Departments of Burkina Faso


The provinces of Burkina Faso are divided into 351 departments, whose urbanized areas are grouped into the same commune with the same name as the department. The department also covers rural areas that are not governed locally by the elected municipal council of the commune, but by the state represented at departmental level by a prefect.

Status of communes

The 351 communes created for each one of these departments have three kinds of status :
  • 49 urban communes are grouping their main city/town and all other administrative villages in their department; in these 49 urban communes, the main city or town is subdivided into urban sectors. These 49 urban communes include:
  • * the capital town of each one of the 45 provinces ; among them, 2 urban communes have a particular status: the Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso departments, that are further subdivided into "arrondissements";
  • * the commune of 4 additional departments, whose capitals are now large towns covering their respective urban areas : Bittou, Garango, Niangoloko and Pouytenga.
  • 302 rural communes are grouping all administrative villages in their department. Their capitals are still considered officially as "villages", because they also cover a large rural area with dispersed population.
Departments generally have the same name as their capital city or town, with a few exceptions. For the local elections in 2012, communes were created in each department that still did not have one.

List of departments or communes by region and by province


Centre Region">Centre Region (Burkina Faso)">Centre Region

; Kadiogo Province
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[Plateau-Central Region]

; Ganzourgou Province
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; Kourwéogo ProvinceBoussé
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; Oubritenga Province
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[Centre-Nord Region]

; Bam Province
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; Namentenga Province
 '
; Sanmatenga Province
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Nord Region">Nord Region (Burkina Faso)">Nord Region

; Loroum Province
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; Passoré Province
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; Yatenga Province
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; Zondoma Province
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[Sahel Region]

; Oudalan Province
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; Séno Province
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; Soum Province
 '
; Yagha Province
'


Est Region">Est Region (Burkina Faso)">Est Region

; Gnagna Province
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; Gourma Province
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; Komondjari Province
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; Kompienga Province
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; Tapoa Province
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[Centre-Est Region]

; Boulgou Province
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; Koulpélogo Province
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; Kouritenga Province
 '


[Centre-Sud Region]

; Bazèga Province
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; Nahouri Province
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; Zoundwéogo Province
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[Centre-Ouest Region]

; Boulkiemdé Province
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; Sanguié Province
 '
; Sissili Province
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; Ziro Province


[Hauts-Bassins Region]

; Houet Province
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; Kénédougou Province
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; Tuy Province
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[Boucle du Mouhoun Region]

; Balé Province
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; Banwa Province
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; Kossi Province
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; Mouhoun Province
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; Nayala Province
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; Sourou Province


[Cascades Region]

; Comoé ProvinceBanfora
'
; Léraba Province
 '


Sud-Ouest Region">Sud-Ouest Region (Burkina Faso)">Sud-Ouest Region

; Bougouriba Province
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; Ioba ProvinceDano
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; Noumbiel ProvinceBatié
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; Poni Province
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