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Updates: 

Update 15 to the GEC, the successor to the FIPS standard, is dated 2014-03-31. It changes the names of three regions to variant names that are listed here under Other names of subdivisions. On 2014-11-03, ISO 3166-2 made the same changes.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter II-3 is dated 2011-12-15. For Saudi Arabia, the only change is to the sort order of region names.

FIPS PUB 10-4 is the U.S. Federal standard for administrative divisions of countries. Change 1 to FIPS PUB 10-4 was dated 1998-12-01. One of the changes was a result of the 1993 union of Al Qurayyat and Al Jawf regions. The FIPS code for Al Jawf was altered from SA03 to SA20.

Country overview: 

Short name	SAUDI ARABIA
ISO code	SA
FIPS code	SA
Language	Arabic (ar)
Time zone	+3
Capital	Riyadh

 

In 1900, Arabia occupied the interior and south coast of the Arabian peninsula. It consisted of the regions of Jebel Shammar (El Shammar), Hadramaut, and Nejd. The eastern and western shores of the peninsula belonged to the Ottoman Empire. The western shore included the vilayets (districts) of Hejaz, Asir, and Yemen; the eastern shore was El Hasa. The borders of these regions were ill-defined, running through deserts. King Abdul-Aziz ibn Sa`ud, King of Nejd, conquered El Hasa, Jebel Shammar, Hejaz, and Asir successively between 1913 and 1926. He proclaimed the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd in 1927, and renamed it to Sa`udi Arabia effective 1932-09-23. Two lozenge-shaped neutral zones were created on the northern border in 1922, one with Iraq and the other with Kuwait, but both have been partitioned and annexed since then.

Other names of country: 

1. Arabic: al-Mamlaka al-`Arabiya as-Sa`udiya (formal)
2. Danish: Saudi-Arabien
3. Dutch: Saoedi-Arabië, Koninkrijk Saoedi-Arabië (formal), Saudi-Arabië
4. English: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (formal)
5. Finnish: Saudi-Arabia
6. French: Arabie f saoudite
7. German: Saudi-Arabien n
8. Icelandic: Sádi-Arabía
9. Italian: Arabia f Saudita
10. Norwegian: Saudi-Arabia, Kongeriket Saudi-Arabia (formal)
11. Portuguese: Arábia Saudita, Reino m da Arábia f Saudita (formal)
12. Russian: Королевство Саудовская Аравия (formal)
13. Spanish: Arabia Saudí, Arabia Saudita (variant), Reino m de Arabia f Saudita (formal)
14. Swedish: Saudiarabien
15. Turkish: Suudi Arabistan Krallığı (formal)

Origin of name: 

named by ibn Sa`ud (~1880-1953) for himself or his family. Arabia means land of the Arabs; Arab comes from a Semitic word for desert.

Primary subdivisions: 

Saudi Arabia is divided into thirteen manaţiq (sing. minţaqah: regions or emirates).

Region	HASC	ISO	FIPS	PC	Pop-2010	Pop-2004	Pop-1992	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Al Bāhah	SA.BA	11	SA02	6	406,724	377,900	332,157	9,921	3,831	Baha
Al Ḥudūd ash Shamāliyah	SA.HS	08	SA15	7	311,473	279,971	229,060	111,797	43,165	Ar'ar
Al Jawf	SA.JF	12	SA20	7	428,266	361,738	268,228	100,212	38,692	Sakaka
Al Madīnah	SA.MD	03	SA05	4	1,694,749	1,512,724	1,084,947	151,990	58,684	Medina
Al Qaṣīm	SA.QS	05	SA08	5	1,184,365	1,015,972	750,979	58,046	22,412	Buraidah
Ar Riyāḍ	SA.RI	01	SA10	1	6,505,509	5,458,273	3,834,986	404,240	156,078	Riyadh
Ash Sharqīyah	SA.SH	04	SA06	3	3,799,773	3,360,031	2,575,820	672,522	259,662	Dammam
`Asīr	SA.AS	14	SA11	6	1,897,236	1,687,939	1,340,168	76,693	29,611	Abha
Ḥā'il	SA.HA	06	SA13	5	593,308	526,882	411,284	103,887	40,111	Ha'il
Jīzan	SA.JZ	09	SA17	8	1,332,262	1,187,587	865,961	11,671	4,506	Jizan
Makkah	SA.MK	02	SA14	2	6,662,597	5,797,184	4,467,670	153,128	59,123	Mecca
Najrān	SA.NJ	10	SA16	6	496,613	420,345	300,994	149,511	57,727	Najran
Tabūk	SA.TB	07	SA19	4	777,680	691,716	486,134	146,072	56,399	Tabuk
13 regions					26,090,555	22,678,262	16,948,388	2,149,690	830,000
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Region codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "SA-" to the code (ex: SA-02 represents Makkah). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. PC: Postal code prefix (see below). Pop-2010: 2010-04-27 census. Pop-2004: 2004-09-15 census. Pop-1992: 1992-09-27 census. Capital: Not official capitals, but emirs (governors) have their offices there.

Postal codes: 

Saudi Arabia has five-digit postal codes. The first digit is determined by the region. See source [4] for details.

Further subdivisions:

See the Governorates of Saudi Arabia page.

There is a division into four provinces, on a historical basis. Their boundaries do not necessarily coincide with region boundaries. The regions are subdivided into governorates.

Territorial extent: 

1. Ash Sharqīyah contains all of Saudi Arabia's islands in the Persian Gulf: Al `Arabiyah, Abu `Ali, Al Batinah, Tarut, Harqus, Karan, Kurayn, Al Jurayd, and others.
2. Jīzan includes the Farasan Islands in the Red Sea.
3. Makkah includes Qishran, Sirrayn, Abu Latt, and other Red Sea islands.
4. Tabūk includes the islands of Tiran, Sanafir, Al Hasani, Shaybara, Mashabih, and others along the Red Sea coast.

The UN LOCODE page  for Saudi Arabia 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. Al Madīnah: Arabic for city; full name is al-Madinat an-Nabi: the city of the prophet
2. Ar Riyāḍ: Arabic for the gardens
3. `Asīr: = inaccessible
4. Hejaz: = boundary (between `Asīr and Nejd)
5. Nejd: = plateau

Change history: 

1. 1914: El Hasa conquered by Nejd.
2. 1921: Jebel Shammar conquered by Nejd and merged with Nejd region.
3. 1922: By the Al Uqair Convention, two lozenge-shaped neutral zones were created: Iraq-Saudi Arabia (~7,000 sq. km.) and Kuwait-Saudi Arabia (5,790 sq. km.).
4. 1924: Hejaz conquered by Nejd.
5. 1926: Asir conquered by Nejd.
6. 1927: Name of Nejd and its possessions changed to the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd.
7. 1932-09-23: Name of country changed to Sa`udi Arabia. Provinces were now as follows:

Province	Capital	Area(km.²)	Alt. name
Asir	Abha	103,936	Southern
El Hasa	Dammam	106,731	Eastern
Hejaz	Mecca	348,614	Western
Nejd	Riyadh	1,685,527	Central
4 provinces		2,244,808

1. 1969-12: Saudi Arabia-Kuwait neutral zone divided between its two neighbors.
2. ~1980: Northern province formed from parts of Western and Central.
3. 1991-02: Iraq-Saudi Arabia neutral zone (ISO=NT/FIPS=NT) divided between Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
4. 1993-11: Al Qurayyāt (ISO=SA-13/FIPS=SA09, capital Qurayat) merged with Al Jawf.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Al Bahah: Baha (variant)
2. Al Ḥudūd ash Shamāliyah: Frontière Nord (French); Northern, Northern Border, Northern Frontier (variant)
3. Al Jawf: Al Joaf, Al-Jouf, Jowf (variant)
4. Al Madīnah: Al-Madinah Al-Monawarah, Al Madinah al Munawwarah, Madinah Monwarah, Medina (variant); Médine (French)
5. Al Qasim: Al Qasseem, Gasim, Qaseem (variant)
6. Ar Riyāḍ: Riad (German, Spanish); Riyadh (variant)
7. Ash Sharqiyah: Eastern (variant)
8. `Asir: Aseer, Assyear (variant)
9. El Hasa: Al Hasa, El Hassa, Hasa (variant)
10. Hejaz: Al Hijaz (variant); Hedjaz (Swedish, variant); Hedjas (German); Hedsjas (Norwegian); Héyaz (Spanish); Higiaz (Italian, Portuguese)
11. Jīzan: Jazan, Qīzān (variant)
12. Makkah: La Meca (Spanish); La Mecca (Italian); La Mecque (French); Makka, Makkah al-Mukarramah, Mecca (variant); Meca (Portuguese); Mecka (Swedish); Mekka (German, Norwegian)
13. Nejd: Najd, Nedjed (variant); Nedjd (German); Negged (Italian); Néyed (Spanish)
14. Tabuk: Tabouk (variant)

Sources: 

1. [1] Central Department of Statistics & Information, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Highlights: Population & Housing Census 1425H (2004) , p. 31 of pdf (retrieved 2011-03-21).
2. [2] 2000 Demographic Survey, Ministry of Economy and Planning website at http://www.planning.gov.sa/docs/st2e.htm (dead link, retrieved 2005-04-21).
3. [3] Statistical yearbook: 35th issue, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Planning, Central Department of Statistics, 1999.
4. [4] The New Addressing: Postal Address , on the Saudi Post website, explains postal codes (retrieved 2012-10-18).
5. [5] "Population and Household Census, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2010 : Facts and Figures," by Asharaf Abdul Salam, in International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 3, No. 16, 2013-08, p. 258 (retrieved 2014-02-26). The article says that its Table 1 contains "Final results" of the 2010 census.