Burkina Faso Regions

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country of 274,000 square kilometres on the southern edge of the Sahel, and in 2025 its 13 regions were redrawn as 17, with new names. Almost every map, guide and street sign you will find still shows the old list, so the regions here are the ones a visitor is least likely to know.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: North, west, centre and east, four groups of ours
In the game: 17 regions

Start

What you are looking at

The regions of Burkina Faso, the first tier of the country. Several of the names are rivers rather than towns: Nakambé is the White Volta, Nazinon the Red Volta and Sourou the river on the Mali border. Kadiogo is the exception, the capital's own region, which is one province wide.

The reform kept the old boundaries and split some of them. Boucle du Mouhoun became Bankui and Sourou, the Est became Goulmou, Sirba and Tapoa, and the Sahel became Liptako and Soum. The rest were renamed one for one, so Hauts-Bassins is now Guiriko and the Centre is Kadiogo. Natural Earth and geoBoundaries still draw the 13, and the file used here is the only one of the sources that has all 17.

The groups are ours: Burkina Faso does not group its regions, and the old 13 were mostly one new region each, so they make no use as a filter. The regions are the Burkina Faso Provinces grouped, so the borders of the two maps match exactly.

How to place one

Start with the capital. Kadiogo is the small region at the centre, and Oubri, Nazinon and Nando are the three around it.
Take the north in a row. Liptako, Soum and Yaadga run across the top, with Koulsé below them.
Read the east as three. Goulmou, Sirba and Tapoa share the border with Niger and Benin, with Nakambé inside them.
Finish in the west and south. Guiriko holds Bobo-Dioulasso, Bankui and Sourou lie to its north, and Tannounyan and Djôrô fill the south west corner.

Every region, by group

North4 regions: Koulsé, Liptako, Soum, Yaadga
West5 regions: Bankui, Djôrô, Guiriko, Sourou, Tannounyan
Centre4 regions: Kadiogo, Nando, Nazinon, Oubri
East4 regions: Goulmou, Nakambé, Sirba, Tapoa

Worked examples

Guiriko

The biggest of them

Guiriko is the largest region, around Bobo-Dioulasso in the west, which is the country's second city.

Kadiogo

The smallest of them

Kadiogo is the smallest region by a wide margin, and holds the capital, Ouagadougou.

Soum

One of a split pair

Soum is the western half of the old Sahel region, and Liptako the eastern half. Together they hold the north of the country.

Frequently asked questions

How many regions does Burkina Faso have?

17 on this map, after the 2025 reform. Older maps show 13.

Why do the names not match the ones I know?

The reform renamed the regions as well as splitting some, so Centre-Nord is now Koulsé and Cascades is Tannounyan. Maps made before 2025 use the old names.

What is below the region?

The provinces, which number 47 on this map. They are their own quiz.

The tier below this one is Burkina Faso Provinces. For another country at this level, see Madagascar Regions.

Sources

OCHA, Burkina Faso administrative boundaries (COD-AB), on HDX, the boundaries, from the 2025 release; the regions are the provinces dissolved, so the two maps share every border
Regions of Burkina Faso, the regions and the reform

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