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Updates: 

James Nealis indicated a site where I was able to find 2011 census data.

Update 15 to the GEC, the successor to the FIPS standard, is dated 2014-03-31. It changes the status of Delta Amacuro from federal territory to state.

Paraskevas Renesis informs me that Venezuela has created a new administrative unit called Francisco de Miranda. Its status is territorio insular (island territory), and it consists of three island groups of Dependencias Federales: the archipiélagos Los Roques, La Orchila, and Las Aves. This is not all of Dependencias Federales, but contains more than three quarters of their population. It's not clear how this territory fits into the administrative division hierarchy of Venezuela. For now, I will consider Dependencias Federales to remain as a primary and secondary subdivision, since the parts of it that are not included in Francisco de Miranda have no separate administration that I can find out.

Update 1 to the U.S. standard "Geopolitical Entities and Codes" is dated 2010-08-20. It changes the name of Distrito Federal to Distrito Capital.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number II-1, dated 2010-02-03, changes the country name to Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-4, dated 2002-12-10, shows the new state of Vargas. ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-5, dated 2003-09-05, changes the status of Amazonas and Delta Amacuro from territories to states, correcting an error that has persisted since the original draft standard of 1996. Change Notice 6 to FIPS PUB 10-4, published on 2001-01-28, also shows Vargas as a new state.

FIPS PUB 10-4 is the U.S. Federal standard for administrative divisions of countries. Change 1 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 1998-12-01. One of the changes is to the status of two divisions of Venezuela. Amazonas and Delta Amacuro have been changed from territorios (territories) to estados (states).

Country overview: 

Short name	VENEZUELA
ISO code	VE
FIPS code	VE
Language	Spanish (es)
Time zone	-4:30
Capital	Caracas

 

Venezuela has been independent during the entire 20th century. In 1953, a new constitution changed the name of the country from Estados Unidos de Venezuela to República de Venezuela.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Venezuela
2. Dutch: Venezuela, Bolivarische Republiek Venezuela (formal)
3. English: Republic of Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (formal)
4. Finnish: Venezuela
5. French: Venezuela m
6. German: Venezuela n
7. Icelandic: Venesúela
8. Italian: Venezuela m
9. Norwegian: Venezuela, Republikken Venezuela
10. Portuguese: Venezuela, República de Venezuela, República f Bolivariana da Venezuela f (formal)
11. Russian: Боливарианская Республика Венесуэла (formal)
12. Spanish: Venezuela, República f Bolivariana de Venezuela f (formal)
13. Swedish: Venezuela
14. Turkish: Bolivarcı Venezuela Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Spanish for little Venice, because early explorers found inhabitants living in stilt houses in lakes

Primary subdivisions: 

Venezuela is divided into 23 estados (states), one dependencias federales (federal dependencies), and one distrito capital (capital district).

State	HASC	ISO	FIPS	NUTE	OCEI	Population	Area(Km.²)	Area(Mi.²)	Capital
Amazonas	VE.AM	Z	VE01	50902	02	146,480	180,145	69,550	Puerto Ayacucho
Anzoátegui	VE.AN	B	VE02	50703	03	1,469,747	43,300	16,720	Barcelona
Apure	VE.AP	C	VE03	50304	04	459,025	76,500	29,540	San Fernando (de Apure)
Aragua	VE.AR	D	VE04	50205	05	1,630,308	7,014	2,710	Maracay
Barinas	VE.BA	E	VE05	50606	06	816,264	35,200	13,590	Barinas
Bolívar	VE.BO	F	VE06	50907	07	1,413,115	238,000	91,890	Ciudad Bolívar
Carabobo	VE.CA	G	VE07	50208	08	2,245,744	4,650	1,800	Valencia
Cojedes	VE.CO	H	VE08	50209	09	323,165	14,800	5,710	San Carlos
Delta Amacuro	VE.DA	Y	VE09	50910	10	165,525	40,200	15,520	Tucupita
Dependencias Federales	VE.DP	W	VE24	50825	25	2,155	120	50
Distrito Capital	VE.DF	A	VE25	50101	01	1,943,901	433	170	Caracas
Falcón	VE.FA	I	VE11	50411	11	902,847	24,800	9,580	(Santa Ana de) Coro
Guárico	VE.GU	J	VE12	50312	12	747,739	64,986	25,090	San Juan (de los Morros)
Lara	VE.LA	K	VE13	50413	13	1,774,867	19,800	7,640	Barquisimeto
Mérida	VE.ME	L	VE14	50614	14	828,592	11,300	4,360	Mérida
Miranda	VE.MI	M	VE15	50115	15	2,675,165	7,950	3,070	Los Teques
Monagas	VE.MO	N	VE16	50716	16	905,443	28,900	11,160	Maturín
Nueva Esparta	VE.NE	O	VE17	50817	17	491,610	1,150	440	La Asunción
Portuguesa	VE.PO	P	VE18	50418	18	876,496	15,200	5,870	Guanare
Sucre	VE.SU	R	VE19	50719	19	896,291	11,800	4,560	Cumaná
Táchira	VE.TA	S	VE20	50620	20	1,168,908	11,100	4,290	San Cristóbal
Trujillo	VE.TR	T	VE21	50621	21	686,367	7,400	2,860	Trujillo
Vargas	VE.VA	X	VE26	50124	24	352,920	1,497	580	La Guaira
Yaracuy	VE.YA	U	VE22	50422	22	600,852	7,100	2,740	San Felipe
Zulia	VE.ZU	V	VE23	50523	23	3,704,404	63,100	24,360	Maracaibo
25 divisions						27,227,930	916,445	353,850
State: except for Dependencias Federales and Distrito Capital. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: State codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "VE-" to the code (ex: VE-R represents Sucre). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. NUTE: Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units. First three digits indicate NUTE region (see table below). OCEI: Codes used by the Oficina Central de Estadística e Informática (OCEI) to identify states and territories. Within each state, OCEI numbers the municipalities from 1 to n, and so on. By concatenating the codes for state, municipality, parish, and populated place, you can get a unique code for each populated place in Venezuela. Population: 2011-09-01 census (source [13]). Capital: Formal name includes the part in parentheses.

 

The first three digits of a state's NUTE code determine what NUTE region it lies in. However, the Venezuela NUTE code system has one exceptional case. The state of Apure is partly in two regions. Its municipio of Paez lies in region 506. These are the same as the nine administrative regions established by decree in 1980.

NUTE	Region
501	Región Capital
502	Región Central
503	Región de los Llanos
504	Región Centro Occidental
505	Región Zuliana
506	Región de los Andes
507	Región Nor Oriental
508	Región Insular
509	Región de Guayana

Postal codes: 

Venezuela uses four-digit postal codes.

Further subdivisions:

See the Municipalities of Venezuela page.

The states are divided into municipios (municipalities), or, in the case of territories/capital district, into departamentos (departments). The municipios are further subdivided into parroquias (parishes).

Territorial extent: 

1. Delta Amacuro includes many islands in the deltas of the Orinoco, Amacuro, and other rivers.
2. Dependencias Federales consists of the Caribbean islands, other than those belonging to Nueva Esparta, between 62° and 68° W. and south of 12°15' N., as well as Isla de las Aves, which is nearer to Guadeloupe. The largest of these islands are La Tortuga, La Blanquilla, and Los Roques.
3. Nueva Esparta consists of Margarita, Cubagua, and Coche islands.
4. Zulia is divided into three parts by Lake Maracaibo. Traveling clockwise around the lake shore from its opening to the sea in the north, you pass through Zulia, Trujillo, Zulia, Mérida, and Zulia.
5. The city of Caracas is divided roughly in half between Distrito Capital and Miranda. It is quite unusual for a city to lie in two different primary administrative divisions of a country.

The UN LOCODE page  for Venezuela 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. Amazonas: for the Amazon River
2. Anzoátegui: Basque for "place of the elder [tree]"; for General José Antonio Anzoátegui (1789-1819)
3. Apure: for the Apure River
4. Aragua: after the Aragua tribe, whose leader was Chief Maracay; or, Cumanagoto for the chaguaramo, a kind of palm tree
5. Barinas: for the Barinas River
6. Bolívar: for Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), independence fighter
7. Carabobo: named for a village, from an ethnic name
8. Caracas: from an ethnic name
9. Cojedes: "nation of potters", from Carib coa: nation, heir: pottery
10. Delta Amacuro: the Amacuro River is a short river within the Orinoco delta
11. Falcón: for General Juan Crisóstomo Falcón (1820-1870), president of Venezuela
12. Guárico: for the Guárico River
13. Lara: for General Jacinto Lara (1777-1859), independence fighter
14. Mérida: after the capital city, which was in turn named after Mérida in Extremadura, Spain
15. Miranda: for Francisco de Miranda (1750-1816), independence fighter
16. Monagas: for José Tadeo Monagas (1784-1868) and José Gregorio Monagas (1795-1858), brothers and presidents of Venezuela
17. Nueva Esparta: Spanish for "New Sparta", to commemorate the inhabitants' heroism in the war for independence
18. Portuguesa: = Portuguese, for the Portuguesa River, supposedly so named because a Portuguese woman drowned in it during the conquista
19. Sucre: for Antonio José de Sucre (1795-1830), South American independence fighter
20. Táchira: for the Táchira River, which was named for tachure, a medicinal plant
21. Trujillo: after the capital city, which was in turn named after Tungala, a former city in Cáceres, Spain
22. Vargas: for José María Vargas (1786-1854), second president of Venezuela
23. Yaracuy: named for a valorous native chief; the name means "to bring water from far away"
24. Zulia: named for Zulia (1538-1561), a native princess who resisted the conquistadores

Change history: 

1. 1777-09-08: The provinces of Cumaná (or Nueva Andalucía), Guayana, Maracaibo, Margarita, and Trinidad were detached from the virreinato (viceroyalty) and capitanía general (captaincy-general) of New Granada, and attached to the captaincy-general of Venezuela (or Caracas). The same region had been made an intendencia in 1776. As a result, Venezuela was unified administratively, militarily, and judicially, with six provinces and Caracas as its capital (source [10]).
2. 1797: Trinidad province (now part of Trinidad and Tobago) taken from Venezuela by the British. The Venzuelan flag of 1797 had four stars, representing four provinces; for that purpose, Margarita was deemed an island and not a province.
3. 1810: Trujillo province split from Maracaibo.
4. 1811-07-05: First Congress of Venezuela declared independence, with representatives of seven provinces present: Barcelona, Barinas, Caracas, Cumaná, Margarita, Mérida, and Trujillo. The provinces of Coro (officially split from Caracas in 1818-07), Guayana, and Maracaibo did not participate.
5. 1817: Guayana province was liberated and became part of Venezuela.
6. 1819-08-15: A new constitution for Venezuela specified a division into the same ten provinces that had existed in 1811.
7. 1819-12-17: Congress of Angostura (now known as Ciudad Bolívar) established the Republic of Colombia (later called Gran Colombia). This entity was initially divided into three departamentos (departments): Cundinamarca (or Santafé), Quito, and Venezuela. By 1821, they had been replaced by nine departments: Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Orinoco (or Orinoco y Maturín), Panama, Quito, Venezuela, and Zulia (or Maracaibo). In 1821 and 1822 the departments of Apure (split from Venezuela department), Azuay, and Guayaquil were added, and Panama was renamed Istmo. Of these departments, Apure, Orinoco, Venezuela, and Zulia fell mostly within present-day Venezuela. As related to the pre-1819 divisions, Apure department corresponded roughly to Barinas province; Orinoco department to the provinces of Barcelona, Cumaná, Guayana, and Margarita; Venezuela department to Caracas province, and Zulia department to the provinces of Coro, Maracaibo, Mérida, and Trujillo.
8. 1824-06-24: Under Law of Territorial Political Division, Carabobo province split from Caracas.
9. 1830: República de Colombia split into three independent countries. Cundinamarca department became Colombia, Quito department became Ecuador, and Venezuela department became República de Venezuela. Under the new constitution, the departments disappeared, and Venezuela had eleven provinces.
10. 1831: Trujillo province split from Maracaibo.
11. 1832-03-29: Barquisimeto province split from Carabobo. According to source [11], the populations and areas of the thirteen provinces were as follows.

Province	Population	Area(lg.²)	Area(km.²)	Capital	Cantons
Apure	15,479	1,860	43,356	Acháguas	Acháguas, Guasdualito, Mantecal, San Fernando
Barcelona	52,103	1,155	26,923	Barcelona	Aragua, Barcelona, Onoto, Pao, Piritu, San Diego, San Matéo, Soledad
Barínas	109,497	1,994	46,480	Barínas	Araure, Barinas, Guanare, Guanarito, Nutrias, Obispo, Ospino, Pedraza
Barquisimeto	112,755	782	18,228	Barquisimeto	Barquisimeto, Carora, Quibor, San Felipe, Tocuyo, Yaritagua
Carabobo	96,967	679	15,827	Valencia	Montalban, Nirgua, Ocumare, Pao, Puerto Cabello, San Carlos, Valencia
Carácas	242,888	2,842	66,247	Carácas	Calabozo, Carácas, Caucagua, Chaguaramas, Cura, Guaira, Guarenas, Ocumare, Orituco, Petare, Rio Chico, San Sebastian, Santa Lucia, Turmero, Victoria
Coro	40,476	941	21,935	Coro	Casigua, Coro, Cumarebo, Pueblo Nuevo, San Luis, Tocuyo
Cumaná	50,671	1,463	34,102	Cumaná	Aragua, Barrancas, Cariaco, Carúpano, Cumaná, Cumanacoa, Güiria, Maturin, Rio Caribe
Guayana	56,471	20,149	469,671	Angostura	Angostura, Caycara, Piacoa, Rio Negro, Upata
Maracaibo	42,832	2,780	64,802	Maracaibo	Altagracia, Gibraltar, Maracaibo, Perija, San Carlos
Margarita	18,305	37	862	Asuncion	Asuncion, Norte
Mérida	62,116	907	21,142	Mérida	Bailadores, Ejido, Grila, Lobatera, Mérida, Mucuchies, San Antonio, San Cristóbal
Trujillo	44,788	362	8,438	Trujillo	Bocono, Carache, Escuque, Trujillo
13 provinces	945,348	35,951	838,013
Population: estimates. Guayana includes 41,040 "independent Indians". Area: Atlas gives areas in square leagues.

 

Notes: Areas in km.² were computed using one league (lg.) = three miles. Guayana area does not include Venezuela's claim to parts of British Guiana and Brazil, amounting to 6,000 lg.². The atlas also lists population densities of the provinces. The density equals the population divided by the area, rounded down to the next lower tenth of a unit, except in two cases. The density given for Guayana is 2.2 (should be 2.8), and for Carabobo, 145.7 (should be 142.8). I have no explanation for these discrepancies.

The atlas also shows the cantons constituting each province. Capitals of cantons have the same name as the cantons.

1. 1848-02-11: Aragua province split from Caracas with La Victoria as its capital.
2. 1856-04-28: Law of Territorial Division divided Venezuela into 21 provinces: Amazonas, Apure, Aragua, Barcelona, Barinas, Barquisimeto, Carabobo, Caracas, Cojedes, Coro, Cumaná, Guárico, Guayana, Maracaibo, Margarita, Maturin, Mérida, Portuguesa, Táchira, Trujillo, and Yaracuy.
3. ~1860: Amazonas province merged with Guayana.
4. 1862: Apure and Barinas provinces merged to form Zamora (reversed in 1864).
5. 1864-03-28: Constitution signed. Estados Unidos de Venezuela designated as the official name of the country. The twenty provinces became "sovereign states" (estados soberanos).
6. ~1864-10: Name of Caracas state changed to Bolívar.
7. ~1864-11: Name of Maracaibo state changed to Zulia.
8. ~1864: Name of Margarita state changed to Nueva Esparta.
9. 1865-06-02: Capital of Bolívar state moved from Petare to Caracas.
10. 1866: Name of Barinas state changed to Zamora.
11. 1871-08-22: Territorio Colón, equivalent to present Dependencias Federales, created by presidential decree,
12. 1873: Name of Aragua state changed to Guzmán Blanco.
13. 1874: Name of Coro state changed to Falcón.
14. 1874: Name of Mérida state changed to Guzmán.
15. 1881-04-27: New constitution changed all of the old states to secciones (sections), and created nine new states, whose composition was as shown in this table.

State	Sections
Bolívar	Apure, Guayana
Carabobo	Carabobo, Nirgua department of Yaracuy
Falcón	Falcón
Guzmán Blanco	Bolívar, Guárico, Guzmán Blanco, Nueva Esparta
Los Andes	Guzmán, Táchira, Trujillo
Norte de Occidente	Barquisimeto, Yaracuy except for Nirgua department
Oriente	Barcelona, Cumaná, Maturín
Sur de Occidente	Cojedes, Portuguesa, Zamora
Zulia	Zulia

1. 1881-08-17: Falcón and Zulia states merged to form Falcón-Zulia state, with Casigua as provisional capital, later moved to Capatárida.
2. 1890-04-01: Falcón-Zulia state split into Falcón and Zulia states again.
3. 1891-04-16: Venezuela reorganized under a new constitution. The territorial division was the same as under the 1881 constitution, except that Guzmán Blanco was now named Miranda, Norte de Occidente became Lara, Oriente became Bermúdez, and Sur de Occidente became Zamora. This constitution also called for the creation of a federal district. It placed the Amazonas and Goagira territories, and certain islands (probably equivalent to modern Dependencias Federales), directly under federal administration.
4. The following table shows the composition of Venezuela in 1891 based on three more contemporary sources: The Columbian Atlas of the World, Garretson, Cox & Co., Buffalo, New York, 1898; The Century Atlas of the World, Benjamin E. Smith, ed., New York, 1906; and Longman's Gazetteer of the World, George G. Chisholm, ed., London, 1920, apparently not revised since its first edition in 1895. These sources present the territories as separate entities, where the constitution considers them as part of various states.

State	Typ	Population	Area(km.²)	Capital	Now
Alto Orinoco	t	21,396			Amazonas
Amazonas	t	23,558	817,988 (9)		Amazonas
Armisticio (4)	t	(6)		San Fernando	Apure
Bermudez	s	300,597	83,509	Barcelona	Anz., Mon., N.E., Sucre
Bolivar	s	56,289	229,735	Ciudad Bolivar (2)	Bolívar
Carabobo	s	198,021	7,729	Valencia	Carabobo
Caura (4)	t	(6)			Bolívar
Colon	t	129	575		Dep. Fed.
Delta	t	7,222			Delta Amacuro
Falcon	s	139,110	93,789	Maracaibo	Fal., Zulia, Tru.
Federal District	s	72,429	117	Caracas	Dist. Cap.
Goajira (3)	t	65,990			(Colombia)
Lara	s	246,760	24,077	Barquisimeto	Lara, Yaracuy
Los Andes	s	336,146	38,122	Merida	Mér., Tach., Tru.
Miranda	s	484,509	87,979	Caracas	Ara., Guá., Mir., Var.
Yuruari (4,5)	t	22,329			Bolívar
Zamora	s	246,676	65,299	Guanare	Bar., Coj., Por.
Zulia (1)	s	85,456			Zulia
18 divisions		2,323,527 (7)	1,448,919
Typ: s = state, t = territory Population: 1891 census Now: present-day divisions occupying approximately the same territory

 

Notes:

1. (1) Longman lists Falcon and Zulia as a single entry. The atlases both spread the name "Falcon" across the territory of both states. The Century Atlas index, on the other hand, says that Falcon and Zulia are both states, and gives a population for each one separately.
2. (2) An alternate name for Ciudad Bolivar was Angostura, Spanish for "narrows".
3. (3) Goajira represents Venezuela's claim to the Guajira Peninsula, now part of Colombia.
4. (4) Graphically, the Century Atlas makes Armisticio, Caura, and Yuruari territories appear to be part of Bolivar state.
5. (5) Longman's Gazetteer says that Yuruari territory was reincorporated with Bolivar state in 1891, but the Century Atlas still displays it and lists it in the index.
6. (6) Population data are from the Century Atlas index. For Armisticio territory, the listing says the population is "included in new divisions"; for Caura territory, "included with the state of Bolivar".
7. (7) When the sum of the individual division populations is compared to the population for Venezuela as a whole, there are 16,910 souls unaccounted for.
8. (8) Most of the area data in the Columbian Atlas and Longman's Gazetteer match. Where they differ, I tried to choose the more plausible figure. The total is much larger than Venezuela's present-day area, but this may be accounted for by border disputes.
9. (9) Both the Columbian and Longman's lump the territories together into a single area figure, which I have arbitrarily listed under Amazonas territory.

1. 1899-04-22: National Congress decreed a return to the twenty states of 1864. This change was embodied in the new constitution, which was adopted on 1901-04-13. The 1901 constitution defined the states to be the same as under the 1864 constitution, with the following names changed: Barinas to Zamora, Barquisimeto to Lara, Caracas to Miranda, Coro to Falcón, Cumaná to Sucre, Guayana to Bolívar, Maracaibo to Zulia, and Margarita to Nueva Esparta. At the same time, Distrito Federal and the territories of Amazonas, Colón, Delta Amacuro, and Yuruary were created.
2. 1904-04-27: New constitution adopted, dividing Venezuela into thirteen states (Aragua, Bermúdez, Bolívar, Carabobo, Falcón, Guárico, Lara, Mérida, Miranda, Táchira, Trujillo, Zamora, and Zulia), five territories (Amazonas, Colón, Cristóbal Colón, Delta-Amacuro, and Yuruari), and Distrito Federal. The constitution defined each state, and the federal district, by enumerating the distritos that composed it. The federal district included Margarita.
3. 1909-08-05: New constitution adopted. Under it, Venezuela was divided into twenty states, two territories, a federal district, and the federal dependencies. The states were defined by reference to the twenty states under the constitution of 1864, with these changes: Independencia parish was transferred from Maracaibo state to Mérida state, while the remainder of Maracaibo state became Zulia state; Vargas district was transferred from Caracas state to the Distrito Federal, while the remainder of Caracas state became Miranda state; Amazonas and Delta Amacuro territories were split from Guayana state, while the remainder of Guayana state became Bolívar state; and the names of Barcelona, Barinas, Barquisimeto, Coro, Cumaná, Margarita, and Maturín states were changed to Anzoátegui, Zamora, Lara, Falcón, Sucre, Nueva Esparta, and Monagas, respectively.
4. 1917: Border adjustment between Aragua and Carabobo states.
5. 1917-03-12: Capital of Aragua moved from La Victoria to Maracay.
6. These were the divisions at the time of the 1926 census.

State	Population	Capital
Amazonas	60,276	San Fernando Atabapo
Anzoátegui	129,791	Barcelona
Apure	58,499	San Fernando
Aragua	105,839	Maracay
Bolívar	98,258	Ciudad Bolívar
Carabobo	147,204	Valencia
Cojedes	82,152	San Carlos
Delta Amacuro	26,582	Tucupita
Distrito Federal	195,460	Caracas
Falcón	178,642	Coro
Guárico	125,282	Calabozo
Lara	271,369	Barquisimeto
Mérida	150,128	Mérida
Miranda	189,572	Ocumare del Tuy
Monagas	68,756	Maturín
Nueva Esparta	69,392	La Asunción
Portuguesa	58,721	Acarigua
Sucre	216,476	Cumaná
Táchira	172,900	San Cristóbal
Trujillo	218,780	Trujillo
Yaracuy	122,836	San Felipe
Zamora	57,341	Barinas
Zulia	222,613	Maracaibo
Total	3,026,878
State: Amazonas and Delta Amacuro were territories; Distrito Federal was a federal district Population: 1926-01-31 census

1. 1927-02-13: Capital of Miranda moved from Ocumare del Tuy to Los Teques. (Apparently took effect in 1928.)
2. 1928-05-22: New constitution signed. Dependencias Federales created.
3. 1933-12-13: Land around Turiamo transferred from Carabobo to Aragua; several municipios exchanged between Aragua and Guárico, amounting to a net gain of 1,414 sq. km. for Aragua.
4. 1934: Capital of Guárico moved from Calabozo to San Juan de los Morros.
5. 1937: Name of Zamora changed to Barinas.
6. ~1947: Capital of Portuguesa moved from Acarigua to Guanare.
7. 1948: Under the new constitution, Cubagua island transferred from Dependencias Federales to Nueva Esparta state.
8. 1991-03-08: Status of Delta Amacuro changed from territory to state.
9. 1992-07-23: Status of Amazonas changed from territory to state.
10. 1998-04-22: Vargas territory split from Distrito Federal, consisting of Vargas municipality. The constitutionality of this action was contested; the Supreme Court affirmed it on 1998-05-28.
11. 1998-12-31: Status of Vargas changed from territory to state.
12. 1999-12-30: New Constitution took effect. Name of Distrito Federal changed to Distrito Capital.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Amazonas: Amazone (French)
2. Anzoátegui: Barcelona (obsolete)
3. Barinas: Zamora (obsolete)
4. Bolívar: Guayana (obsolete)
5. Dependencias Federales: Dependencias Federales de Alta Mar (formal); Federal Dependencies (variant); Territorio Colón (obsolete)
6. Distrito Capital: Distrito Federal (obsolete)
7. Falcón: Coro (obsolete)
8. Lara: Barquisimeto (obsolete)
9. Mérida: Guzmán (obsolete)
10. Miranda: Caracas (obsolete)
11. Monagas: Maturín (obsolete)
12. Nueva Esparta: Margarita (obsolete)
13. Sucre: Cumaná (obsolete)
14. Zulia: Maracaibo (obsolete)

Population history:

State	1926-01-31	1941-12-07	1950-11-26	1961-02-26	1971-11-02	1981-10-20	1990-10-21	2001-10-30	2011-09-01
Amazonas	60,276	3,728	10,582	11,757	21,696	45,667	55,717	70,464	146,480
Anzoátegui	129,791	155,746	242,058	382,002	506,297	683,717	859,758	1,222,225	1,469,747
Apure	58,499	70,560	88,939	117,577	164,705	188,187	285,412	377,756	459,025
Aragua	105,839	138,235	189,891	313,274	543,170	891,623	1,120,132	1,449,616	1,630,308
Barinas	57,341	62,959	79,944	139,271	231,046	326,166	424,491	624,508	816,264
Bolívar	98,258	94,522	127,436	213,543	391,665	668,340	900,310	1,214,846	1,413,115
Carabobo	147,204	191,442	242,923	381,636	659,339	1,062,268	1,453,232	1,932,168	2,245,744
Cojedes	82,152	49,769	52,111	72,652	94,351	133,991	182,066	253,105	323,165
Delta Amacuro	26,582	28,165	33,648	33,979	48,139	56,720	84,564	97,987	165,525
Dependencias Federales		852	779	861	463	850	2,245	1,651	2,155
Distrito Capital	195,460	380,099	709,602	1,257,515	1,860,637	2,070,742	1,823,222	1,836,286	1,943,901
Falcón	178,642	232,644	258,759	340,450	407,957	503,896	599,185	763,188	902,847
Guárico	125,282	135,089	164,523	244,966	318,905	393,467	488,623	627,086	747,739
Lara	271,369	332,975	368,169	489,140	671,410	945,064	1,193,161	1,556,415	1,774,867
Mérida	150,128	192,994	211,110	270,668	347,095	459,361	570,215	715,268	828,592
Miranda	189,572	227,604	276,273	492,349	856,272	1,421,442	1,871,093	2,330,872	2,675,165
Monagas	68,765	122,901	175,560	246,217	298,239	388,536	470,157	712,626	905,443
Nueva Esparta	69,392	69,195	75,899	89,492	118,830	197,198	263,748	373,851	491,610
Portuguesa	58,721	87,151	122,153	203,707	297,047	424,984	576,435	725,740	876,496
Sucre	216,476	291,452	333,607	401,992	469,004	585,698	679,595	786,483	896,291
Táchira	172,900	245,722	304,181	399,163	511,346	660,234	807,712	992,669	1,168,908
Trujillo	218,780	264,270	273,919	326,634	381,334	433,735	493,912	608,563	686,367
Vargas							280,439	298,109	352,920
Yaracuy	122,836	127,030	132,436	175,291	223,545	300,597	384,536	499,049	600,852
Zulia	222,613	345,667	560,336	919,863	1,299,030	1,674,252	2,235,305	2,983,679	3,704,404
Totals	3,026,878	3,850,771	5,034,838	7,523,999	10,721,522	14,516,735	18,105,265	23,054,210	27,227,930

 

1990 data adjusted to reflect the split of Vargas from Distrito Capital.

Source [8] has data from earlier censuses. The data agree with the table above, except for 1926 (taken from source [2]), where there are some discrepancies.

Sources: 

1. [1] Atlas del Estado Nueva Esparta. Ministerio del Ambiente y de los Recursos Renovables (MARNR), Porlamar, 1994.
2. [2] Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana. Espasa-Calpe, S.A., Madrid, 1958.
3. [3] Chisholm, George G., ed., Longman's Gazetteer of the World. Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1920 (apparently not revised since the 1895 first edition).
4. [4] Anuario Estadístico de Venezuela 1991. Oficina Central de Estadística e Informática, Caracas, 1992.
5. [5] Venezuela: División Politico-Territorial 1978. Oficina Central de Estadística e Informática, Caracas, 1978.
6. [6] Venezuela's constitutions , Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library (retrieved 2005-06-09).
7. [7] "Así va el Censo" has preliminary 2001 census figures for the states (http://www.ine.gov.ve/ine/censo/boletines/asi_va_el_censo09.pdf, dead link, retrieved 2004-01-31). Note: the PDF document gives 22,688,803 as the total population of Venezuela, but the state-by-state populations add up to 22,689,935. The difference between these two numbers is 1,132, which happens to be the population of Dependencias Federales. Does this mean that the people of Dependencias Federales are not part of Venezuela? Anyway, I included them in my total for the 2001 population of Venezuela.
8. [8] Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales  has (presumably proleptic) census populations by states from 1873 to 1990 (retrieved 2005-06-09).
9. [9] Metes and bounds of Vargas territory were given at http://www.terra.com.ve/especiales/vargas/vistazo/gaceta36464.htm (dead link, retrieved 2003-09-08), and before that at http://www.estadovargas.com/Gaceta1.html (dead link, retrieved 2001-02-06).
10. [10] "Integración de las provincias", with maps  (retrieved 2005-06-09).
11. [11] Codazzi, Agustin, Atlas fisico y politico de la Republica de Venezuela , 1840 (retrieved 2005-06-09).
12. [12] Library of Congress country study  (retrieved 1999).
13. [13] Censo 2011 Redatam  (retrieved 2015-01-07). This page has a copyright notice for the Venezuelan Instituto Nacional de Estadística, but is driven by REDATAM (REcuperación de DATos para Áreas pequeñas por Microcomputador: Data recovery for small areas by microcomputer), a Latin American and Caribbean consortium.