Twelve First-Level Divisions, Twelve Names

California is a state of the United States, admitted to the Union in 1850 as the 31st state. Its capital is Sacramento, and its 2025 population of 39,355,309 makes it the most populous U.S. state, spread over 423,970 square kilometers.

Parana is one of the 26 states of Brazil, in the south of the country, with the Parana River as its western boundary. Its capital is Curitiba, and its 2025 population was recorded at 11,890,517.

Alberta is a province of Canada and one of the three prairie provinces. Its capital is Edmonton, and the 2021 census counted 4,368,370 people across 661,849 square kilometers.

Aragon is an autonomous community of Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Its capital is Zaragoza, and in January 2024 it had 1,351,591 residents, slightly over half of them living in the capital city.

Sicily is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea and one of the twenty regions of Italy. Its capital is Palermo, and its 2026 population of 4,775,194 lives on 25,832.39 square kilometers.

Attica is an administrative region of Greece that takes in the entire Athens metropolitan area. It is coextensive with the former Attica Prefecture and covers a greater area than the historical region of the same name, with 3,784,565 people in 2024 on 3,808.1 square kilometers.

Silesian Voivodeship is an administrative province in southern Poland, the voivodeship being the Polish name for the first-level division. With over 4.2 million residents it is the second most populous and the most densely populated region of Poland. Its capital is Katowice.

Alexandria Governorate is one of the governorates of Egypt, on the Mediterranean coast in the north of the country. The city of Alexandria was historically the capital of Egypt, and the governorate had 5,599,387 residents in January 2024 on only 2,818 square kilometers.

Dodoma Region is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions, in the center of the country. Its regional capital, the city of Dodoma, is also the capital of Tanzania, and the 2022 census counted 3,085,625 people, up from 2,083,588 in the 2012 census.

Mecca Province is one of the provinces of Saudi Arabia, in the historic Hejaz region with an extended Red Sea coastline. It is the third largest province by area and the second most populous, with 7,769,994 inhabitants in 2022.

Maharashtra is a state in the western peninsular region of India, occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Its capital is Mumbai, with Nagpur as the winter capital, and its estimated 2025 population is 128,659,000 across 307,713 square kilometers.

Western Australia is the westernmost state of Australia, bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west and the Southern Ocean to the south. Its capital is Perth, and a December 2024 estimate put its population at 3,008,700 across 2,527,013 square kilometers.