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Updates: 

I've received what looks like more reliable data for the areas of the regions. They differ from the areas previously posted here by no more than 1 km.² except for Bissau autonomous sector, which is only about a tenth as big as formerly stated.

Projected population by region up to 2004 is now available on the website of the INEC  (Instituto Nacional de Estatística e Censos = National Statistics and Census Institute). I prefer not to rely on estimates for my own tables.

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 It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard).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. Spanish: Guinea-Bissau, República f de Guinea Bissau (formal), Guinea Portuguesa (obsolete)
12. Swedish: Guinea-Bissau

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	Pop-1991	Pop-1979	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Bafatá	GW.BA	PU01	L	143,377	116,032	5,981	2,310	Bafatá
Biombo	GW.BM	PU12	N	60,420	56,463	839	324	Quinhámel
Bissau	GW.BS	PU11		197,610	109,214	77	30	Bissau
Bolama	GW.BL	PU05	S	26,691	25,473	2,624	1,014	Bolama
Cacheu	GW.CA	PU06	N	146,980	130,227	5,174	1,998	Cacheu
Gabú	GW.GA	PU10	L	134,971	104,315	9,150	3,534	Gabú
Oio	GW.OI	PU04	N	156,084	135,114	5,404	2,087	Farim
Quinara	GW.QU	PU02	S	44,793	35,532	3,138	1,212	Buba
Tombali	GW.TO	PU07	S	72,441	55,099	3,736	1,443	Catió
9 divisions				983,367	767,469	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 (Leste=L, Norte=N, Sul=S). Bissau is not in any province. Pop-1991: 1991-12-01 census. Source: Europa World Year Book 2001. Pop-1979: 1979-04-30 census.

Postal codes: 

Guinea-Bissau uses four-digit postal codes.

Further subdivisions:

See the Sectors of Guinea-Bissau page.

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. 1973-09-24: Portuguese Guinea unilaterally declared independence from Portugal. At this time, it was divided into 12 circunscrições (circumscriptions; sing. circunscricão), as shown here. (At an earlier date, Bafatá, Bissau, and Bolama were concelhos (communes).)

Circumscription	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Capital
Bafatá	PU01	88,000	6,025	Bafatá
Bijagós	PU02	13,000	1,478	Bubaque
Bissau	PU03	119,000	788	Bissau
Bissorã	PU04	21,000	950	Bissorä
Bolama	PU05	7,000	150	Bolama
Cacheu	PU06	71,000	2,788	Teixeira Pinto
Catió	PU07	10,000	2,338	Catió
Farim	PU08	15,000	3,100	Farim
Fulacunda	PU09	13,000	4,075	Fulacunda
Gabú	PU10	75,000	9,013	Nova Lamego
Mansôa	PU11	35,000	1,450	Mansôa
São Domingos	PU12	21,000	1,663	São Domingos
12 circumscriptions		488,000	33,818
FIPS: Codes from Defense Intelligence Agency Manual 65-18A, a precursor to FIPS 10-4. Population: 1970 census (rounded). Source for populations and areas: 1979 Almanaque Abril.

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)