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Updates: 

Newsletter II-2, an update to the ISO 3166-2 standard, is dated 2010-06-30. It changes the names of the autonomous islands in languages other than English and French.

ISO 3166-1 Newsletter Number V-7, dated 2003-01-14, shows the change of the official name of the Comoros from Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros to Union of the Comoros. The change was reported on this page on 2002-05-22.

On 2001-12-23, a referendum was held on a new constitution, which passed by a majority of almost 77%. The constitution provides that the country's name will be Union des Comores, and it comprises the autonomous islands of Anjouan, Grande Comore, Mayotte, and Mohéli. Mayotte is in fact a territorial collectivity of France, and has been since 1976. Before that it had been part of the Comoro Islands protectorate. The new Comoros constitution would allow Mayotte to rejoin the country on an equal basis with the other three islands. Paraskevas Renesis reports that Anjouan and Mohéli adopted their fundamental laws (constitutions) on 2002-03-10, and Grande Comore followed suit on 2002-04-07. Their status has therefore changed from governorates to autonomous islands.

I have recently acquired newer population figures for the divisions of the Comoros.

Country overview: 

Short name	COMOROS
ISO code	KM
FIPS code	CN
Language	Comoran
Time zone	+3
Capital	Moroni

 

These islands, along with Mayotte, were a French protectorate at the start of the 20th century. On 1912-07-25, they became French colonies. They gained full independence on 1975-07-06, leaving Mayotte behind as a French possession (by a local vote).

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Comorerne, Den Islamiske Forbundsrepublik Comorerne
2. Dutch: Kamaran, Comoren, Unie der Comoren (formal)
3. English: Union of the Comoros (formal)
4. Finnish: Komorit
5. French: Comores fp, Union f des Comores (formal)
6. German: Komoren f
7. Icelandic: Kómoreyjar
8. Italian: Comore fp
9. Norwegian: Komorene, Den islamske forbundsrepublikk Komorene (formal) (Bokmål), Komorane, Den islamske sambandsrepublikken Komorane (formal) (Nynorsk)
10. Portuguese: Comores, Comoros, União f das Comores fp (formal)
11. Russian: Коморы, Союз Коморских Островов (formal)
12. Spanish: Comoras fp, Unión f de las Comoras fp (formal)
13. Swedish: Comorerna, Komorerna
14. Turkish: Komoros

Origin of name: 

Arabic qamar: moon

Primary subdivisions: 

Comoros is divided into three autonomous islands.

Autonomous Island	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Anjouan	KM.AN	A	CN01	259,099	424	164	Mutsamudu
Grande Comore	KM.GC	G	CN02	295,665	1,148	443	Moroni
Mohéli	KM.MO	M	CN03	35,387	290	112	Fomboni
3 islands				590,151	1,862	719
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 2003-09 census (provisional results).

Territorial extent: 

The territory of each autonomous island includes one major island of the Comoro Archipelago and the islets in its immediate vicinity.

The UN LOCODE page  for Comoros lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Change history: 

1. 1975-07-06: Mayotte separated from Comoros when the latter became independent.
2. 2002-04-07: Status of subdivisions changed from governorates to autonomous islands.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Anjouan: Andjouan (Arabic); Johanna (obsolete); Ndzouani, Ndzuwani (Komori); Nzwani (Comoran)
2. Grande Comore: Andjazidja (Arabic); Ngazidja (Komori)
3. Mohéli: Mouhili (Arabic); Mwali (Komori)

Population history:

Autonomous Island	1980-09-15	1991-09-15	2003-09
Anjouan	137,621	188,953	259,099
Grande Comore	192,177	233,533	295,665
Mohéli	17,194	24,331	35,387
Totals	346,992	446,817	590,151