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2003

Changes affecting status:

1. Argentina: Name of Distrito Federal changed to Ciudad de Buenos Aires.
2. Azerbaijan: Added Culfa rayon and made other changes, as explained.
3. Bahamas: Clarified current divisions, added HASC codes, populations, areas.
4. Bahrain: Reorganized into five governorates.
5. Botswana: Two districts merged. Added 2001 census data.
6. Chad: Reorganized from 14 prefectures to 28 departments in 1999.
7. Comoros: ISO 3166-1 has updated the formal name of the country.
8. Congo-Kinshasa: Capital of Ituri province.
9. Guadeloupe: Early warning on the separation of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélémy.
10. Indonesia: Added new province Kepulauan Riau; changed official name of Aceh; West Papua province split from Papua.
11. Italy: More news about provinces being created.
12. Kazakhstan: Name of capital of Zhambyl province changed from Zhambyl to Taraz.
13. Laos: I discovered another erratum in the book.
14. Papua New Guinea: Capital of Bougainville province moved from Arawa to Buka.
15. Russia: Capital of Ingush Republic moved to Magas; predictions of forthcoming mergers; added capitals of federal okrugs
16. Senegal: Matam region split from Saint-Louis.
17. South Africa: Recent name changes.
18. Tajikistan: I decided that Dushanbe deserved a separate listing.
19. Uganda: Eleven new districts created. Added 2002 census data.
20. Vietnam: Two new provinces and one new municipality.
21. Yugoslavia: Name changed to Serbia and Montenegro.

Other data added:

1. Argentina: Added to change history before 1900.
2. Australia: Added census data from 2001 and other years.
3. Benin: Added alternate names for both primary and secondary divisions
4. Burkina Faso: Added 1997 population estimates.
5. Cameroon: Corrected the date of the 1983 reorganization. Added to change history. Added 1987 census data.
6. Canada: Added 2001 populations and MARC codes.
7. Central African Republic: Changed one capital.
8. China: Found new area of Chongqing.
9. Colombia: Capital temporarily moved. Added 1993 census.
10. Ecuador: Added 2001 census data.
11. Estonia: Added area and population data.
12. Ethiopia: Added 1999 population estimates.
13. French Guiana: Added INSEE codes.
14. French Polynesia: Added discussion of capital of Tuamotu and Gambier Islands.
15. Gabon: Added 1993 census data (provisional).
16. Gambia: Reconsidered name of one division.
17. Grenada: Added recent censuses and parish capitals.
18. Guam: Added a historical datum.
19. Guinea-Bissau: Added 1991 census.
20. Guyana: Changed a date.
21. Honduras: Added population figures from censuses of 1881, 1895, and 2001.
22. India: Updated numbers of districts. Added state codes from census.
23. Iran: Added to change history and other names of subdivisions.
24. Ireland: Added new censuses.
25. Italy: Fixed three incorrect postal code prefixes.
26. Jordan: Found exact date of the creation of new provinces; updated population.
27. Kiribati: Added a historical datum.
28. Korea, North: Remarks about Najin-Sonbong special economic zone and its peers.
29. Korea, South: New official romanization system.
30. Malaysia: Added areas and capitals of districts; also added Putrajaya district
31. Maldives: Added 2000 census data and new codes.
32. Mauritius: Added a historical datum.
33. Mexico: Added a note about state codes.
34. Morocco: Added to change history.
35. New Caledonia: Added population and area data.
36. New Zealand: Added to change history.
37. Pakistan: Added 1998 census.
38. Papua New Guinea: Minor addition to change history.
39. Paraguay: Added 2002 census figures; expanded history.
40. Peru: Updated populations and areas; added Ubigeo codes; extended change history back to independence
41. Reunion: Updated populations, added INSEE codes.
42. Romania: Updated area and population, including data for Ilfov.
43. Saint Kitts-Nevis: Added recent censuses.
44. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Added populations and areas.
45. Senegal: Displayed table with 2001 population estimates.
46. Serbia and Montenegro: New name and ISO codes for Yugoslavia.
47. Sierra Leone: Fixed a link to a map that was no longer valid.
48. Switzerland: Added 2001 populations.
49. Tanzania: Updated areas and populations.
50. Trinidad and Tobago: Added new population and area data.
51. Turkey: Added 2001 populations.
52. Tuvalu: Added origin of name.
53. Uganda: Added to change history.
54. United Kingdom: Corrected 1991 populations. Added 2001 populations and more detailed NUTS codes. Revised some capitals.
55. Uruguay: Extended change history back to 1828.
56. Uzbekistan: Added more recent population estimates.
57. Vanuatu: Added to change history.
58. Venezuela: Added more name origins.
59. Wallis and Futuna: Updated populations; added INSEE codes.
60. Richard Forstall has contributed a supply of Geographic Notes from the geographer of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the U.S. State Department. They cover the period roughly from 1965-1981. Using those notes, I have been able to add to the change histories for Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Kiribati, Laos, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Romania, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zambia. (Some updates also come from the Europa World Year Book 2001.)
61. The ISO 3166 maintenance agency has issued ISO 3166-2 Newsletter No. I-5. It contains updates to the ISO standard for primary administrative subdivisions. Countries affected are Botswana, Czech Republic, Libya, Malaysia, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Switzerland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and Venezuela.

Secondary divisions:

1. Belgium: Added populations of arrondissements.
2. Burundi: Added communes.
3. Cameroon: Added change history.
4. Cameroon: Updated departments, added to change history, added alternate names.
5. Chad: Reorganized from 53 sub-prefectures to 109 in 1999. Added to change history.
6. Chile: Added 2002 census data.
7. Colombia: Added municipalities.
8. Congo (Kinshasa) Added administrative zones.
9. Costa Rica: Added cantonal capitals.
10. Côte d'Ivoire: Assigned one department to a different former region.
11. Cuba: Added areas and populations.
12. Ecuador: Added populations, areas, and capitals of cantons.
13. El Salvador: Added municipios.
14. Estonia: Added municipalities. (1998 list updated to 2002 on 2003-06-16.)
15. Estonia: Added an explanation of municipality types (see 1992).
16. Finland: Added populations and areas of regional councils.
17. France: Added populations, areas, and INSEE codes. Changed names of three arrondissements (Cherbourg-Octeville, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, Sarcelles).
18. Honduras: Added municipalities.
19. India: Improved change history. Described recent creations of districts in Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal. Changed many approximate dates to precise dates.
20. Indonesia: Updated change history for regencies and municipalities.
21. Iran: Added districts.
22. Kazakhstan: Added rayons.
23. Mayotte: Added INSEE codes. Added a note about the capital.
24. Morocco: Moved some prefecture information from the regions page to here; added comments; removed part of the change history, which really belonged on the regions page.
25. Netherlands: Municipalities merged and changed names. Some of these changes also affect the provinces.
26. New Caledonia: Added to the change history.
27. Pakistan: Added 1998 census.
28. Paraguay: Added change history.
29. Peru: Updated populations and areas; added capitals; added recent change history
30. Philippines: Updated table, including recent status change for Malolos
31. Poland: Corrected small spelling errors.
32. Russia: Added secondary divisions
33. Senegal: New departments created.
34. Sweden: Reporting a new municipality.
35. Tajikistan: Added the raions.
36. Tanzania: Added districts.
37. United Kingdom: Added districts.

Time zones:

1. Brazil: Added change history. Updated current time changes.

General:

1. Country Codes: Added change history for MARC codes. Added a change history for FIPS PUB 10 codes. Expanded the change history for ISO 3166 codes, and removed it to its own page. ISO numeric code for Netherlands Antilles changed to 530, as it should have been since 1993. Inserted additional IOC codes. Added a column for MARC codes. Distinguishing Sign of Serbia and Montenegro changed to SCG.
2. Added a discussion of Using ISO 3166-1 in Software.
3. Updated the Factoids page to reflect recent changes. There is a new ranking for statoids with low population density, and new rankings for the most common statoid name and capital name. For the most populous subdivisions, updated the Chinese provinces using 1999-12-31 estimates. I prefer not to use intercensal estimates, but this time it was necessary in order to take account of the separation of Chongqing from Sichuan.
4. Checked the international dialing prefixes. Christmas Island is supposed to be changing from +672 to +61. Tajikistan has changed from +7 to +992. Timor-Leste should be +670, not +62. American Samoa is changing from +684 to +1-684, which is the prefix I had been reporting already.
5. Found a new Erratum in the book under Mexico.

Site design changes:

1. I changed the graphic design of the entire site (green to white backgrounds, etc.).
2. I color-coded all tables on the primary and secondary subdivisions pages. Tables with a yellow color scheme contain the most current list of subdivisions available; other tables have a purple color scheme.
3. I've started showing the total number of divisions at the end of each table where applicable.
4. The usage for the Statoids Website was growing so much, it exceeded the bandwidth limit set by my old ISP. Therefore, I duplicated the whole site at a different domain (www.statoids.com), and set up redirects on all the old pages so that users would be sent to the new site.