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Global Sourcebook for International Data Management

                                         by Graham Rhind

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Somalia

Global Sourcebook | Index | Properties

SOMALIA
SOMALIA

Somalia has no strong central government. The country is split amongst opposing political and military factions. The northern part of the country, which was previously the British colony of Somaliland, operates again under the name of Republic of Somaliland, but its aspirations of independence are not recognized by the international community. It is a relatively stable area, and services are working there. The Republic of Somaliland includes the regions of Awdal, Woqooyi Galbeed, Togdheer, Sanaag, and Sool. The neighbouring regions of Bari and Nugaal comprise the self-declared Republic of Puntland, which is also comparatively stable.

For supplementary information, see links to post office home pages here External, to postal code pages here External and to other personal name and addressing issues pages here External.

Table of Contents

Somalia - Country information

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Local short name form

Official name

Area

Population

15 626 000 (2019 calculated) [1]

Capital

Currency

International telephone access code

252

ISO 3166 country codes

Car nationality plate code

SP

Internet country code

SO

GRC Country Code

SOM

Somalia - Number format

   Note: This section last updated 12th June 2021
   1,234.45

(where . indicates the decimal separator and , the thousands separator)

   ۱٫۲۳۴٬۴۵

(where ٬ indicates the decimal separator and ٫ the thousands separator)

Somalia - Date and time formats

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   Note: This section last updated 12th June 2021
   dd/mm/yyyy
   14:32

Somalia - Languages

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The official language is Somali External, spoken by about 90% of the population. 12 other languages are spoken, including Maay External (500 000-1 000 000 speakers). English is used as a lingua franka in the north (Somaliland).

Somalia - Personal names and forms of address

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Forms of address are not used in Somalia – the name is used. Names usually have an Arabic structure. Names are often written in this order:

   Given name[ ]Father’s personal name[ ]Paternal grandfather’s personal name

The first two are those usually used. Due to the lack of surnames and the small pool of given names, nick names are often adopted.

Women do not take their husband’s name upon marriage. A family may therefore be named something like:

   Father: Omar Elmi Dihoud
   Mother: Waris Abdi Duale
   Son: Ali Omar Elmi
   Daughter: Roda Omar Elmi
   Tables of names can be acquired: given names External, surnames/family names External, family name prefixes External, forms of address External, job titles External

Somalia - Example address formats

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For Somalia:

image

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   A table containing information about the relevant position of elements within address blocks can be acquired External

Somalia - Postal codes

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Somalia has adopted a postal code system (from April 2003), with postal codes in this format:

   AA[  ]99999

Given the lack of a functioning postal system within the country, it is unlikely that they will currently be widely used. The letters indicate the region (please refer to the “Administrative Districts” section), the first two numbers the region, the next two numbers the postal town, and the final number the postal area. There should be two spaces between the region code and the numeric part of the postal code.

   Metadata containing postal code formatting rules, exceptions and regular expressions can be acquired External

Somalia - Postal code format graphic

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Somalia - Postal code format

Somalia - Postal code specifics

n/a.

Somalia - Postal code regular expression

\A((AD|BK|BN|BR|BY|GG|GD|HR|JD|JH|MD|NG|SG|SD|SH|SOL|TG|WG)( )\d{5,5})\Z

Somalia - Postal code level of coverage

2

Somalia - Postal code map

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Place names in Somalia

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   Note: This section last updated 28th October 2014

Refer to Exonyms in Somalia for full lists of place names in Somalia in other languages.

   Alternate place name forms/postal code tables can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/settlements.htm External
   Other language place name data can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/otherlanguageplace.htm External

Somalia - Administrative districts

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Somalia has 18 regions External (gobolka). They are found in addresses as a two-letter abbreviation. These are:

Region Postal abbreviation
Awdal External (Republic of Somaliland) AD
Bakool External BK
Banaadir External BN
Bari External (Republic of Puntland) BR
Bay External BY
Galguduud External GG
Gedo External GD
Hiiraan External HR
Jubbada Dhexe External JD
Jubbada Hoose External JH
Mudug External MD
Nugaal External (Republic of Puntland) NG
Sanaag External (Republic of Somaliland) SG
Shabeellaha Dhexe External SD
Shabeellaha Hoose External SH
Sool External (Republic of Somaliland) SL
Togdheer External (Republic of Somaliland) TG
Woqooyi Galbeed External (Republic of Somaliland) WG

Administrative districts graphic

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Telephone numbers in Somalia

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   Note: This section last updated 9th January 2017

Somalian fixed line numbers have 7 digits. Mobile numbers have 8 digits and commence 64, 707, 80, 88 or 90-99

References

  1. ^ citypopulation.de/en/somalia/ External 20230107

Every effort is made to keep this resource updated. If you find any errors, or have any questions or requests, please don't hesitate to contact the author.

All information copyright Graham Rhind 2024. Any information used should be acknowledged and referenced.