What is Administrative Division?

Administrative division is a part of a country or a defined region. The main objective of the administrative division is for administration purposes. The administrative divisions have been divided into a certain order. In general, the largest administrative subdivision of a country is named as First-Order Administrative Division followed by the smaller administrative subdivision of a country which is named as Second-Order Administrative Division. The number of orders of administrative divisions may be further divided into Third-Order and the smaller Fourth-Order Administrative Division.

What are the differences between First-Order Administrative Division and Second-Order Administrative Division? A country may be divided into several parts like regions or states or provinces, then further divided into municipalities or counties. The highest administrative division is called “First-Order” or “First-Level” Administrative Division, whereas the subdivision is called “Second-Order” or “Second-Level” Administrative Division.

In GeoDataSource, there are only two levels of administrative divisions supported, which are the First-Order Administrative Division and the Second-Order Administrative Division. The First-Order Administrative Divisions are the regions or states of a country. Thus, the “First-Order Administrative Division’s Full Name” is the full name of a complete region name that used to identify the First-Order Administrative Division. The name of the First-Order Administrative Division of GeoDataSource is in compliance with the International Standards Organization ISO3166-2 standard with several exceptions that are listed below.

  • 49 countries do not have the official ISO3166-2 subdivisions defined.
  • 1 exception for Bahamas – New Providence region, which does not have ISO3166-2 associated.
  • 1 exception for Singapore – we categorize Singapore as a single subdivision.
Anguilla Antarctica American Samoa Aruba Aland Islands
Saint Barthelemy Bermuda Bahamas Bouvet Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Cook Islands Curacao Christmas Island Western Sahara Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Faroe Islands French Guiana Guernsey Gibraltar Guadeloupe
Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Guam Hong Kong Isle of Man
British Indian Ocean Territory Jersey Cayman Islands Saint Martin (French Part) Macao
Northern Mariana Islands Martinique Montserrat New Caledonia Norfolk Island
Niue French Polynesia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Pitcairn Puerto Rico
Reunion Singapore Svalbard and Jan Mayen Sint Maarten (Dutch Part) Turks and Caicos Islands
French Southern Territories Tokelau Holy See Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S.,
Mayotte        

For the Second-Order Administrative Division, this is only applicable to the United States (US). For instance, Hill County, Pender County etc. are some examples of Second-Order Administrative Division’s full name that are supported in GeoDataSource for the United States.

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