AWS Regions - AWS Regions and Availability Zones

AWS Regions

When you are preparing to deploy a workload, consider which Region or Regions best meet your needs. For example, select a Region that has the AWS services and features that you need. Also, you can lower network latency when you select a Region that is close to the majority of your users.

Your account determines the Regions that are available to you.

Account types
  • An AWS account provides multiple Regions so that you can create AWS resources in the locations that meet your requirements. For example, you want to create resources in Europe to be closer to your European customers or to meet legal requirements.

  • An AWS GovCloud (US) account provides access to the AWS GovCloud (US-West) Region and the AWS GovCloud (US-East) Region. For more information, see AWS GovCloud (US).

  • An Amazon AWS (China) account provides access to the Beijing and Ningxia Regions only. For more information, see Amazon Web Services in China.

You can't describe or access the Regions of one type of account from another. For example, you can't access the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions or the China Regions from an AWS account.

For more information about the availability of AWS services by Region for AWS accounts and AWS GovCloud (US) accounts, see AWS Services by Region.

Available AWS Regions

The following table lists the Regions provided by an AWS account.

Code Name AZs Opt-in status
us-east-1 US East (N. Virginia) 6 Not required
us-east-2 US East (Ohio) 3 Not required
us-west-1 US West (N. California) 3  † Not required
us-west-2 US West (Oregon) 4 Not required
af-south-1 Africa (Cape Town) 3 Required
ap-east-1 Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) 3 Required
ap-south-2 Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) 3 Required
ap-southeast-3 Asia Pacific (Jakarta) 3 Required
ap-southeast-5 Asia Pacific (Malaysia) 3 Required
ap-southeast-4 Asia Pacific (Melbourne) 3 Required
ap-south-1 Asia Pacific (Mumbai) 3 Not required
ap-northeast-3 Asia Pacific (Osaka) 3 Not required
ap-northeast-2 Asia Pacific (Seoul) 4 Not required
ap-southeast-1 Asia Pacific (Singapore) 3 Not required
ap-southeast-2 Asia Pacific (Sydney) 3 Not required
ap-southeast-7 Asia Pacific (Thailand) 3 Required
ap-northeast-1 Asia Pacific (Tokyo) 4 Not required
ca-central-1 Canada (Central) 3 Not required
ca-west-1 Canada West (Calgary) 3 Required
eu-central-1 Europe (Frankfurt) 3 Not required
eu-west-1 Europe (Ireland) 3 Not required
eu-west-2 Europe (London) 3 Not required
eu-south-1 Europe (Milan) 3 Required
eu-west-3 Europe (Paris) 3 Not required
eu-south-2 Europe (Spain) 3 Required
eu-north-1 Europe (Stockholm) 3 Not required
eu-central-2 Europe (Zurich) 3 Required
il-central-1 Israel (Tel Aviv) 3 Required
mx-central-1 Mexico (Central) 3 Required
me-south-1 Middle East (Bahrain) 3 Required
me-central-1 Middle East (UAE) 3 Required
sa-east-1 South America (São Paulo) 3 Not required

† Newer accounts can access two Availability Zones in US West (N. California).

Opt-in status

To use a Region introduced after March 20, 2019, you must enable the Region before you can access it. The earlier Regions are enabled by default, which means that you can begin creating resources immediately. For more information, see Enable or disable AWS Regions in your account in the AWS Account Management Reference Guide.

Regions enabled by default
  • US East (N. Virginia)

  • US East (Ohio)

  • US West (N. California)

  • US West (Oregon)

  • Asia Pacific (Mumbai)

  • Asia Pacific (Osaka)

  • Asia Pacific (Seoul)

  • Asia Pacific (Singapore)

  • Asia Pacific (Sydney)

  • Asia Pacific (Tokyo)

  • Canada (Central)

  • Europe (Frankfurt)

  • Europe (Ireland)

  • Europe (London)

  • Europe (Paris)

  • Europe (Stockholm)

  • South America (São Paulo)

Regions disabled by default
  • Africa (Cape Town)

  • Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)

  • Asia Pacific (Hyderabad)

  • Asia Pacific (Jakarta)

  • Asia Pacific (Malaysia)

  • Asia Pacific (Melbourne)

  • Asia Pacific (Thailand)

  • Canada West (Calgary)

  • Europe (Milan)

  • Europe (Spain)

  • Europe (Zurich)

  • Israel (Tel Aviv)

  • Mexico (Central)

  • Middle East (Bahrain)

  • Middle East (UAE)

Example commands

The following AWS CLI commands demonstrate how to get information about the Regions for your account.

To list the Regions enabled by default

Use the following list-regions command.

aws account list-regions --region-opt-status-contains ENABLED_BY_DEFAULT --query Regions[*].RegionName

The following is example output.

[ "ap-northeast-1", "ap-northeast-2", "ap-northeast-3", "ap-south-1", "ap-southeast-1", "ap-southeast-2", "ca-central-1", "eu-central-1", "eu-north-1", "eu-west-1", "eu-west-2", "eu-west-3", "sa-east-1", "us-east-1", "us-east-2", "us-west-1", "us-west-2" ]
To list the Regions enabled for your account

Use the following list-regions command to list both Regions enabled by default and Regions enabled for your account.

aws account list-regions --region-opt-status-contains ENABLED_BY_DEFAULT ENABLED --query Regions[*].RegionName
To list the opt-in status of a Region

Use the following get-region-opt-status command.

aws account get-region-opt-status --region-name af-south-1

The following is example output.

{ "RegionName": "af-south-1", "RegionOptStatus": "DISABLED" }
To get the long name of a Region

Use the following get-parameters-by-path command. Replace region-code with the code for the Region. You might need to modify the quotes to get the example to work with your terminal.

aws ssm get-parameters-by-path \ --path /aws/service/global-infrastructure/regions/region-code \ --query 'Parameters[?Name.contains(@,`longName`)].Value' \ --output text

The following is example output where region-code is af-south-1.

Africa (Cape Town)