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Updates: 

I added populations from the 2005 census, and a note about the capital.

FIPS PUB 10-4 Change Notice 13 was issued on 2008-02-04. It provides codes for the states of Palau.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter I-8, published on 2007-04-17, has new ISO state codes for Palau. In the table below, they are identical to the older FIPS 6-4 codes. The ISO newsletter uses Hatobohei as the spelling of the fourth state in the list. Because ISO now recognizes these as primary divisions, I've promoted them from secondary divisions.

Country overview: 

Short name	PALAU
ISO code	PW
FIPS code	PS
Language	English (en)
Time zone	+9
Capital	Ngerulmud

 

Palau consists of some of the westernmost of the Caroline Islands, in Micronesia. Germany bought almost all of Micronesia from Spain in the 1890s. The islands were conquered by Japan, and mandated to it in 1920 by the League of Nations. The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was created on 1947-04-02 and granted in trust to the United States. This territory was divided into districts, one of which was Palau. On 1994-10-01, Palau became a freely associated state of the United States, a status somewhere between protectorate and independent country.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Palau Republikken
2. Dutch: Palau, Republiek Palau (formal)
3. English: Republic of Palau (formal), Belau (variant)
4. Finnish: Palau
5. French: Belau, Palaos p
6. German: Belau, Palau n
7. Icelandic: Palá
8. Italian: Palau
9. Norwegian: Palau
10. Portuguese: Palau, República f de Palau (formal)
11. Russian: Республика Палау (formal)
12. Spanish: Palaos, República f de Palaos (formal)
13. Swedish: Palau
14. Turkish: Palau Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Primary subdivisions: 

Palau is divided into sixteen states.

State	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Pop-2005	Pop-1995	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Aimeliik	PW.AM	002	PS01	270	419	52	20	Ulimang
Airai	PW.AR	004	PS02	2,723	1,481	44	17	Airai
Angaur	PW.AN	010	PS03	320	193	8	3	Ngaramasch
Hatohobei	PW.HA	050	PS04	44	51	3	1	Hatohobei
Kayangel	PW.KA	100	PS05	188	124	3	1	Kayangel
Koror	PW.KO	150	PS06	12,676	12,299	65	25	Koror
Melekeok	PW.ME	212	PS07	391	261	28	11	Melekeok
Ngaraard	PW.ND	214	PS08	581	421	36	14	Ngermechau
Ngarchelong	PW.NC	218	PS09	488	253	10	4	Imeong
Ngardmau	PW.NM	222	PS10	166	162	47	18	Chol
Ngatpang	PW.NP	224	PS11	464	221	47	18	Oikuul
Ngchesar	PW.NS	226	PS12	254	228	41	16	Ngerkeai
Ngeremlengui	PW.NL	227	PS13	317	281	65	25	Ollei
Ngiwal	PW.NW	228	PS14	223	176	26	10	Ngetkip
Peleliu	PW.PE	350	PS15	702	575	13	5	Kloulklubed
Sonsorol	PW.SO	370	PS16	100	80	3	1	Dongosaru
16 states				19,907	17,225	487	188
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. Same as the old FIPS PUB 6-4 codes (see note). FIPS: codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Pop-2005: 2005-04-01 census (source [2]). Pop-1995: 1995-09-09 census (source [1]). Area: Source [1]. Capital: Data provided by Karem Abdalla.

 

Note: FIPS PUB 5-2 and FIPS PUB 6-4 are U.S. government standards. FIPS PUB 5-2 assigns a two-letter code and a two-digit code to each state-level division of the United States. The codes for Palau are PW and 70. FIPS PUB 6-4 assigns a three-digit code to each county-level division of the United States. When the FIPS 5-2 and 6-4 codes are concatenated, as in 70004 for Airai, the result is a code that uniquely identifies a county-level division of the United States. Since Palau became an independent country ("freely associated state") in 1994, these codes may no longer be applicable.

Note: The capital is located in Ngerulmud, which is a village or settlement in Melekeok state.

Territorial extent: 

Palau includes a chain of islands running from Tobi in the southwest to Kayangel Atoll in the northeast. The largest, and the site of the capital, is Babelthuap Island.

1. Babelthuap Island (often spelled Babeldaob), the largest in the Palau group, includes all of the states except the ones described below.
2. Angaur includes Angaur Island.
3. Hatohobei, at the southwest end of the group, includes the islands of Hatohobei, Hotsarihie (Helen's Reef), and Pieraurou.
4. Kayangel, at the northeast end of the group, includes Kayangel Island.
5. Koror includes Koror, Malakal, Arakabesan, Chelbacheb (Rock Islands), and several other islands.
6. Peleliu includes Peleliu Island and others.
7. Sonsorol includes Sonsorol, Fanna, Merir, and Pulo Anna.

Change history: 

1. 1984: Status of the divisions of Palau changed from municipalities to states
2. ~1994: Spelling of Melekeiok changed to Melekeok; spelling of Ngaremlengui changed to Ngeremlengui, and its code changed from 223 to 227; name of Tobi changed to Hatobohei, and its code changed from 380 to 050; Palau Islands Unorganized Territory (code 300) annexed to Koror and Peleliu.
3. 2006-10-01: Capital of country officially moved from Koror to Ngerulmud, in Melekeok state. (The actual move took place on 2006-10-07 to coincide with the full moon.)

Other names of subdivisions:

1. Hatohobei: Hatobei, Hatobohei (variant); Tobi (obsolete)
2. Ngeremlengui: Ngaremlengui (variant)

Sources: 

1. [1] 1995 Census of Population and Housing, Republic of Palau (retrieved 2002-06-30 from http://www.doi.gov/oia/Palau/populationtables.pdf, now a dead link).
2. [2] 2005 Census of Population and Housing  (retrieved 2010-07-07)