Regions of Kyrgyzstan

Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

Roger Sperberg points out that Bishkek city has a FIPS code. I've added it to the table.

A press release (now a dead link), if I understood it correctly, said that Kyrgyzstan would not "fall back" from daylight saving time in October 2005, but would remain on UTC+6 all year round.

Serhii Tymofiiev wrote me (in 2004-11) that Tokmok had become the new capital of Chüy region. The news item announcing that the change had taken place was dated 2003-08-05. The inaugural ceremony was held on 2003-08-23.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-4, dated 2002-12-10, adds two divisions to the list for Kyrgyzstan. One is Batken region, which had already been reported on this page. The other is Bishkek city.

Change Notice 7 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2002-01-10. It lists new codes resulting from the splitting of Osh region. The new codes are shown in the table below.

Erratum: In "Administrative Divisions of Countries", page 211, some of the ISO codes for the regions of Kyrgyzstan were incorrect or misplaced. The correct codes appear in this table.

In 1999, three districts of Osh region were split off to form Batken region. This was apparently done to allow the government to respond more effectively to traffic in narcotics and armed incursions in this remote, mountainous area, which contains seven exclaves of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Country overview: 

Under the Russian Empire, Kyrgyzstan was in the eastern part of the governor-generalship of Turkestan. During the Russian Revolution, the status of the Central Asian lands was unresolved for a time. The Turkestan A.S.S.R. was formed in 1921. In 1924, the Central Asian part of the Soviet Union was reorganized to correspond to the distribution of nationalities. The Kara-Kirghizskaya Autonomous Oblast was created then, on 1924-10-14. In subsequent changes, it became the Kirghizskaya Associated Soviet Socialist Republic on 1926-02-01; the Kirghizskaya Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the fifteen constituent republics of the U.S.S.R., on 1936-12-05; and finally, Kyrgyzstan, an independent country, on 1991-08-31, with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Kirgisistan, Kirgizistan, Den Kirgisiske Republik (formal)
2. Dutch: Kirgiezië, Kirgizië, Kirgizische Republiek (formal)
3. English: Republic of Kyrgyzstan (formal)
4. Finnish: Kirgisia
5. French: Kirghizie, Kirguizie, Kirguizistan, Kirghizistan, Kirghizstan m
6. German: Kirgisistan n
7. Icelandic: Kirgisistan
8. Italian: Kirghizistan m
9. Kirghiz: Kyrgyz Respublikasy (formal)
10. Norwegian: Kirgisistan, Republikken Kirgisistan (formal)
11. Portuguese: Quirguistão m, Quirguizistão m, Quirguízia f, República f Quirguize (formal)
12. Spanish: Kirguistán, Kirguizistán m
13. Swedish: Kirgizistan

Origin of name: 

land of the Kirghiz, ethnic name from Turkish kir: steppe, gis: nomad

Primary subdivisions: 

Kyrgyzstan is divided into seven oblasty (regions) and one shaar (city).

Note: other sections of the 1999 census reports give a total population of 4,850,700 or 4,850,800 for Kyrgyzstan.

Postal codes: 

Kyrgyzstan appears still to be using Soviet-era postal codes, six-digit numbers always beginning with '7'.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Kyrgyzstan page.

The regions are divided into rayony (districts). There were a total of 43 districts in 1994-08.

Territorial extent: 

Kyrgyzstan possesses an enclave in Uzbekistan, situated between Fergana and Margilan, and containing the village of Barak.

Origins of names: 

1. Batken: land of bat (a plant which gives off a poisonous vapor).
2. Bishkek: Kirghiz for "whisk used to stir kumiss". Said  to have been chosen because it was the closest Kirghiz word to the historical name Pishpek.
3. Ysyk-Köl: from Lake Ysyk-Köl, from Kirghiz ysyk: hot, köl: lake.

Change history: 

1. 1921-04-11: Turkestan A.S.S.R. formed from Amu-Darya, Ferghana, Pamir, Samarkand, Semirechensk, and Syr Darya regions, and the southern part of Transcaspian.
2. 1924-10-14: Kara-Kirghizskaya autonomous region, consisting of parts of Ferghana, Semirechensk, and Syr Darya, separated from Turkestan and became part of the Russian S.F.S.R.
3. 1926: Name of capital of region changed from Pishpek to Frunze in honor of Mikhail Frunze (1885-1925).
4. 1926-02-01: Status and name of Kara-Kirghizia changed to Kirghizskaya A.S.S.R.
5. 1936-12-05: Status of Kirghizia changed to S.S.R.
6. 1950: The regions of the Kirghizskaya Sovyetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika were Dzhalal-Abad, Frunze (modern Chüy), Issyk-Kul', Osh, Talas, and Tien-Shan (modern Naryn). The borders were similar to the modern ones, differing only in sparsely inhabited regions.
7. ~1953: Talas region merged with Frunze.
8. ~1959: Dzhalal-Abad region merged with Osh; Frunze and Issyk-Kul' merged with Tien-Shan.
9. ~1969: Frunze region, consisting approximately of modern Chüy, Talas, and Ysyk-Köl, split from Tien-Shan.
10. ~1973: Tien-Shan region split into Naryn and Issyk-Kul'.
11. ~1981: Talas region split from Frunze.
12. ~1990: Dzhalal-Abad region formed from parts of Osh and Talas.
13. 1991-02: Capital of Kyrgyzstan, and of Chüy region, renamed from Frunze to Bishkek.
14. 1991-08-31: Kirghizstan became an independent country. Westerners began to use the Kirghiz, rather than the Russian, version of place names (e.g., Kyrgyzstan). At this time Kyrgyzstan was divided into these six regions:

1. 1999-10-12: Batken region split from Osh.
2. ~2000: Bishkek city split from Chüy region.
3. 2003-08-05: Capital of Chüy region moved from Bishkek to Tokmok.

Other names of subdivisions: 

Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, western sources normally used transliterations from Russian names rather than Kirghiz names. There are various methods for transliterating from the Cyrillic to the Roman alphabet. The most common variant uses h instead of kh, c for ts, j for consonantal y, č for ch, š for sh, and ž for zh.

1. Chüy: Chu, Chui, Čüj (variant); Frunze (obsolete)
2. Jalal-Abad: Djalal-Abad, Dzhalal-Abadskaya Oblast' (Russian); Žalal-Abad (Kirghiz)
3. Naryn: Tien-Shanskaya Oblast', Tyan'-Shan' (Russian)
4. Ysyk-Köl: Issyk-Kul, Issyk-Kul'skaya Oblast' (Russian)

Population history:

Source: Census report  of the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic. These figures were apparently adjusted to represent the present-day areas of the regions, rather than the regions as of the census dates.