Departments of Niger

Buy data    Donate

Country overview: 

Short nameNIGER
ISO codeNE
FIPS codeNG
LanguageFrench (fr)
Time zone+1
CapitalNiamey

 

The area now known as Niger was part of French Sudan at the beginning of the 20th century. As the French administration got better organized, the area became a military territory, separate from the colony of Upper Senegal and Niger to its west. Niger became a territory within French West Africa on 1922-10-13. It obtained full independence on 1960-08-03.

Other names of country: 

  1. Danish: Niger
  2. Dutch: Niger, Republiek Niger (formal)
  3. English: Republic of Niger (formal)
  4. Finnish: Niger
  5. French: Niger, République f du Niger m (formal)
  6. German: Niger m
  7. Icelandic: Níger
  8. Italian: Niger m
  9. Norwegian: Niger, Republikken Niger (formal)
  10. Portuguese: Níger, República f do Níger m (formal)
  11. Spanish: Níger, República f de Níger (formal)
  12. Swedish: Niger

Origin of name: 

Named for the Niger River, from Tamashek gher n-gheren: river among rivers

Primary subdivisions: 

Niger is divided into seven départements (departments) and one capital district.

DepartmentHASCISOFIPSPopulationArea(km.²)Area(mi.²)
AgadezNE.AG1NG01203,959634,209244,869
DiffaNE.DF2NG02189,316140,21654,138
DossoNE.DS3NG031,019,99731,00211,970
MaradiNE.MA4NG041,388,99938,58114,896
NiameyNE.NI8NG08398,265670259
TahouaNE.TH5NG061,306,652106,67741,188
TillabéryNE.TL6NG091,332,39889,62334,604
ZinderNE.ZI7NG071,410,797145,43056,151
8 divisions7,250,3831,186,408458,075
  • Department: Niamey is a capital district.
  • HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes.
  • ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2.
  • FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4.
  • Population: 1988 census
  • Capitals have the same name as their departments.

Further subdivisions:

See the Arrondissements of Niger page.

The departments are subdivided into arrondissements, which are further subdivided into communes.

Change history: 

  1. 1932-09-06: Part of Upper Volta transferred to Niger
  2. 1947-09-04: Districts of Dori and Fada N'Gourma restored to Upper Volta
  3. As part of French West Africa, Niger was divided into sixteen cercles (districts): Agadez, Birni N'Konni, Dogondoutchi, Dosso, Filingué, Gouré, Madaoua, Magaria, Maradi, N'Guigmi, Niamey, Tahoua, Téra, Tessaoua, Tillabéry, and Zinder. Their capitals had the same names as the districts.
  4. 1961-12-31: Law of territorial organization created 31 circonscriptions. De facto, the 16 colonial cercles continued to exist, and served as a level of division above the circonscriptions. Four cercles (Dogondoutchi, Filingué, N'Guigmi, and Téra) had only one circonscription.
  5. 1964-07-17: Niger reorganized into seven departments.
  6. ~1992: Tillabéry department split from Niamey (whose FIPS code was NG05 before the change). Status of Niamey changed from department to capital district.

Other names of subdivisions: 

  1. Agadez: Agadès (obsolete)
  2. Tillabéry: Tillaberi (variant)
Back to main statoids page Last updated: 2005-04-05
Copyright © 2005 by Gwillim Law. All rights reserved.