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Updates: 

Sorin Cosoveanu found the document which I have used to provide more recent population estimates.

Under the Change history at ~1968, I had been showing populations for six of the eight provinces that came from a softbound Hammond Citation Atlas dated 1979. The same figures appear in the hardbound Hammond Citation World Atlas, dated 1966. I've replaced the entire column with data from source [2], which in most cases agrees with the Hammond figures within a few hundred, and fills in the missing provinces' populations. I've also found source [3], which has population estimates for 1995-2015. I quote the 1997 estimates, since anything later than that combines the uncertainty of the estimates with the uncertainty of extrapolation.

The formal name of the country has changed from Somali Democratic Republic to Federal Republic of Somalia.

FIPS 10-4 Change Notice 11, dated 2006-07-11, has assigned new FIPS codes corresponding to the creation of two new regions in 1984, as shown below.

Country overview: 

Short name	SOMALIA
ISO code	SO
FIPS code	SO
Language	Somali (so)
Time zone	+3
Capital	Mogadishu

 

Italian Somaliland was chartered to a company until 1905, when it became a simple Italian colony. It acquired a strip of land beyond the Juba River (Italian Jubaland; Oltre Giuba [Italian]) from Kenya in 1925. In 1936-06, it merged with Eritrea and Ethiopia to form Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana), in which it was a state. After the British took it in World War II, it remained under British military government until 1950-04-01, when it was restored to Italy as a U.N. trust territory. Meanwhile, British Somaliland was a British protectorate (except for a brief Italian occupation) until it became independent on 1960-06-26. Less than a week later, on 1960-07-01, Italian Somaliland also became independent, and the two states merged to form the Somali Republic. The border with Ethiopia has never been finally established.

Currently Somalia is ill-governed, and local government, if any, is unofficial. There is a de facto government which controls roughly Bari, Mudug, Nugaal, Sool, and part of Sanaag regions. It is called Puntland.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Somalia
2. Dutch: Somalië, Somaliland, Republiek Somaliland (formal)
3. English: Federal Republic of Somalia (formal)
4. Finnish: Somalia
5. French: Somalie f, République f fédérale de Somalie (formal)
6. German: Puntland, Somalia, Somaliland n
7. Icelandic: Sómalía
8. Italian: Somalia f
9. Norwegian: Den demokratiske republikk Somalia (formal) (Bokmål), Den demokratiske republikken Somalia (formal) (Nynorsk), Somalia
10. Portuguese: Somalilândia, Somália f, República f da Somalilândia f (formal)
11. Somali: Jamhuriyadda Dimugradiga ee Soomaaliya (formal)
12. Russian: Республика Сомалиленд (obsolete), Сомали, Сомалийская Демократическая Республика (obsolete), Сомалийская Республика (formal)
13. Spanish: Somalia f, República f Democrática Somalí (formal)
14. Swedish: Somalia
15. Turkish: Somali, Somali Demokratik Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

from local word somal: black, used to describe the natives

Primary subdivisions: 

Somalia is divided into eighteen gobolka (regions).

Region	HASC	FIPS	Pop-2014	Pop-1997	Pop-1980	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Former
Awdal	SO.AW	SO21	673,263	143,900				Baki	Hargeisa
Bakool	SO.BK	SO01	367,226	258,600	148,700	27,000	10,000	Xuddur	Alto Giuba
Banaadir	SO.BN	SO02	1,650,227	731,100	520,100	1,657	640	Mogadishu	Banaadir
Bari	SO.BR	SO03	719,512	242,100	222,300	70,000	27,000	Boosaaso	Migiurtinia
Bay	SO.BY	SO04	792,182	681,100	451,000	39,000	15,000	Baydhabo	Alto Giuba
Galguduud	SO.GA	SO05	569,434	196,100	255,900	43,000	17,000	Dhuusa Marreeb	Mudug
Gedo	SO.GE	SO06	508,405	350,200	235,000	32,000	12,000	Garbahaarrey	Alto Giuba
Hiiraan	SO.HI	SO07	520,685	234,400	219,300	34,000	13,000	Beledweyne	Hiiraan
Jubbada Dhexe	SO.JD	SO08	362,921	201,500	147,800	23,000	9,000	Bu'aale	Basso Giuba, Alto Giuba
Jubbada Hoose	SO.JH	SO09	489,307	294,200	272,400	61,000	24,000	Kismaayo	Basso Giuba
Mudug	SO.MU	SO10	717,863	342,600	311,200	70,000	27,000	Gaalkacyo	Mudug, Migiurtinia
Nugaal	SO.NU	SO18	392,698	121,000	112,200	50,000	19,000	Garoowe	Migiurtinia
Sanaag	SO.SA	SO12	544,123	230,500	216,500	54,000	21,000	Ceerigaabo	Burco
Shabeellaha Dhexe	SO.SD	SO13	516,036	441,700	352,000	22,000	8,000	Jawhar	Banaadir
Shabeellaha Hoose	SO.SH	SO14	1,202,219	650,400	570,700	25,000	10,000	Marka	Banaadir
Sool	SO.SO	SO22	327,428	63,800				Laascaanood	Burco
Togdheer	SO.TO	SO19	721,363	242,300	383,900	41,000	16,000	Burco	Burco, Hargeisa
Woqooyi Galbeed	SO.WO	SO20	1,242,003	329,100	655,000	45,000	17,000	Hargeysa	Hargeisa, Burao
18 regions			12,316,895	5,754,600	5,074,200	637,657	245,640
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the region codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Pop-2014: 2014 estimates (source [6]). Pop-1997: 1997 estimates (source [3]). Pop-1980: 1980 estimates (source [1]). Capital: Some sources disagree. Former: Province(s) from ~1968 covering approximately the same area.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Somalia page.

The regions are subdivided into 84 districts.

Territorial extent: 

The UN LOCODE page  for Somalia 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. Bari: = east
2. Dhexe: = middle
3. Hoose: = lower (i.e. downstream)
4. Woqooyi Galbeed: = northwest

Change history: 

1. 1925-06-29: Transjuba (everything in modern Somalia west of the Juba River) transferred from Kenya to Italian Somaliland.
2. 1931: Italian Somaliland at this time consisted of seven commissariats. Their names and populations in the 1931 census were Alto Giuba (292,263), Alto Uebi-Scebeli (257,219), Basso Giuba (173,994), Basso Uebi-Scebeli (109,644), Migiurtinia (48,863), Mogadiscio (20,288), and Mudugh (119,301).
3. 1960-07-01: British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland (Somalia) merged to form the Somali Republic. Its divisions were the six districts of British Somaliland: Berbera, Borama, Burao, Erigavo, Hargeisa, and Las Anod; and the six districts of Italian Somaliland: Alto Giuba, Basso Giuba, Benadir, Hiran, Migiurtinia, and Mudugh.
4. ~1964: North-Eastern (Burao) Province formed by merging Burao, Erigavo, and Las Anod districts; North-Western (Hargeisa) Province formed by merging Berbera, Borama, and Hargeisa districts.
5. ~1968: Capital of Basso Giuba moved from Kismayu (Italian: Chisimaio) to Jamame. After this change, the provinces, with some of the variant names of their capitals, were:

Province	Population	Area(km.²)	Capital
Alto Giuba	362,234	131,492	Baidoa; Baydhabo (variant); Iscia Baidoa, Isha Baidoa (obsolete)
Basso Giuba	113,449	49,917	Jamame; Margherita (Italian)
Banaadir	387,600	45,004	Mogadishu; Mogadiscio (Italian); Muqdisho (Somali)
Burao	330,000	128,000	Burao; Burco (variant)
Hargeisa	270,000	48,000	Hargeisa; Hargeysa, Harghessa (variant)
Hiiraan	176,528	25,647	Beled Weyne; Belet Uen, Belet Wein (variant)
Migiurtinia	82,653	90,744	Boosaaso; Bender Cassim, Bender Kassim (obsolete); Bosaso (variant)
Mudug	141,120	118,737	Galka'yo; Gaalkacyo (variant); Gallacaio, Rocca Littorio (Italian)
8 provinces	1,863,584	637,541
Population: 1961 estimates (source [2]).

1. ~1982: Somalia reorganized from eight provinces into sixteen regions.
2. 1984-06: Awdal region split from Woqooyi Galbeed (former FIPS code SO16); Sool region split from Nugaal (SO11). FIPS has also changed the code for Togdheer from SO15, suggesting that FIPS believes that Togdheer was also affected by this change. Geographically, it's possible that part of Togdheer was attached to Sool.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Alto Giuba: Alto Juba, Upper Juba (variant)
2. Banaadir: Banadir, Benadir, Mogadishu (variant)
3. Bari: East (variant)
4. Basso Giuba: Basso Juba, Lower Juba (variant)
5. Burao: Burro, Eastern, North-East (variant)
6. Galguduud: Galgadud, Galgaduud, Galgudug (variant)
7. Hiiraan: Hiraan, Hiran (variant)
8. Gedo: Gado (variant)
9. Hargeisa: Hargeysa, Harghessa, North-West, Western (variant)
10. Jubbada Dhexe: Central Juba, Middle Juba (variant)
11. Jubbada Hoose: Lower Juba (variant)
12. Migiurtinia: Mijertein, Mijirtein, Mijurtein (variant)
13. Mudug: Madugh, Mudugh (variant)
14. Nugaal: Nogal (variant)
15. Shabeellaha Dhexe: Central Shabele, Middle Shabelle (variant)
16. Shabeellaha Hoose: Lower Shabele, Lower Shabelle (variant)
17. Sool: Sol (variant)
18. Togdheer: Togdeer, Togder (variant)
19. Woqooyi Galbeed: North-West, Waalbaad, Woqooyi Gelbeed (variant)

Sources: 

1. [1] "Ershiyi (21) Shiji Shijie Diming Lu", a three-volume world gazetteer.
2. [2] Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1964 edition.
3. [3] Report of the UNFPA Consultant on Population Statistics of Somalia , Table 2. K.E. Vaidyanathan, U.N. Development Programme, 1997 (retrieved 2013-12-04).
4. [4] Somalia National Peace Conference  (retrieved 2001-04-11).
5. [5] The 1961 Referendum on the 1960 Somali Republic Constitution . Somaliland Law website (retrieved 2013-12-09).
6. [6] Population Estimation Survey 2014 . Report on a survey conducted between October 2013 and March 2014, using the 1986 pre-war region boundaries (retrieved 2015-09-01).