Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

I've updated the populations to the 2010 census data, according to source [5].

The country has announced that it wants to be called "Cabo Verde" in every language, à la Côte d'Ivoire. I suspect that English speakers will continue to call it Cape Verde for a while. Update 14 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes (formerly FIPS 10-4), dated 2013-12-31, adopts the new name.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter II-3 is dated 2011-12-15. For Cape Verde, this update largely repeats the changes listed in Newsletter II-2. The one difference is that it eliminates a duplicate. The code for São Lourenço dos Orgãos used to be the same as the one for Sal.

The five new counties are accounted for in Newsletter II-2 (2010-06-30), an update to the ISO 3166-2 standard, and in Update 1 (2010-08-20) to the U.S. standard "Geopolitical Entities and Codes".

Most sources say that the capital of Sal county is Espargos. I had previously reported that it was Santa Maria, based on the CIA map. The capital of Maio county is Vila do Maio, but an alternate (obsolete?) name for that city is Porto Inglês, which appears in some sources.

Note: Portuguese for council is conselho; for county (specifically, one of the counties into which Cape Verde is divided), concelho. The two words are easy to confuse.

According to the Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE) and other sources, sometime between 1980 and 1991, Mosteiros, São Domingos, São Filipe, and São Miguel counties were formed, and Fogo county disappeared. Oddly, none of the major reference works mentioned them until 2000, and even then, one of them was still left off the list.

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 9, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2004-10-01. It assigned FIPS codes for the above changes, and also for Santa Cruz. It also changed the FIPS codes of the old counties from which the new ones were formed. Porto Novo county existed then, but no FIPS code was assigned to it until the 2010 update.

The original ISO 3166-2 standard (1998) had listed only the fourteen counties listed below under Change history, 1971. (They were designated "municipalities".) ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2, published on 2002-05-21, showed the changes described above. It gave the name of São Miguel as "Calheta de São Miguel". All the additional counties were in Sotavento group.

Country overview: 

Short name	CAPE VERDE
ISO code	CV
FIPS code	CV
Language	Portuguese (pt)
Time zone	-1
Capital	Praia

 

Cape Verde had been a Portuguese colony for more than five centuries when it was granted its independence on 1975-07-05.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Kap Verde, Kapverdiske Øer
2. Dutch: Kaapverdië, Republiek Kaapverdië (formal)
3. English: Republic of Cape Verde (formal)
4. Finnish: Kap Verde
5. French: Cap-Vert m
6. German: Kap Verde, Kapverden (Swiss), Kap Verde Inseln fp, Republik f Kap n Verde
7. Icelandic: Grænhöfðaeyjar
8. Italian: Capo m Verde
9. Norwegian: Kapp Verde, Republikken Kapp Verde (formal)
10. Portuguese: Cabo Verde, República f de Cabo m Verde (formal) (n in Portugal)
11. Russian: Республика Кабо-Верде (formal), Республика Острова Зелёного Мыса (variant)
12. Spanish: Cabo Verde, República f de Cabo m Verde (formal)
13. Swedish: Kap Verde
14. Turkish: Yeşil Burun Cumhuriyeti (formal), Verde Burnu (variant)

Origin of name: 

After Cap Vert, Senegal (Portuguese Cabo Verde: green cape)

Primary subdivisions: 

Cape Verde is divided into twenty-two concelhos (counties), also called municípios.

County	HASC	ISO	FIPS	CGN	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Group
Boa Vista	CV.BV	BV	CV01	51	9,162	620	239	Sal-Rei	B
Brava	CV.BR	BR	CV02	91	5,995	64	25	Nova Sintra	S
Maio	CV.MA	MA	CV04	61	6,952	269	104	Vila do Maio	S
Mosteiros	CV.MO	MO	CV13	81	9,524	82	32	Mosteiros	S
Paul	CV.PA	PA	CV05	12	6,997	54	21	Vila das Pombas	B
Porto Novo	CV.PN	PN	CV21	13	18,028	558	215	Porto Novo	B
Praia	CV.PC	PR	CV14	74	131,602	94	37	Cidade Velha	S
Ribeira Brava	CV.RB	RB	CV22	31	7,580	343	132	Ribeira Brava	B
Ribeira Grande	CV.RG	RG	CV07	11	18,890	167	64	Ponta do Sol	B
Ribeira Grande de Santiago	CV.RS	RS	CV23	74	8,325	164	63	Praia	S
Sal	CV.SL	SL	CV08	41	25,765	216	83	Espargos	B
Santa Catarina	CV.CT	CA	CV15	72	43,297	213	82	Assomada	S
Santa Catarina do Fogo	CV.CF	CF	CV24	82	5,299			Cova Figueira	S
Santa Cruz	CV.CZ	CR	CV16	73	26,609	110	43	Pedra-Badejo	S
São Domingos	CV.SD	SD	CV17	75	13,808	138	53	São Domingos	S
São Filipe	CV.FP	SF	CV18	82	22,228	394	152	São Filipe	S
São Lourenço dos Órgãos	CV.LO	SO	CV25	73	7,388	39	15	João Teves	S
São Miguel	CV.SM	SM	CV19	76	15,648	91	35	Calheta	S
São Salvador do Mundo	CV.SS	SS	CV26	72	8,677	30	12	Assomada	S
São Vicente	CV.SV	SV	CV11	21	76,107	227	88	Mindelo	B
Tarrafal	CV.TF	TA	CV20	71	18,565	112	43	Tarrafal	S
Tarrafal de São Nicolau	CV.TS	TS	CV27	31	5,237			Tarrafal de São Nicolau	B
22 counties					491,683	3,985	1,539
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: County codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "CV-" to the code (ex: CV-SL represents Sal). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. CGN: National Geographic Code. Cape Verde uses four-digit postal codes. The first two digits are the same as the county's CGN. Source: [3]. Population: 2010-06-16 census. Source: [5]. Group: Barlavento (B) or Sotavento (S). See Further subdivisions.

Further subdivisions:

See the Parishes of Cape Verde page.

Barlavento and Sotavento are not administrative divisions, although each has its own Chamber of Commerce. Verdeans sometimes call them regiões (regions), sometimes distritos (districts), but most often just grupos (island groups). ISO 3166-2 called them districts, but it changed the designation to geographical regions. I've decided to use "groups", which has the least official resonance. Mindelo is the chief town of Barlavento, and Praia of Sotavento. The codes B and S are part of the ISO 3166-2 standard, and the derived GENC standard.

Territorial extent: 

1. Smaller islands are usually contained in the nearest county on a larger island.
2. Boa Vista Island corresponds to Boa Vista county.
3. Brava Island corresponds to Brava county (along with Rei and Rombo Islands).
4. Fogo Island corresponds to Mosteiros, Santa Catarina do Fogo, and São Filipe counties.
5. Maio Island corresponds to Maio county.
6. Sal Island corresponds to Sal.
7. Santo Antão Island corresponds to Paul, Porto Novo, and Ribeira Grande counties.
8. São Nicolau Island corresponds to Ribeira Brava and Tarrafal de São Nicolau counties.
9. São Tiago (or Santiago) Island corresponds to Praia, Ribeira Grande de Santiago, Santa Catarina, Santa Cruz, São Domingos, São Lourenço dos Órgãos, São Miguel, São Salvador do Mundo, and Tarrafal counties.
10. São Vicente Island corresponds to São Vicente (along with uninhabited Santa Luzia Island).

The UN LOCODE page  for Cape Verde 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.

Origins of names: 

1. Barlavento: Portuguese for windward. Prevailing winds are from the northeast, and these islands are to the north.
2. Boa Vista: Portuguese for good view.
3. Brava: Portuguese for wild.
4. Fogo: Portuguese for fire. Island has an active volcano.
5. Maio: Portuguese for May. Island was discovered in May 1460 by António de Noli and Diogo Gomes.
6. Paul: Portuguese for marsh.
7. Praia: Portuguese for beach.
8. Ribeira Grande: Portuguese for big creek.
9. Sal: Portuguese for salt. There were salt mines there.
10. São Vicente: Island discovered on Saint Vincent's feast day, 1462-01-22.
11. Sotavento: Portuguese for leeward.

Change history: 

1. Note: History is incomplete until 1971.
2. 1769: Capital of Cape Verde Islands moved from Cidade Velha (formerly known as Ribeira Grande) to Praia.
3. ~1894: Paul county merged with Ribeira Grande, which thereby became the only county on Santo Antão island.
4. 1935: Sal county split from Boa Vista.

County	Population
Boa Vista	2,902
Brava	7,904
Fogo	16,705
Maio	1,872
Paul	12,648
Praia	30,290
Ribeira Grande	15,157
Sal	1,784
Santa Catarina	15,454
São Nicolau	10,311
São Vicente	19,138
Tarrafal	13,163
Total	147,328
Population: 1950-12-15 census (source [4]).

1. ~1971: Porto Novo county split from Paul.
2. 1971: Santa Cruz county split from Praia. At this time, the divisions of Cape Verde were as shown in this table:

County	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Boa Vista	CV.BV	BV	CV01	3,110	620	239	Sal Rei
Brava	CV.BR	BR	CV02	6,610	67	26	Nova Sintra
Fogo	CV.FO	FO	CV03	34,580	476	184	São Filipe
Maio	CV.MA	MA	CV04	4,560	269	104	Porto Inglês
Paul	CV.PA	PA	CV05	9,080	54	21	Pombas
Porto Novo	CV.PN	PN		13,650	558	215	Porto Novo
Praia	CV.PR	PR	CV06	94,250	396	153	Praia
Ribeira Grande	CV.RG	RG	CV07	22,300	167	64	Ponta Sol
Sal	CV.SL	SL	CV08	8,150	216	83	Santa Maria
Santa Catarina	CV.CA	CA	CV09	48,000	243	94	Assomada
Santa Cruz	CV.CR	CR		27,730	149	58	Pedra Badejo
São Nicolau	CV.SN	SN	CV10	12,630	388	150	Ribeira Brava
São Vicente	CV.SV	SV	CV11	62,710	227	88	Mindelo
Tarrafal	CV.TA	TA	CV12	29,330	203	78	Tarrafal
14 counties				376,690	4,033	1,557
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: County codes from ISO 3166-2: 1998. For full identification in a global context, prefix "CV-" to the code (ex: CV-SL represents Sal). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 1990 estimates.

1. ~1988: São Domingos county formed by taking Nossa Senhora da Luz and São Nicolau Tolentino parishes from Praia.
2. 1991: Mosteiros county formed by taking Nossa Senhora da Ajuda parish from Fogo county. The remainder of Fogo county renamed São Filipe county.
3. ~1991: São Miguel county (area 91 km.², ISO code CV-CS from 2002 to 2010) formed by taking São Miguel Arcanjo parish from Tarrafal county.
4. 2005-08-03: Five new counties were formed in 2005. Ribeira Grande de Santiago county formed on 2005-07-23 by taking Santíssimo Nome de Jesus and São João Baptista parishes from Praia (former HASC code CV.PI, ISO code PR, FIPS code CV14). Santa Catarina do Fogo county formed on 2005-07-25 by taking Santa Catarina parish from São Filipe (CV.SF, SF, CV18). São Lourenço dos Órgãos county formed on 2005-07-21 by taking São Lourenço dos Órgãos parish from Santa Cruz (CV.SZ, CR, CV16). São Salvador do Mundo county formed on 2005-07-19 by taking São Salvador do Mundo parish from Santa Catarina (CV.SC, CA, CV15). Tarrafal de São Nicolau county formed on 2005-08-03 by taking São Francisco parish from São Nicolau (CV.SN, SN, CV10). The remainder of São Nicolau county was renamed Ribeira Brava. ISO code for Säo Miguel changed from CS to SM, since ISO had formerly called this county Calheta de Säo Miguel.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Paul: Paoul (French); Paúl (common misspelling)
2. São Miguel: Calheta de São Miguel (variant)

Population history:

County	1940	1950-12-15	1960-12-15	1970-12-15	1980-06-02	1990-06-23	2000-06-16	2010-06-16
Boa Vista	2,779	2,985	3,263	3,569	3,372	3,452	4,193	9,162
Brava	8,528	7,937	8,625	7,756	6,985	6,975	6,820	5,995
Maio	2,237	1,924	2,680	3,466	4,098	4,969	6,742	6,952
Mosteiros						8,331	9,479	9,524
Paul	5,845	5,370	6,024	8,000	7,983	8,121	8,325	6,997
Porto Novo	10,366	7,565	10,683	13,750	13,236	14,873	17,239	18,028
Praia	18,208	17,179	24,872	39,911	57,748	71,276	106,052	139,927
Ribeira Grande	19,766	15,444	17,246	22,873	22,102	20,851	21,560	18,890
Sal	1,121	1,838	2,608	5,505	5,826	7,715	14,792	25,765
Santa Catarina	26,848	19,428	30,207	41,462	41,012	41,584	49,970	51,974
Santa Cruz	13,486	9,568	14,368	21,158	22,995	25,892	32,822	33,997
São Domingos						11,526	13,296	13,808
São Filipe	23,022	17,582	25,615	29,412	30,978	25,571	27,930	27,527
São Miguel						13,787	16,153	15,648
São Nicolau	14,846	10,366	13,866	16,308	13,572	13,665	13,536	12,817
São Vicente	15,848	19,576	20,705	31,578	41,594	51,277	67,844	76,107
Tarrafal	18,840	13,222	19,140	26,251	24,202	11,626	18,059	18,565
Totals	181,740	149,984	199,902	270,999	295,703	341,491	434,812	491,683
Note: Figures for São Filipe before 1990 actually represent Fogo county. Figures for 2010 represent the county structure as of 2000.

Sources: 

1. [1] Retrieved from Instituto Nacional de Estatística  site on 2008-12-19 (requires free registration).
2. [2] 1990 census data are from the Atlas de Cabo Verde  site, retrieved about 2003.
3. [3] The CGN-CV (Código Geográfico Nacional de Cabo Verde: National Geographic Code of Cape Verde) is defined by the Instituto Nacional de Estatística of Cape Verde. There is a document containing an overall description of the code system, titled "Apresentação Geral" (http://www.ine.cv/Nomenclatura/CGN-CV/APRESENGeral%20CGN-CV.pdf), and another with the actual codes down to parish level, titled "Estrutura" (http://www.ine.cv/Nomenclatura/CGN-CV/ESTRUTURA%20CGN-CV.pdf). Both were retrieved about 2003. There is a seven-digit CGN code for each of 4,526 places in Cape Verde. The first five digits of a code represent the zone in which the place is located. The first three digits represent a parish (freguesia); the first two, a county (concelho); and the first digit alone, one of the nine inhabited islands.
4. [4] Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955 (retrieved 2011-08-20).
5. [5] Resumo dos Principais Resultados ...  (Excel download). IVº Recenseamento Geral da População e de Habitação, Instituto Nacional de Estatística, 2010 (retrieved 2014-02-11).