Where can I get list of states of all countries?

Question

I need a list of all countries and their states or providences. Is there a authoritative source I can get this from?

Answer 1

One of the more authoritative sources will be UN/LOCODE (United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations), which is mostly used for international trade. There are CSV and Access DBs to download, and comprehensive documentation.

Currently, UN/LOCODE includes over 103,034 locations in 249 countries and installations in international waters.

(see my source for more possibilities)

Answer 2

If you want them as geospatial data, Natural Earth has a nicely prepared shapefile dataset called Admin 1 States & Provinces (1:10m).

Coverage

Global. The only states that lack a subdivision in the dataset are

Antarctica, some disputed areas, tiny island nations, and principalities such as Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein, and San Marino.

License

Public domain

Screenshot

Attribute table

Fields name, woe_label, and gns_name are your best bet for a comprehensive list of descriptors/labels for each region.