Download Administrative Boundaries
Download country and administrative boundaries for any country in the world via the geoBoundaries dataset. Choose your country, administrative level, and export format.
Boundary data provided by geoBoundaries (Runfola et al., 2020), licensed CC-BY 4.0. Please provide attribution when using this data.
Country boundary shortcuts
Looking for a specific country at a specific admin level? These pages load and download in one click, with named-feature tables and country-specific guidance:
US States Boundaries
All 50 states plus DC (ADM1).
US Counties Boundaries
All ~3,000 US counties (ADM2).
UK Countries Boundaries
England, Scotland, Wales, NI (ADM1).
UK Counties Boundaries
Ceremonial & administrative counties (ADM2).
Germany States Boundaries
16 Bundesländer (ADM1).
Germany Districts Boundaries
401 Landkreise / kreisfreie Städte (ADM2).
France Regions Boundaries
18 régions (ADM1).
France Departments Boundaries
101 départements (ADM2).
Canada Provinces Boundaries
10 provinces + 3 territories (ADM1).
Canada Census Divisions Boundaries
Census divisions (ADM2).
Australia States Boundaries
States & territories (ADM1).
Australia LGAs Boundaries
Local Government Areas (ADM2).
Saudi Arabia Regions Boundaries
13 regions / mintaqah (ADM1).
Argentina Provinces Boundaries
23 provinces + CABA (ADM1).
About This Tool
This tool lets you download administrative boundary data for almost every country in the world, from national borders (ADM0) down to municipalities and sub-municipal units (ADM2–ADM5). Data is sourced from geoBoundaries, an open, peer-reviewed dataset of political administrative boundaries maintained by the College of William & Mary.
Administrative Levels Explained
ADM0 — Country Boundary
The national outline of a country. Useful for global maps, country-level analysis, and choropleth mapping.
ADM1 — State / Province
First-level subnational divisions. States in the US, provinces in Canada, regions in France, Bundesländer in Germany.
ADM2 — County / District
Second-level divisions. Counties in the US, departments in France, districts in the UK.
ADM3 — Municipality
Third-level divisions, typically cities and municipalities. Availability varies by country.
ADM4–ADM5 — Sub-municipal
Finer administrative units where available. Not every country has data at these levels.
Export Formats
GeoJSON
The most widely used open vector format. Works directly in QGIS, Mapbox, Leaflet, and most web mapping tools.
GeoJSON (Simplified)
A pre-simplified version with reduced vertex count. Much smaller file — ideal for web maps where exact precision is not required.
Shapefile (ZIP)
The standard format for desktop GIS software. Opens in QGIS, ArcGIS, MapInfo, and other applications.
TopoJSON
A compact topology-encoding format popular in D3.js data visualisations. Smaller than GeoJSON for complex boundaries.
KML
Compatible with Google Earth, Google Maps, and other geospatial viewers. Converted in your browser using GDAL.
GeoPackage
An OGC-standard SQLite-based format. A single portable file that supports multiple layers and is well-supported in modern GIS tools.
FlatGeobuf
A high-performance binary format designed for fast streaming in web GIS applications.
How to Use the Downloaded Data
Once downloaded, you can open the boundaries in QGIS, ArcGIS, or any GIS desktop application. For web projects, GeoJSON and FlatGeobuf work well with Leaflet or Mapbox GL JS. If you need to convert the downloaded file to another format, use QuickMapTools' own vector format converters.
Data Source & License
Boundary data is sourced from geoBoundaries (Runfola et al., 2020), an open dataset of political administrative boundaries released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY) license. You are free to use, share, and adapt this data for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you provide appropriate attribution to geoBoundaries.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I download country boundaries as GeoJSON or Shapefile?
Use the downloader above — pick any country and the admin level you need (ADM0 country outline through ADM5 sub-municipal), then export to GeoJSON, Shapefile, KML, GeoPackage, TopoJSON, or FlatGeobuf. All data comes from the open geoBoundaries dataset, no signup or API key required.
What is geoBoundaries and is the data accurate?
geoBoundaries is an open, peer-reviewed dataset of political administrative boundaries maintained by the College of William & Mary (Runfola et al., 2020). It is one of the most widely cited open boundary datasets, covering almost every country in the world from national outlines down to municipalities and sub-municipal units. Data is released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
What is the difference between ADM0, ADM1, ADM2 and higher levels?
ADM0 is the national boundary of a country. ADM1 is the first subnational level (US states, Canadian provinces, German Bundesländer). ADM2 is typically counties or districts. ADM3 is municipalities. ADM4 and ADM5 are sub-municipal units where available — coverage varies by country.
Can I download US state and county boundaries here?
Yes — pick United States from the country dropdown and select ADM1 for states or ADM2 for counties. For one-click access, use the dedicated US States Boundaries and US Counties Boundaries shortcut pages linked above.
Are these boundaries free to use commercially?
Yes. geoBoundaries data is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY) license. You can use it in commercial products, modify it, redistribute it — the only requirement is attribution to geoBoundaries (Runfola et al., 2020).
How big are the downloaded boundary files?
It depends on country and admin level. A small country at ADM0 may be a few kilobytes. The world at ADM1 is several megabytes. Large countries at ADM2 or finer can be tens of megabytes. Use the GeoJSON (Simplified) export if you need a smaller file for the web — it reduces vertex count without changing shape meaningfully.
Does my data get uploaded anywhere?
No. Boundary data is fetched from the geoBoundaries CDN to your browser and converted to the requested export format locally. Nothing you do here is uploaded to a QuickMapTools server.
Can I use these files in QGIS or ArcGIS?
Yes. Shapefile and GeoPackage open natively in both QGIS and ArcGIS. GeoJSON works as a drag-and-drop layer in QGIS and modern ArcGIS Pro. KML opens in Google Earth and most desktop GIS software.