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Updates: 

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number II-1, dated 2010-02-03, has changes to the listing for Guinea-Bissau, but nothing that affects data reported on this site. The main change is adding the prefix GW- explicitly to each province code.

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on December 15, 1998. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard). For Guinea-Bissau, the draft standard showed eight regions and one autonomous sector. Each division had a two-letter code. In the final standard, the same nine divisions and codes were shown, plus a list of three provinces. Each province is formed by a group of regions. The autonomous sector is not in any province. Therefore, an alternative way of dividing Guinea-Bissau is into three provinces and one autonomous sector. Nonetheless, I would still consider the regions and the autonomous sector as the primary divisions of Guinea-Bissau.

Country overview: 

Short name	GUINEA-BISSAU
ISO code	GW
FIPS code	PU
Language	Portuguese (pt)
Time zone	+0
Capital	Bissau

 

The area now known as Guinea-Bissau was a Portuguese colony, Portuguese Guinea, in 1900. It gained its independence on 1973-09-24 and was recognized by Portugal on 1974-09-10.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Guinea-bissau
2. Dutch: Guinee Bissau, Republiek Guinea-Bissau (formal)
3. English: Republic of Guinea-Bissau (formal), Portuguese Guinea (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Guinea-Bissau
5. French: Guinée-Bissau f, Guinée-Bissao
6. German: Guinea-Bissau n
7. Icelandic: Gínea-Bissá
8. Italian: Guinea-Bissau f
9. Norwegian: Guinea-Bissau, Republikken Guinea-Bissau (formal)
10. Portuguese: Guiné-Bissau, República f da Guiné-Bissau f (formal), Guiné Portuguesa (obsolete)
11. Russian: Республика Гвинея-Бисау (formal)
12. Spanish: Guinea-Bissau, República f de Guinea Bissau (formal), Guinea Portuguesa (obsolete)
13. Swedish: Guinea-Bissau
14. Turkish: Gine-Bissau Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

distinguished from Guinea by specifying the capital

Primary subdivisions: 

Guinea-Bissau is divided into eight regiões (sing. região: regions) and one sector autónomo (autonomous sector).

Region	HASC	FIPS	Prov	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Bafatá	GW.BA	PU01	L	210,007	5,981	2,310	Bafatá
Biombo	GW.BM	PU12	N	97,120	839	324	Quinhámel
Bissau	GW.BS	PU11		387,909	77	30	Bissau
Bolama	GW.BL	PU05	S	34,563	2,624	1,014	Bolama
Cacheu	GW.CA	PU06	N	192,508	5,174	1,998	Cacheu
Gabú	GW.GA	PU10	L	215,530	9,150	3,534	Gabú
Oio	GW.OI	PU04	N	224,644	5,404	2,087	Farim
Quinara	GW.QU	PU02	S	63,610	3,138	1,212	Buba
Tombali	GW.TO	PU07	S	94,939	3,736	1,443	Catió
9 divisions				1,520,830	36,123	13,952
Region: except Bissau, which is an autonomous sector. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the region codes from the standard ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Prov: ISO code for the province containing this region (see below). Population: 2009-03-15 census (source [2]).

Postal codes: 

Guinea-Bissau uses four-digit postal codes.

Further subdivisions:

See the Sectors of Guinea-Bissau page.

Above the regions, Guinea-Bissau is divided into three regions and Bissau. The regions, with their ISO codes and capitals, are Leste (L, Gabú), Norte (N, Bissorã), and Sul (S, Buba).

The regions are further subdivided into 37 sectors.

Territorial extent: 

Bolama includes the Bissagos (Bijagos) Archipelago. Some of the larger islands are Orango, Formosa, Roxa, and Caravela.

Origins of names: 

Bissau: from ethnic name Bijagós or Bissagos

Change history: 

1. 1942: Capital of country moved from Bolama to Bissau.
2. 1950: At the time of the 1950 census, Portuguese Guinea was divided into nine circunscrições (circumscriptions; sing. circunscricão) and two concelhos (communes). The communes were Bissau and Bolama. Between then and 1973, Bafatá became a commune, Bissorã circumscription was created, and all the communes became circumscriptions.
3. 1973-09-24: Portuguese Guinea unilaterally declared independence from Portugal. At this time, it was divided into 12 circumscriptions, as shown here.

Circumscription	FIPS	Pop-1970	Pop-1950	Area(km.²)	Capital
Bafatá	PU01	88,000	69,961	6,025	Bafatá
Bijagós	PU02	13,000	9,314	1,478	Bubaque
Bissau	PU03	119,000	47,251	788	Bissau
Bissorã	PU04	21,000		950	Bissorä
Bolama	PU05	7,000	4,895	150	Bolama
Cacheu	PU06	71,000	81,686	2,788	Teixeira Pinto
Catió	PU07	10,000	27,670	2,338	Catió
Farim	PU08	15,000	58,926	3,100	Farim
Fulacunda	PU09	13,000	30,907	4,075	Fulacunda
Gabú	PU10	75,000	57,995	9,013	Nova Lamego
Mansôa	PU11	35,000	101,839	1,450	Mansôa
São Domingos	PU12	21,000	20,333	1,663	São Domingos
12 circumscriptions		487,488	510,777	33,818
FIPS: Codes from Defense Intelligence Agency Manual 65-18A, a precursor to FIPS 10-4. Pop-1970: 1970-12-15 census (rounded). Populations and areas: source [3]. Pop-1950: 1950-06-15 census (source [4]).

1. ~1976: Guinea-Bissau reorganized. Status of divisions changed to regions. Name of Catió changed to Tombali, while the eastern part of Fulacunda was annexed to it. The remainder of Fulacunda was renamed Buba, and its capital moved from Fulacunda to Buba. São Domingos and the western part of Farim annexed to Cacheu. Oio formed by merging Bissorã, Mansôa, and the remainder of Farim. Bijagós merged with Bolama.
2. ~1978: Name of capitals of Cacheu and Gabú regions changed to match the region names.
3. ~1990: Bissau region (PU03) split into Bissau and Biombo; name of Buba region changed to Quinara.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Bolama: Bolama-Bijagós (variant)
2. Quinara: Buba (obsolete)

Population history:

Region	1979-04-30	1991-12-01	2009-03-15
Bafatá	116,032	145,088	210,007
Biombo	56,463	59,827	97,120
Bissau	109,214	195,389	387,909
Bolama	25,743	26,891	34,563
Cacheu	130,227	146,570	192,508
Gabú	104,315	136,101	215,530
Oio	135,114	155,312	224,644
Quinara	35,532	42,966	63,610
Tombali	55,099	71,065	94,939
Total	767,739	979,209	1,520,830

Sources: 

1. [1] The U.N. Statistics Division  website has census data for Guinea-Bissau's 1979, 1991, and 2008-09 censuses (retrieved 2009-09-29). The 1979 census data agree with what I had previously posted here, except that two digits were transposed in the population of Bolama region, resulting in a total that was 270 too low. The 1991 data are generally within 1-2% of those previously posted here, which were acquired from the Europa World Year Book 2001. The 2008 data are identified as provisional. I have since replaced them with final figures.
2. [2] Instituto Nacional de Estatística Guiné-Bissau  (retrieved 2011-03-06).
3. [3] Almanaque Abril 1979, Editora Abril, São Paulo, 1978. Total 1970 population of Guinea-Bissau comes from The Statesman's Year-Book, 1979-80 edition.
4. [4] Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955 (retrieved 2011-08-20).