Prefectures of Togo

Sorin Cosoveanu and Frédéric Zanetta called my attention to five newly formed prefectures. They are described under Change history. There is some confusion over whether Anié is a prefecture or a sub-prefecture; I concluded the former.

PrefectureHASCPopulationCapital
AgouTG.PL.AG84,890Agou-Gadzepé
AkébouTG.PL.AK62,245Kougnohou
AmouTG.PL.AM105,091Amlamé
AniéTG.PL.AN95,090Anié
AssoliTG.KA.AS51,491Bafilo
AvéTG.MA.AV97,830Kévé
Bas-MonoTG.MA.BM88,846Afagnangan
BassarTG.KA.BA119,717Bassar
BinahTG.KA.BI70,054Pagouda
BlittaTG.CE.BL137,658Blitta
CinkasséTG.SA.CI78,592Cinkassé
DankpenTG.KA.DP130,723Guérin-Kouka
DanyiTG.PL.DY38,742Danyi-Apéyémé
DoufelgouTG.KA.DO78,635Niamtougou
Est-MonoTG.PL.ES121,789Elavagnon
GolfeTG.MA.GF1,570,283Lomé
HahoTG.PL.HA247,817Notsé
KéranTG.KA.KE94,061Kandé
KlotoTG.PL.KT139,043Kpalimé
KozahTG.KA.KO225,259Kara
KpéléTG.PL.KP75,890Kpélé-Adéta
KpendjalTG.SA.KP155,091Mandouri
LacsTG.MA.LC172,148Aného
Moyen-MonoTG.PL.MO77,286Tohoun
OgouTG.PL.OU226,308Atakpamé
OtiTG.SA.OT190,543Mango
SotoubouaTG.CE.SO158,425Sotouboua
TandjouaréTG.SA.TA117,519Tandjouaré
TchambaTG.CE.TB131,674Tchamba
TchaoudjoTG.CE.TD190,114Sokodé
TôneTG.SA.TN286,479Dapaong
VoTG.MA.VO210,075Vogan
WawaTG.PL.WW100,974Badou
YotoTG.MA.YO165,596Tabligbo
ZioTG.MA.ZI295,177Tsévié
35 divisions6,653,945

Change history:

  1. 1960-04-27: Togo became independent. Before that time, the secondary subdivisions were ten cercles (circles). The circles were replaced by 17 circonscriptions administratives (administrative circumscriptions), further subdivided into 158 cantons. The circumscriptions were Akposso (Hihéatro), Aného, Atakpamé, Bafilo, Bassari, Dapango, Kandé, Klouto (Palimé), Lama-Kara, Lomé, Niamtougou, Nuatja, Pagouda, Sansanné-Mango, Sokodé, Tabligbo, Tsévié. The capitals had the same names as the circumscriptions except as indicated in parentheses.
  2. 1968-01-26: Sotouboua circumscription created from parts of Atakpamé and Sokodé.
  3. 1969-02-22: Vogan circumscription split from Aného.
  4. ~1970: Name of Sansanné-Mango circumscription, but not its capital, changed to Mango. This is the set of circumscriptions at that time. (Source: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1984 edition.)
CircumscriptionRegPopulationArea(km.²)
AkpossoPL132,0004,382
AnéhoMA121,000712
AtakpaméPL106,0006,145
BafiloCE29,000938
BassariCE95,0006,330
DapangoSA181,0004,840
KandéKA42,0001,692
KloutoPL77,0002,790
Lama-KaraKA96,0001,085
LoméMA231,000345
MangoSA58,0003,762
NiamtougouKA52,0001,120
NuatjaPL157,0003,658
PagoudaKA45,000465
SokodéCE106,0005,692
SotoubouaCE68,0007,490
TabligboMA72,0001,250
TséviéMA156,0003,338
VoganMA132,000750
19 circumscriptions1,956,00056,784
  • Reg: Region in which the prefecture lies.
    For key, see Regions of Togo page.
  • Population: 1970-04-30 census.
  1. Note: Bafilo and Bassari circumscriptions are pretty clearly in Kara region according to current maps. Either the EB was mistaken, or the boundary between Kara and Centre region changed.
  2. 1974-05-08: Akposso circumscription split into Amlamé and Badou.
  3. 1975-02-03: Tchamba circumscription split from Sokodé.
  4. ~1982: Name of Dapango circumscription changed to Dapaong.
  5. 1981-06-23: Laws No. 81-8 and 81-9 took effect. Status of circumscriptions changed to prefectures. These laws may also have been responsible for creating Kara region. Here are a map  and another map  showing the prefectures as of the period roughly from 1981 to 1995.
PrefectureISOFIPSRegAlternate
AmlaméAMTO01PLAmou
AnéhoANTO02MAAnécho, Lacs
AtakpaméATTO03PLOgou
BadouBDTO15PLWawa
BafiloBFTO04CEAssoli
BassarBSTO05CEBassari
DapaongDATO06SADapango, Tôné
KantéKATO07KAKandé, Kéran
KloutoKLTO08PLKloto, Kpalimé, Palimé
KpagoudaKPTO14KABinah, Pagouda
Lama-KaraLKTO09KAKara, Kozah
LoméLOTO10MAGolfe
MangoMATO11SAOti, Sansanne-Mango
NiamtougouNITO12KADoufelgou
NotséNITO13PLHaho, Nuatja
SotoubouaSOTO16CE
TabligboTATO17MAYoto
TchambaTBTO19CENyala
TchaoudjoTOTO20CESokodé
TséviéTSTO18MAZio
VoganVOTO21MAVo
  • ISO: Codes from ISO/DIS 3166-2. (Duplicated code NI is
    an error in the draft standard.)
  • FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4.
  • Reg: Region in which the prefecture lies. For key, see
    Regions of Togo page.
  • Capital: Capitals have the same names as their
    prefectures, as shown in the first column.
  • Alternate: Alternate and variant names for the prefecture.
  • Note: Klouto and Palimé are both cities in Klouto prefecture.
    The alternate names may be due to a change of capital.
  1. The CIA World Factbook (1990-98 editions) said that Togo was divided into circumscriptions, noting that their status may have been changed to prefectures. It gave a list which was approximately the same as the one above. It said that name changes had been reported for the prefectures, replacing the prefecture name with one of its alternate names. In 1992 and later editions, some errors crept in. Pagouda appeared twice in the list, and Nyala and Tchamba were listed as two separate prefectures, instead of alternate names for one. There were now apparently 23 prefecture names, but the text said there were 21, which was correct. In 1994, someone apparently noticed the disparity. Instead of fixing the list of prefectures, they changed the number from 21 to 23. In the 1997 issue, the number was changed back to 21, and the alternate names were dropped; also, a couple of the names were changed. In the 1999 edition, the five regions were listed, with no further subdivisions.
  2. ~1995: Prefectures reorganized. Many of them changed their names to the alternate name. Dankpen prefecture split from Bassar; Moyen-Mono prefecture split from Haho; Agou and Danyi prefectures split from Kloto; Est-Mono prefecture split from Ogou; Blitta prefecture split from Sotouboua; Kpendjal prefecture split from Tône; Tandjouaré prefecture formed from parts of Oti and Tône; part of Tône prefecture transferred to Oti; and Avé prefecture split from Zio. Lomé commune may have been part of Golfe prefecture in fact, but its population and area are split out in the census data, so I list it separately. The result was as shown in this table, from sources [5] and [6], among others. The total of the areas of all the prefectures in one region (source [6]) is only roughly equal to the area of the region.
PrefectureHASCPopulationArea(km.²)Capital
AgouTG.PL.AG86,0001,026Agou-Gadzépé
AmouTG.PL.AM106,0002,003Amlamé
AssoliTG.KA.AS52,000938Bafilo
AvéTG.MA.AV93,0001,146Kévé
BassarTG.KA.BA106,0003,620Bassar
BinahTG.KA.BI66,000480Pagouda
BlittaTG.CE.BL109,0002,973Blitta
DankpenTG.KA.DP75,0002,690Guérin-Kouka
DanyiTG.PL.DY44,000387Danyi-Apéyémé
DoufelgouTG.KA.DO84,0001,275Niamtougou
Est-MonoTG.PL.ES81,0002,474Elavagnon
GolfeTG.MA.GO414,000190Lomé
HahoTG.PL.HA196,0003,034Notsé
KéranTG.KA.KE72,0001,660Kandé
KlotoTG.PL.KL196,0001,364Kpalimé
KozahTG.KA.KO214,0001,075Kara
KpendjalTG.SA.KP117,0001,794Mandouri
LacsTG.MA.LA229,000706Aného
LoméTG.MA.LO963,00090Lomé
Moyen-MonoTG.PL.MO78,000607Tohoun
OgouTG.PL.OG271,0003,609Atakpamé
OtiTG.SA.OT135,0004,313Mango
SotoubouaTG.CE.SO136,0004,487Sotouboua
TandjouaréTG.SA.TA90,000848Tandjouaré
TchambaTG.CE.TB81,0003,149Tchamba
TchaoudjoTG.CE.TD168,0002,708Sokodé
TôneTG.SA.TO268,0001,515Dapaong
VoTG.MA.VO220,000714Vogan
WawaTG.PL.WA164,0002,471Badou
YotoTG.MA.YO161,0001,200Tabligbo
ZioTG.MA.ZI262,0002,054Tsévié
31 divisions5,337,00056,600
  1. 2009-11-26: Akébou, Bas-Mono, Cinkassé, and Kpélé prefectures created by elevating the corresponding sub-prefectures to prefecture status. Anié prefecture created by taking Adogbénou, Anié, Atchinèdji, Glitto, and Pallakoko cantons from Ogou prefecture. Akébou prefecture was probably split from Wawa; Bas-Mono definitely from Lacs; Cinkassé very probably from Tône; and Kpélé probably from Kloto. I assumed all those were correct when assigning HASC codes. Lomé is not listed separately in my sources, so if it was ever separate from Golfe, it has probably been merged with it again. The result is as shown in the main table above.

Other names of subdivisions: 

  1. Bas-Mono: Afagnan (variant)
  2. Cinkassé: Sinkassé (variant)
  3. Kpélé: Kpélé-Akata (variant)
  4. Tandjouaré: Tandjoaré (variant)

Sources: 

  1. [1] Law Creating Prefectures and Sub-Prefectures , National Assembly of Togo (retrieved 2010-10-28).
  2. [2] Étude de Faisabilité des Forages Manuels au Togo , Togo Water Ministry, Lomé, 2009-10-01 (p. 24, retrieved 2010-10-28). P. 27 has a map of the pre-2009 prefectures. Some of the population figures in the table must be off by one, but it's impossible to tell which ones.
  3. [3] Corinne Sorin's thesis  on swine plague in Togo, dated 2002, has region and prefecture maps on pp. 24-25, and even some canton maps (retrieved 2010-11-06).
  4. [4] Les Cantons du Togo  has a list of regions, prefectures, and cantons.
  5. [5] Togo Confidentiel  (retrieved 2004-01-19).
  6. [6] Togo's Direction Générale de la Statistique et de la Comptabilité Nationale  (retrieved 2007-11-17 from a different URL).
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