Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

Sorin Cosoveanu showed me where to find the final results of the 2013 census.

Newsletter II-2, an update to the ISO 3166-2 standard, is dated 2010-06-30. It assigns ISO codes to the three new regions created in 2008. "Geopolitical Entities and Codes", the successor to FIPS standard 10-4, was first published in 2010-04. It also gives codes for these regions.

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It assigns a new FIPS code to the new Matam region, and changes the codes for two old regions. This suggests that the FIPS people think that Matam region also incorporated part of Louga. ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-5, dated 2003-09-05, shows the creation of Matam.

Country overview: 

Short name	SENEGAL
ISO code	SN
FIPS code	SG
Language	French (fr)
Time zone	+0
Capital	Dakar

 

In 1900, present-day Senegal was part of French Sudan. In 1904, it became part of the gouvernement général of French West Africa (Afrique Occidentale Française, or A.O.F.). A.O.F. initially comprised the French colonies of Ivory Coast, Dahomey, French Guinea, Senegal, and Upper Senegal and Niger. The name of Upper Senegal and Niger was changed to French Sudan on 1920-12-04. French Sudan and Senegal formed the Federation of Mali on 1959-04-04. On 1960-06-20, the Federation of Mali became independent. It split up into its two original components, Sudan and Senegal, on 1960-08-22. Senegal and The Gambia formed a federation called Senegambia from 1982-02-01 to 1989-09-21.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Senegal
2. Dutch: Senegal, Republiek Senegal (formal)
3. English: Republic of Senegal (formal)
4. Finnish: Senegal
5. French: Sénégal, République f du Sénégal m (formal)
6. German: Senegal n
7. Italian: Senegal m
8. Norwegian: Senegal, Republikken Senegal (formal)
9. Portuguese: Senegal, República f do Senegal m (formal)
10. Russian: Республика Сенегал (formal)
11. Spanish: Senegal, República f de Senegal m (formal)
12. Swedish: Senegal
13. Turkish: Senegal Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

from ethnic name

Primary subdivisions: 

Senegal is divided into fourteen régions (regions).

Region	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Dakar	SN.DK	DK	SG01	3,137,196	550	212
Diourbel	SN.DB	DB	SG03	1,497,455	4,359	1,683
Fatick	SN.FK	FK	SG09	714,392	7,935	3,064
Kaffrine	SN.KF	KA	SG16	566,992	11,853	4,576
Kaolack	SN.KC	KL	SG10	960,875	4,157	1,605
Kédougou	SN.KG	KE	SG17	151,357	16,896	6,524
Kolda	SN.KO	KD	SG11	662,455	13,718	5,297
Louga	SN.LG	LG	SG13	874,193	29,188	11,270
Matam	SN.MT	MT	SG15	562,539	25,083	9,685
Saint-Louis	SN.ST	SL	SG14	908,942	19,044	7,353
Sédhiou	SN.SD	SE	SG18	452,994	7,293	2,816
Tambacounda	SN.TB	TC	SG05	681,310	42,706	16,489
Thiès	SN.TH	TH	SG07	1,788,864	6,601	2,549
Ziguinchor	SN.ZG	ZG	SG12	549,151	7,339	2,834
14 regions				13,508,715	196,722	75,955
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: "Geopolitical Entities and Codes." Population: 2013-11-19 census (source [6]). Capital: Capitals have the same names as their regions.

Further subdivisions:

See the Departments of Senegal page.

The regions are divided into 34 départements, which are further subdivided into arrondissements.

Territorial extent: 

The UN LOCODE page  for Senegal 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: 

Dakar: Wolof n'dakar: tamarind tree (answer to a misunderstood inquiry)

Change history: 

1. 1960-08-22: Senegal became a separate and independent country. It had formerly been divided into cercles, and the cercles into cantons. Upon independence, it created a new administrative structure, consisting of 7 regions, which were subdivided into 27 departments, which in turn were divided into 85 arrondissements, with villages at the lowest level. The arrondissements each consisted of one or more of the old cantons. In a parallel structure, there were also 34 municipalities or urban communes. Of these, only the regions and communes were self-governing. Cap Vert region had a special structure. From 1961-01 it was divided into 6 arrondissements.
2. 1976-06-26: Louga region split from Diourbel.

Region	FIPS	Pop-1976	Pop-1970	Pop-1960	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Cap Vert	SG01	954,642	649,000	444,000	212	Dakar
Casamance	SG02	712,248	601,000	530,000	10,943	Ziguinchor
Diourbel	SG03	411,837	607,000	503,000	1,681	Diourbel
Fleuve	SG04	493,462	372,000	345,000	17,033	Saint-Louis
Louga	SG08	394,972			11,268	Louga
Sénégal Oriental	SG05	280,379	227,000	151,000	23,006	Tambacounda
Sine-Saloum	SG06	973,226	772,000	727,000	9,243	Kaolack
Thiès	SG07	686,291	527,000	410,000	2,548	Thiès
Total		4,907,057	3,754,000	3,110,000	75,934
FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Pop-1976: 1976-04-16 population (source [4]). Pop-1970: 1970-07 population. Pop-1960: 1960-07 population, rounded to nearest 1,000 (source [3]).

1. 1984-03-24: Casamance region split into Kolda and Ziguinchor; Sine-Saloum region split into Fatick and Kaolack; name of Cap Vert region changed to Dakar; name of Fleuve changed to Saint-Louis; name of Sénégal Oriental changed to Tambacounda. One effect of these changes was that every region was divided into three departments.
2. 2002-02-21: Matam region split from Saint-Louis (former HASC code SN.SL). This left Senegal with the following eleven regions:

Region	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Dakar	SN.DK	DK	SG01	2,411,528	550	212
Diourbel	SN.DB	DB	SG03	930,008	4,359	1,683
Fatick	SN.FK	FK	SG09	639,075	7,935	3,064
Kaolack	SN.KL	KL	SG10	1,128,128	16,010	6,181
Kolda	SN.KD	KD	SG11	834,753	21,011	8,112
Louga	SN.LG	LG	SG13	559,268	29,188	11,270
Matam	SN.MT	MT	SG15	291,555	25,083	9,685
Saint-Louis	SN.ST	SL	SG14	571,885	19,044	7,353
Tambacounda	SN.TC	TC	SG05	530,332	59,602	23,012
Thiès	SN.TH	TH	SG07	1,348,637	6,601	2,549
Ziguinchor	SN.ZG	ZG	SG12	557,606	7,339	2,834
11 regions				9,802,775	196,722	75,955
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Population: 2001-01-01 estimate, provided by Karem Abdalla. Capital: Capitals have the same names as their regions.

1. 2008-09-10: Kaffrine region split from Kaolack (former HASC code SN.KL). Kédougou region split from Tambacounda (SN.TC). Sédhiou region split from Kolda (SN.KD). They had previously been departments with the same names. Eleven new departments were created at that time. The law approving this change was passed on 2008-02-01; the decree took effect on 2008-09-10 (source [1]). The governors of the new regions were installed on 2008-09-01 through 2008-09-03.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Dakar: Cap Vert (obsolete); Dacar (Portuguese)
2. Saint-Louis: Fleuve, Vallée du Fleuve (obsolete)
3. Tambacounda: Sénégal Oriental (obsolete)

Sources: 

1. [1] Decree 2002-172, Gouvernement du Sénégal website at http://www.gouv.sn/collect/2002_172.html (dead link, retrieved 2003-07-14).
2. [2] Economic, Social, Demographic analysis of Tambacounda, website of Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie, http://www.ansd.sn/publications/analyse_economique_demographique_sociale/SES_Tamba_2005.pdf (dead link, retrieved 2008-12-06).
3. [3] Nelson, Harold D., et al. Area Handbook for Senegal, Washington, 1974. Cites Enquête Démographique Nationale, 1970-71: Résultats Provisoires du 1er Passage, Ministère des Finances et d'Affaires Économiques, Dakar 1971 for population and area data.
4. [4] 1979 Demographic Yearbook , 31st Ed. Statistical Office, United Nations, New York, 1980 (retrieved 2011-12-28).
5. [5] Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. Vol. II. New York: United Nations, 1991.
6. [6] Rapport Définitif RGPHAE 2013 , p. 252. Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie (retrieved 2014-10-05).