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Updates: 

The ISO code BH-16 for Central was officially withdrawn on 2015-11-27.

Update 12 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes (formerly FIPS 10-4) is dated 2013-06-30. It says that the codes for Central and Northern governorates were issued correctly, but were switched in a recompilation of the standard document. This update restores them to the correct codes, as shown below.

FIPS 10-4 Change Notice 12, dated 2007-06-11, has FIPS codes for the new governorates. The table has been updated accordingly. It uses different Arabic names for some of the divisions, which I report as variants under "Other names of subdivisions".

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter I-8, published on 2007-04-17, shows ISO governorate codes for the new administrative structure of Bahrain. They are shown in the table below.

Country overview: 

Short name	BAHRAIN
ISO code	BH
FIPS code	BA
Language	Arabic (ar)
Time zone	+3
Capital	Manama

 

Bahrain was a British protectorate until 1971-08-15, when it became independent.

Other names of country: 

1. Arabic: Dawlat al-Bahrayn (formal)
2. Danish: Bahrain
3. Dutch: Bahrein
4. English: State of Bahrain (formal)
5. Finnish: Bahrain
6. French: Bahreïn m
7. German: Bahrain n
8. Icelandic: Barein
9. Italian: Bahrein, Bahrain m
10. Norwegian: Bahrain, Staten Bahrain (formal)
11. Portuguese: Bahrein, Barém (variant-Portugal), Barein (variant-Brazil), Estado m do Bahrain m (formal)
12. Russian: Королевство Бахрейн (formal)
13. Spanish: Bahréin, Bahráin, Estado m de Bahréin (formal)
14. Swedish: Bahrain
15. Turkish: Bahreyn Devleti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Arabic al-bahrayn: the two seas

Primary subdivisions: 

Bahrain is divided into four governorates.

Division	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Arabic
Capital	BH.CP	13	BA16	Al Manamah
Muharraq	BH.MU	15	BA15	Al Muharraq
Northern	BH.NN	17	BA18	Ash Shamaliyah
Southern	BH.SN	14	BA17	Al Janubiyah
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4.

Further subdivisions:

Each of the governorates is divided into constituencies.

Territorial extent: 

Bahrain consists entirely of islands in the Gulf of Bahrain, an arm of the Persian Gulf. The largest is Bahrain itself. Near it are Al Muharraq, Sitrah, and Umm Nasan, all connected to it by causeways. Just off the coast of Qatar is Hawar Island and some neighboring islets.

The UN LOCODE page  for Bahrain 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 Manamah: Arabic al-manama the place of dreams
2. Al Mintaqah al Gharbiyah: = Western Region
3. Al Mintaqah al Wusta: = Central Region
4. Al Mintaqah ash Shamaliyah: = Northern Region
5. Ar Rifa` wa al Mintaqah al Janubiyah: = Rifaa and Southern Region
6. Madinat Hamad: = Hamad Town
7. Madinat `Isa: = Isa Town
8. Mintaqat Juzur Hawar: = Hawar Islands Region

Change history: 

1. 1960: Bahrain consisted of four municipalities: Al Hadd, Al Manamah, Al Muharraq, and Ar Rifa`.
2. 1971-08-15: Bahrain became independent. It then had six municipalities: Al Hadd, Ar Rifa` al Gharbi, Judd Hafs, Manamah, Muharraq, and Sitrah. By ~1984, their status had changed from municipalities to manaṭiq (sing. minṭaqah: regions), and three new regions had split off.
3. ~1985: Al Hadd split from Al Muharraq.
4. ~1988: Madinat `Isa split from Al Mintaqah al Wusta.
5. ~1991: Madinat Hamad split from Ar Rifa` wa al Mintaqah al Janubiyah. At this point, the regions were as shown below.

Division	HASC	ISO	FIPS	2001	1991	1971	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Governorate(s)
Al Hadd	BH.HD	01	BA01	11,637	8,610	5,300	11	4	Al Hadd	Muharraq
Al Manamah	BH.MN	03	BA02	153,395	136,999	89,400	27	10	Manama	Capital
Al Mintaqah al Gharbiyah	BH.MG	10	BA08	26,149	22,034	8,700	157	61		Northern, Southern
Al Mintaqah al Wusta	BH.MW	07	BA11	49,969	34,304	6,700	35	14		Central, Northern
Al Mintaqah ash Shamaliyah	BH.MS	05	BA10	43,691	33,763	10,600	37	14		Northern
Al Muharraq	BH.MQ	02	BA03	91,939	74,245	44,200	21	8	Al Muharraq	Muharraq
Ar Rifa` wa al Mintaqah al Janubiyah	BH.RF	09	BA13	79,985	49,752	12,600	292	113	Ar Rifa al Gharbi	Southern, Central
Jidd Hafs	BH.JH	04	BA05	52,450	44,769	19,500	24	9	Jidd Hafs	Northern, Capital
Madinat Hamad	BH.MH	12	BA14	52,718	29,055		13	5		Northern
Madinat `Isa	BH.MI	08	BA12	36,833	34,509	7,500	12	5		Central
Mintaqat Juzur Hawar	BH.MJ	11	BA09	3,875	3,242		52	20		Southern
Sitrah	BH.ST	06	BA06	43,910	36,755	11,300	29	11	Sitrah	Central
12 regions				650,604	508,037	215,800	712	275
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. 2001, 1991, 1971: Populations according to the censuses of 2001-04-07, 1991-11-16, 1971-04-03. The total for the 2001 census includes 4,053 Bahrainis living abroad. Governorate(s): Governorates formed from each region, starting with the largest section. There may be some small slivers of territory not accounted for.

1. 2001-03-16: International Court of Justice ruled on territorial disputes between Bahrain and Qatar, awarding the Hawar Islands to Bahrain and the city of Zubarah and its environs to Qatar.
2. 2002-07-03: Decree-Law No. 17 for 2002 replaced the ten divisions with five governorates.

Division	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Pop-2010	Pop-2001	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Arabic
Capital	BH.CA	13	BA16	329,510	163,696	38	15	Al Manamah
Central	BH.CE	16	BA19	326,305	167,691	85	33	Al Wusta
Muharraq	BH.MU	15	BA15	189,114	103,576	64	25	Al Muharraq
Northern	BH.NO	17	BA18	276,949	166,824	143	55	Ash Shamaliyah
Southern	BH.SO	14	BA17	101,456	44,764	439	170	Al Janubiyah
5 governorates				1,234,571	650,604	770	297
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Pop-2010: 2010-04-27 census. Total includes 11,237 with governorate "not stated." Pop-2001: 2001-04-07 census. Total includes 4,053 Bahrainis living abroad. Area: 2012 (source [5]).

 

Postal codes are three or four digits. They consist of the ISO region code followed by two additional digits, with the leading zero suppressed.

1. 2014-09-25: Central governorate abolished and split up among Capital, Northern, and Southern.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Al Hadd: Hedd, Hidd (variant)
2. Al Manamah: Al `Asimah, Manama (variant)
3. Al Mintaqah al Wusta: Al Wasat (variant); Central (English)
4. Ar Rifa` wa al Mintaqah al Janubiyah: Rifaa, Rifa'a, Riffa, Rufaa (variant)
5. Jidd Hafs: Jidhafs, Judd Hafs (variant)
6. Mintaqat Juzur Hawar: Eastern, Huwar Islands, Howar Islands (English); Ash Sharqiyah (variant)
7. Sitrah: Sitra (variant)

Sources: 

1. [1] Population by Governorate, Nationality and Sex - 2010 Census . Kingdom of Bahrain Central Informatics Organisation (retrieved 2012-07-07).
2. [2] Decree-Law No. (17) for 2002  (retrieved 2003-11-23).
3. [3] Bahrain in Figures 1999, http://www.bahrain.gov.bh/english/stats/BFigures/99/index.asp had 1991 census data (dead link, retrieved 2002-10-27).
4. [4] Bahrain in Figures 2000, http://www.bahrain.gov.bh/pdfs/bf2000.pdf had 2001 census data (dead link, retrieved 2002-10-27).
5. [5] Area of Kingdom of Bahrain by Governorate - (2008 - 2012)  (retrieved 2015-01-10).
6. [6] "Central Governorate dissolved."  Gulf Daily News (dated 2014-09-23; retrieved 2015-01-10).