl for city of the ancients.

Change history: 

1. 1908: El Progreso formed from parts of Baja Verapaz, Jalapa, Zacapa, and Guatemala.
2. ~1948: Amatitlán merged with Guatemala.
3. ~1988: Name of Quezaltenango department changed to Quetzaltenango (perhaps to make the spelling more phonetic).
4. ~1991: Name of capital of El Progreso department changed from El Progreso to Guastatoya, restoring it to its name from before 1920.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Petén: El Petén (variant)
2. Quetzaltenango: Quezaltenango (obsolete)
3. Quiché: El Quiché (variant)

Population history:

Department	1898	1940	1950-04-18	1964-04-18	1973-03-26	1983	1994-04-17	2002-11-24
Alta Verapaz	110,936	282,562	189,812	259,873	279,880	386,636	543,777	776,246
Amatitlán	35,954
Baja Verapaz	50,874	96,182	66,313	95,663	106,440	155,083	155,480	215,915
Chimaltenango	61,013	177,123	121,480	163,753	197,780	272,685	314,813	446,133
Chiquimula	66,823	144,011	112,841	151,214	161,980	272,685	230,767	302,485
El Progreso		65,302	47,872	66,734	72,840	102,832	108,400	139,490
Escuintla	31,302	176,280	123,759	269,813	275,600	518,525	386,534	538,746
Guatemala	143,581	319,197	438,913	813,696	1,114,120	1,870,277	1,813,825	2,541,581
Huehuetenango	136,114	176,480	200,101	286,965	384,400	539,971	634,374	846,544
Izabal	5,067	83,153	55,032	114,404	169,960	303,123	253,153	314,306
Jalapa	35,954	124,855	75,190	97,996	119,960	165,763	196,940	242,926
Jutiapa	50,058	200,416	138,925	199,053	234,580	335,408	307,491	389,085
Petén	8,604	11,475	15,880	26,720	67,020	107,691	224,884	366,735
Quetzaltenango	107,324	233,655	184,213	268,962	308,880	457,498	503,857	624,716
Quiché	90,300	158,662	174,911	247,775	303,880	440,157	437,669	655,510
Retalhuleu	25,009	69,974	66,861	122,829	124,580	213,673	188,764	241,411
Sacatepéquez	41,375	83,024	60,124	80,479	99,160	141,336	180,647	248,019
San Marcos	93,181	204,208	232,591	332,303	391,360	564,595	645,418	794,951
Santa Rosa	38,950	169,774	109,836	155,488	179,540	254,275	246,698	301,370
Sololá	85,591	86,625	82,921	108,815	128,120	176,192	222,094	307,661
Suchitepéquez	36,849	182,162	124,403	186,299	238,000	312,340	307,187	403,945
Totonicapán	160,942	92,292	99,354	139,636	168,700	240,340	272,094	339,254
Zacapa	44,216	145,797	69,536	97,976	105,100	151,341	157,008	200,167
Totals	1,460,017	3,283,209	2,790,868	4,286,446	5,231,880	7,982,426	8,331,874	11,237,196

Sources: 

1. [1] XI Censo Nacional de Población y VI de Habitación  (retrieved 2010-05-31).
2. [2] Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955 (retrieved 2011-08-20).