"Premier" is often the title of the heads of government in sub-national entities, such as the provinces and territories of Canada, states of the Commonwealth of Australia, provinces of South Africa, the island of Nevis within the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. In some of these cases, the formal title remains "Prime Minister" but "Premier" is used to avoid confusion with the national leader. In these cases, care should be taken not to confuse the title of "premier" with "prime minister". In these countries, terms such as "Federal Premier", "National Premier" or "Premier of the Dominion" were sometimes used to refer to prime ministers, although these are now obsolete.
Etymology
The word comes from French premier ministre which means prime minister. Premier meaning 'first', coming from Latin prīmārius. This is why in many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister".
Examples by country
Australia– "premier" is the official title for the heads of government in Australia's six states. The term "chief minister" is the title of the head of government in Australia's two self-governing territories, and is effectively equivalent to a premier.
Canada– "premier" is used for the heads of government in Canada's 13 Provinces and territories. "Premier ministre" is the French term for both the Prime Minister of the Canadian federal government and a provincial/territorial premier, so context and/or the office holder's name is needed to determine to which level of government one is referring. For example, the "premier ministre du Québec."
Taiwan– the head of government is officially the President of the Executive Yuan, but it can also be abbreviated to Premier.
Cayman Islands– the head of government is referred to as the “Premier”, however, as a British Overseas Territory, the British Monarch is the head of state, and the British government often has the last say on external affairs.
Czechia– the head of government is colloquially called “Premiér”, and the Czech language translates both “Premier” and “Prime Minister” as “Premiér”. However, although his post is commonly translated in English as “Prime Minister”, the official title as per articles 67 and 68 of the Constitution is “Předseda vlády”, literally “President of the Government”.[1][2][3]
Croatia– the head of government is officially called “President of the Government” (predsjednik vlade) but “Premier” (premijer) is colloquially used.
Serbia– the head of government is officially called "President of the Government" (predsednik vlade) but "Premier" (premijer) is colloquially used.
Poland– the head of government is officially called "President of the Council of Ministers" (Polish: Prezes Rady Ministrów, lit.'Chairman of the Council of Ministers') but "Premier" (polish for Prime Minister) is colloquially used.
Malaysia– the head of the Sarawak state government is known as the Premier of Sarawak following a state constitutional amendment in 2022, a move widely seen to reflect the status of Sarawak as an equal partner with Sabah and Malaya in Malaysia as stipulated in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63).
Netherlands– the term premier is colloquially used as a synonym of prime minister. In the Dutch language, the official and also commonly used term is "minister president", so this is even a third synonym, but this is normally not translated literally into the English language.
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