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Updates: 

Sorin Cosoveanu dug up the definitive report on the 2012 census in Suriname.

Country overview: 

Short name	SURINAME
ISO code	SR
FIPS code	NS
Language	Dutch (nl)
Time zone	-3
Capital	Paramaribo

 

Suriname began the 20th century as a colony of the Netherlands. It became an integral part of the Netherlands on 1954-12-29, and then an independent country on 1975-11-25.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Surinam, Republikken Surinam (formal), Hollandsk Guyana (obsolete)
2. Dutch: Suriname, Republiek Suriname (formal)
3. English: Republic of Suriname (formal), Dutch Guiana (obsolete), Netherlands Guiana (obsolete), Surinam (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Suriname
5. French: Suriname m
6. German: Suriname n
7. Icelandic: Súrínam
8. Italian: Suriname m
9. Norwegian: Surinam, Republikken Surinam (formal)
10. Portuguese: Suriname, República f do Suriname m (formal)
11. Russian: Республика Суринам (formal)
12. Spanish: Surinam, República f de Suriname (formal)
13. Turkish: Surinam Cumhuriyeti (formal)
14. Sranantongo: Sranan
15. Swedish: Surinam

Primary subdivisions: 

Suriname is divided into ten distrikten (sing. distrikt: districts).

District	HASC	FIPS	Pop-2012	Pop-2004	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Brokopondo	SR.BR	NS10	15,909	14,215	7,364	2,843	Brokopondo
Commewijne	SR.CM	NS11	31,420	24,649	2,353	908	Nieuw Amsterdam
Coronie	SR.CR	NS12	3,391	2,887	3,902	1,507	Totness
Marowijne	SR.MA	NS13	18,294	16,642	4,627	1,786	Albina
Nickerie	SR.NI	NS14	34,233	36,639	5,353	2,067	Nieuw Nickerie
Para	SR.PR	NS15	24,700	18,749	5,393	2,082	Onverwacht
Paramaribo	SR.PM	NS16	240,924	242,946	182	70	Paramaribo
Saramacca	SR.SA	NS17	17,480	15,980	3,636	1,404	Groningen
Sipaliwini	SR.SI	NS18	37,065	34,136	130,567	50,412	Paramaribo
Wanica	SR.WA	NS19	118,222	85,986	443	171	Lelydorp
10 districts			541,638	492,829	163,820	63,251
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the district codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Pop-2012: 2012-08-13 census (source [1]). Pop-2004: 2004-08-02 census (source [6]).

Further subdivisions:

See the Ressorts of Suriname page.

The districts are subdivided into ressorten (ressorts).

Territorial extent: 

The UN LOCODE page  for Suriname 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.

Change history: 

The Dutch have always called Suriname by that name. English speakers have called it Dutch Guiana, Netherlands Guiana, Surinam, and Suriname. There was no fixed date at which one name replaced another.

1. 1834-10-08: By royal decree, Suriname was divided into eight divisions (Lower Commewijne, Lower Cottica, Matapica, Para, Saramacca, Upper Commewijne, Upper Cottica and Perica, and Upper Suriname and Torarica) and two districts (Coronie and Nickerie).
2. 1927: Suriname was reorganized into the following seven districts:

District	Pop-1941	Pop-1952	Area(km.²)	Capital
Commewijne	25,963	21,818	5,216	Nieuw Amsterdam
Coronie	4,278	4,225	1,497	Totness
Marowijne	3,715	5,311	40,166	Albina
Nickerie	15,650	19,280	49,464	Nieuw Nickerie
Paramaribo	56,233	86,400	13	Paramaribo
Saramacca	9,866	11,423	25,571	Groningen
Suriname	46,377	63,773	20,893	Paramaribo
7 districts	183,730	237,930	142,820
District: Rural districts, except for Paramaribo, which was an urban district. Population: Source [2]. Totals include indigenous people not enumerated in any district.

1. 1954-12-29: Suriname became an overseas territory of the Netherlands. As such, it was an integral part of the Netherlands, with some autonomy.
2. 1958: Brokopondo district split from Suriname district.
3. 1964-03-31: Census taken.
4. 1966-09-08: Para district split from Suriname district. (One source says 1966-10-28; another, 1968.) The resulting division of Suriname was:

District	FIPS	Pop-1971	Pop-1980	Area(km.²)	Capital
Brokopondo	NS01	17,000	20,249	21,440	Brokopondo
Commewijne	NS02	19,000	14,351	4,110	Nieuw Amsterdam
Coronie	NS03	3,000	2,777	1,620	Totness
Marowijne	NS04	26,000	23,402	45,980	Albina
Nickerie	NS05	35,000	34,480	64,610	Nieuw Nickerie
Para	NS06	18,000	14,867	980	Onverwacht
Paramaribo	NS07	102,000	67,905	32	Paramaribo
Saramacca	NS08	14,000	10,335	23,420	Groningen
Suriname	NS09	152,000	166,494	1,628	Paramaribo
9 districts		379,607	354,860	163,820
District: Rural districts, except for Paramaribo, which was an urban district. Pop-1971: 1972-01-01 census (source [3]). Pop-1980: 1980-07-01 census (sources [4], [5]).

1. 1975-11-25: Suriname became independent.
2. 1985: Suriname was reorganized. Suriname district was divided among Commewijne, Para, Saramacca, and the new Wanica district. Sipaliwini district was formed from large parts of Brokopondo, Marowijne, Nickerie, and Saramacca districts, constituting almost four-fifths of the country, all in the south. Other borders were adjusted. One site says that Sipaliwini was originally called Binnenland (= inland), and later renamed.

Sources: 

1. [1] Definitieve Resultaten Achtste Algemene Volkstelling  (Vol. I), Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek - Suriname (retrieved 2013-10-11).
2. [2] Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1951 edition had 1941 population estimates; 1957 edition had 1952 estimates.
3. [3] Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition, Chicago, 1984.
4. [4] Almanaque Mundial (1992 edition), Editorial America, Virginia Gardens, FL.
5. [5] John Paxton, ed. The Statesman's Yearbook 1988-89. St. Martin's Press, New York 1988.
6. [6] General Bureau of Statistics website (http://www.statistics-suriname.org/cen-index.html, dead link, retrieved 2007-07-30).
7. [7] European Union Observation Unit for the elections in Suriname (http://www.euou-suriname.org/index.html, dead link, retrieved 2001-04-26).