Departments of Ivory Coast

Departments of Ivory Coast (French: départements de Côte d'Ivoire, also known as collectivités territoriale) are currently the third-level administrative subdivision of the country. Each of the 31 second-level regions of Ivory Coast is divided into two or more departments. (The autonomous districts contain no regions, but they do contain departments.) Each department is divided into two or more sub-prefectures, which are the fourth-level subdivisions in Ivory Coast. As of 2016, there are 108 departments of Ivory Coast.

Departments of Ivory Coast. Red lines indicate borders of districts. Bolded black lines indicate borders of regions. Grey area is not governed by a department.

There is one area of Ivory Coast that is not governed by departments: the portion of Comoé National Park that is within Zanzan District is not assigned to any department.

Departments were first created in 1961. During their existence, they have been first-, second-, and third-level administrative subdivisions.

Current departments

There are currently 108 departments of Ivory Coast. The departments are as follows:

A. Portion of Comoé National Park in Zanzan District (territory is not assigned to any department)

History

1961–69

Departments of Ivory Coast in 1961–63.

Departments of Ivory Coast in 1963–69.

Departments were established in 1961 and were the original first-level administrative subdivision of independent Ivory Coast.[1] Initially, there were just four departments: Centre, Nord, Sud-Est, and Sud-Ouest. In 1963, two more departments were created: Est was created by dividing Sud-Est, and Centre-Ouest) was created by dividing Sud-Ouest. As a result of the divisions, Sud-Est was renamed Sud and Sud-Ouest was renamed Ouest.

1969: 24 new departments

In 1969, the six departments were abolished and in their place 24 new departments were created. The following table illustrates how the old departments were divided into the new departments:

The 24 new departments that were created in 1969. These boundaries were consistent until departments began to be divided in 1974.

Old department	New departments (number corresponds to position on map)
Centre	Bouaflé (8), Bouaké (9), Dimbokro (13), Katiola (18)
Centre-Ouest	Daloa (11), Gagnoa (16), Sassandra[2] (22)
Est	Abengourou (1), Bondoukou (7)
Nord	Boundiali (10), Ferkessédougou (15), Korhogo (19), Odienné (21), Séguéla (23), Touba (24)
Ouest	Biankouma (6), Danané (12), Guiglo (17), Man (20)
Sud	Abidjan (2), Aboisso (3), Adzopé (4), Agboville (5), Divo (14), Sassandra[2] (22)

Due to a lack of government resources, the 1969 changes were not fully implemented until 1974.

Subsequent divisions and relegation to second-level

From 1974 onward, new departments were occasionally created through division of pre-existing departments. New departments were created in 1974 (2), 1980 (8), 1988 (15), and 1995 (1). In 1997, when there were 50 departments, regions were created, which supplanted departments as the first-level administrative subdivision. As a result, the 50 departments became second-level divisions.

More departments were created in 1998 (8), 2005 (12), 2008 (11), and 2009 (9). By the time of the late-2011 reorganisation of the subdivisions of Ivory Coast, there were 90 departments in 19 regions.

2011 subdivision reorganisation

In the 2011 reorganisation of the subdivisions of Ivory Coast, five new departments were created, bringing the total to 95. More significantly, however, districts were created as a new first-level division. As a result, regions became second-level subdivisions and the 95 departments became third-level subdivisions.

Post-2011 changes

Since the 2011 reorganisation, 13 more departments have been created, bringing the total number to 108. Twelve departments were created in 2012 and one was created in 2013.

Names and governance

Departments are named after the city or town that serves as the seat of the department. In most cases, this is the most populous settlement in the department.

Each department is headed by a prefect, who is appointed by the council of ministers (cabinet) of the national government.[3] For departments that house regional capitals, the prefect of the department is the same individual as the prefect of the region, though the two offices of prefect remain distinct.[4]

Each department is divided into two or more sub-prefectures, which serve as fourth-level administrative subdivisions. There are currently 510 sub-prefectures in the country.

Current departments by district and region

Below are the departments divided by district and region with the establishment year of the departments in parentheses.

Abidjan Autonomous District

Abidjan Department[5] (1969)

Bas-Sassandra District

Gbôklé Region

Fresco Department (2008)
Sassandra Department (1969)

Nawa Region

San-Pédro Region

San-Pédro Department (1988)
Tabou Department (1988)

Defunct departments

There are six departments of Ivory Coast that have been eliminated.

Centre Department (1961–69)
Centre-Ouest Department (1963–69)
Est Department (1963–69)
Nord Department (1961–69)
Ouest Department (1961–69)
Sud Department (1961–69)

Maps of departments through time

Years effective	First-level subdivisions	Second-level subdivisions	Third-level subdivisions	Changes
1961–63	4 departments	—	—	Four departments created as first-level subdivisions.
1963–69	6 departments	—	—	Two departments added.
1969–74	24 departments	—	—	All previous departments abolished. 24 new departments established as first-level subdivisions.
1974–80	26 departments	—	—	Two departments added.
1980–88	34 departments	—	—	Eight departments added.
1988–95	49 departments	—	—	15 departments added.
1995–97	50 departments	—	—	One department added.
1997–98	16 regions	50 departments	—	16 regions created as new first-level subdivisions. Departments converted to second-level subdivisions.
1998–2000	16 regions	58 departments	—	Eight departments added.
2000–05	19 regions	58 departments	—	Three regions added.
2005–08	19 regions	70 departments	—	12 departments added.
2008–09	19 regions	81 departments	—	11 departments added.
2009–11	19 regions	90 departments	—	9 departments added.
2011–12	14 districts	30 regions	95 departments	14 districts created as new first-level subdivisions. Regions increased to 30 and converted to second-level subdivisions. Departments converted to third-level subdivisions. Five departments added. One area removed from departmental jurisdiction.
2012–13	14 districts	31 regions	107 departments	One region added. 12 departments added.
2013–	14 districts	31 regions	108 departments	One department added.

Notes

At independence in 1960, Ivory Coast was informally divided into 19 traditional cercles, but the cercles were not official administrative subdivisions.
Sassandra Department was created from territory taken partly from Centre-Ouest Department and partly from Sud Department.
Loi n° 2014-451 du 05 août 2014 portant orientation de l'organisation générale de l'Administration Territoriale.
Ordonnance n° 2011-262 du 28 septembre 2011 portant orientation de l'organisation générale de l'administration territoriale de l'Etat.
The boundaries of Abidjan Department and Abidjan Autonomous District are the same.

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References

"Regions of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)", statoids.com, accessed 18 February 2016
Carte du nouveau découpage administratif de la Côte-d'Ivoire (novembre 2011).
Decret n° 2012-612 de 4 juillet 2012 portant creation de la Region du Moronou, page 86.
Loi n° 2012-1128 du 13 décembre 2012 portant organisation des collectivités territoriales

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[1] At independence in 1960, Ivory Coast was informally divided into 19 traditional cercles, but the cercles were not official administrative subdivisions.

[Sassandra-2] Sassandra Department was created from territory taken partly from Centre-Ouest Department and partly from Sud Department.

[loi2014-451-3] Loi n° 2014-451 du 05 août 2014 portant orientation de l'organisation générale de l'Administration Territoriale.

[ordonnance262-4] Ordonnance n° 2011-262 du 28 septembre 2011 portant orientation de l'organisation générale de l'administration territoriale de l'Etat.

[5] The boundaries of Abidjan Department and Abidjan Autonomous District are the same.