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Updates: 

I added the population data from the 2011 census.

Peter Dotzauer sent a reference to the Lonely Planet travel book for Rarotonga: "... each outer island has a resident-elected/appointed island council presided over by a mayor.... On Rarotonga, island councils are replaced by vaka (district, tribe) councils, one in each of the three traditional vaka." The councils of Rarotonga are Puaikura, Takitumu, and Te Au O Tonga (map ). His message impelled me to do some more research, with these results.

The Rarotonga Local Government (Repeal) Bill, abolishing the three vaka councils of Rarotonga, took effect on 2008-02-08. See, for example, this report .

Mr. Dotzauer believes that the island councils are divided into districts, and the districts into subdistricts called "tapere"; and that Manuae, Nassau, and Suwarrow have no island councils of their own but are governed from the nearest larger island. There is a blog entry  that lists five districts and fifty tapere for Rarotonga, and the maps linked from here  show eight districts and 19 tapere on Aitutaki, six districts on Mangaia, and five tapere on Atiu. I have a 1978 map that shows five districts of Rarotonga: Arorangi, Avarua, Matavera, Ngatangiia, and Titikaveka, where Arorangi matches Puaikura in extent, Avarua matches Te Au O Tonga, and the other three combined match Takitumu.

According to the book "South Pacific islands legal systems ", by Michael A. Ntumy, the Outer Islands Local Government Act 1988 created island councils on all the islands except Nassau, Pukapuka, and Rarotonga. The Rarotonga Local Government Act 1988 created an island council and nine district councils for Rarotonga. However, the same book speaks of island councils during earlier periods, as far back as 1915. The Cook Islands Initial National Communication under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change  says, "A system of local government for Rarotonga was reactivated in 1997 with the passage of the Rarotonga Local Government Act. The first elections for Mayors and Councillors took place in November 1998."

Country overview: 

Short name	COOK ISLANDS
ISO code	CK
FIPS code	CW
Language	English (en)
Time zone	-10
Capital	Avarua

 

On 1901-06-11, the Cook Islands changed from a British protectorate to an integral part of New Zealand. On 1965-08-04, they became an autonomous state in free association with New Zealand. This means that New Zealand retains some responsibility for them. In particular, it handles their foreign relations.

Other names of country: 

1. Dutch: Cookeilanden
2. French: Îles fp Cook
3. German: Cookinseln f
4. Icelandic: Cookeyjar
5. Italian: Isole fp Cook
6. Norwegian: Cookøyene (Bokmål), Cookøyane (Nynorsk), Cooks øyer
7. Portuguese: Ilhas Cook
8. Russian: Острова Кука
9. Spanish: Islas fp Cook
10. Turkish: Cook adaları

Origin of name: 

Discovered by Capt. James Cook (1728-1779) in 1773

Primary subdivisions: 

The administrative divisions of Cook Islands are deprecated herein, pending further research.

Division	HASC	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Cook Islands	CK.CK	17,794	293	113	Avarua
Status: This division is the whole of the country, treated as a division for compatibility. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision code. Population: 2011-12-01 census

Territorial extent: 

Cook Islands includes the Pacific islands in the rectangle defined by roughly 7° to 23° latitude south, and 156° to 167° longitude west. These islands can be divided into a northern group and a southern group. The northern group includes Manihiki, Nassau, Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Rakahanga, and Suwarrow Islands. The southern group includes Aitutaki, Atiu, Mangaia, Manuae, Mauke, Mitiaro, and Rarotonga Islands. Palmerston Atoll, which is relatively isolated, has sometimes been classed with either group; the census currently puts it in the southern group. Avarua, the capital, is located on Rarotonga Island.

The UN LOCODE page  for Cook Islands 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.

Population history:

The Cook Islands Statistics Office  has provided a table of historical census data, by island. There is no indication that the islands should be considered as administrative divisions.

Island	1902	1916	1936	1951-09-25	1966-09-01	1981-12-01	1991-12-01	2001-12-01	2011-12-01	Area(km.²)
Aitutaki	1,170	1,302	1,719	2,396	2,579	2,335	2,357	1,946	2,038	18.3
Atiu	918	759	1,086	1,270	1,327	1,225	1,006	623	480	26.9
Mangaia	1,541	1,245	1,459	1,830	2,002	1,364	1,214	744	572	51.8
Manihiki	484	493	487	816	584	405	663	515	239	5.4
Manuae	10	23	8	20	15					6.2
Mauke	370	490	652	836	671	681	639	470	307	18.4
Mitiaro	165	237	265	305	293	256	247	230	189	22.3
Nassau			18	124	167	137	102	72	73	1.3
Palmerston	115	90	90	87	86	51	49	48	60	2.1
Penrhyn	445	326	467	527	545	608	503	357	213	9.8
Pukapuka	505	474	651	559	684	797	670	664	451	1.3
Rakahanga	400	295	290	261	323	269	262	169	77	4.1
Rarotonga	2,060	3,064	5,054	6,048	9,971	9,530	10,886	12,188	13,095	67.1
Suwarrow	30	7					10	1		0.4
Total	8,213	8,805	12,246	15,079	19,247	17,743	18,617	18,027	17,794	236.7