Departments of Niger
Country overview: 
| Short name | NIGER |
| ISO code | NE |
| FIPS code | NG |
| Language | French (fr) |
| Time zone | +1 |
| Capital | Niamey |
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:
- Danish: Niger
- Dutch: Niger, Republiek Niger (formal)
- English: Republic of Niger (formal)
- Finnish: Niger
- French: Niger, République f du Niger m (formal)
- German: Niger m
- Icelandic: Níger
- Italian: Niger m
- Norwegian: Niger, Republikken Niger (formal)
- Portuguese: Níger, República f do Níger m (formal)
- Spanish: Níger, República f de Níger (formal)
- 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.
| Department | HASC | ISO | FIPS | Population | Area(km.²) | Area(mi.²) |
|---|
| Agadez | NE.AG | 1 | NG01 | 203,959 | 634,209 | 244,869 |
| Diffa | NE.DF | 2 | NG02 | 189,316 | 140,216 | 54,138 |
| Dosso | NE.DS | 3 | NG03 | 1,019,997 | 31,002 | 11,970 |
| Maradi | NE.MA | 4 | NG04 | 1,388,999 | 38,581 | 14,896 |
| Niamey | NE.NI | 8 | NG08 | 398,265 | 670 | 259 |
| Tahoua | NE.TH | 5 | NG06 | 1,306,652 | 106,677 | 41,188 |
| Tillabéry | NE.TL | 6 | NG09 | 1,332,398 | 89,623 | 34,604 |
| Zinder | NE.ZI | 7 | NG07 | 1,410,797 | 145,430 | 56,151 |
| 8 divisions | 7,250,383 | 1,186,408 | 458,075 |
- 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:
- 1932-09-06: Part of Upper Volta transferred to Niger
- 1947-09-04: Districts of Dori and Fada N'Gourma restored to Upper Volta
- 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.
- 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.
- 1964-07-17: Niger reorganized into seven departments.
- ~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:
- Agadez: Agadès (obsolete)
- Tillabéry: Tillaberi (variant)