The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) created and maintains the ISO 3166 standard – Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions.[1] The ISO 3166 standard contains three parts:
- ISO 3166-1 – Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes[2] defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. It defines three sets of country codes:
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 – two-letter country codes which are also used to create the ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes and the Internet country code top-level domains.
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 – three-letter country codes which may allow a better visual association between the codes and the country names than the 3166-1 alpha-2 codes.
- ISO 3166-1 numeric – three-digit country codes which are identical to those developed and maintained by the United Nations Statistics Division, with the advantage of script (writing system) independence, and hence useful for people or systems using non-Latin scripts.
- ISO 3166-2 – Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 2: Country subdivision code[3] defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces, states, departments, regions) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
- ISO 3166-3 – Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 3: Code for formerly used names of countries[4] defines codes for country names which have been deleted from ISO 3166-1 since its first publication in 1974.
The ISO 3166-1 standard currently comprises 249 countries, 193 of which are sovereign states that are members of the United Nations. Many dependent territories in the ISO 3166-1 standard are also listed as a subdivision of their administering state in the ISO 3166-2 standard.
Current ISO 3166 country codes[edit]
The sortable table below contains the three sets of ISO 3166-1 country codes for each of its 249 countries, links to the ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes, and the Internet country code top-level domains (ccTLD) which are based on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard with the few exceptions noted. See the ISO 3166-3 standard for former country codes.
For user-assigned codes used by certain organizations, see ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 § User-assigned code elements and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 § User-assigned code elements.
See also[edit]
- International Organization for Standardization
- Country code
- Lists of countries and territories
- United Nations
- Country code top-level domain
Notes[edit]
- ^ The full names of countries and areas in ISO 3166 often but not always match these official state names.
- ^ The ISO 3166 country name Antarctica comprises the continent of Antarctica and all land and ice shelves south of the 60th parallel south.
- ^ The ISO 3166 country name Australia includes the Ashmore and Cartier Islands and the Coral Sea Islands.
- ^ Although the country code top-level domain .bq is reserved for the Caribbean Netherlands, these islands use the Netherlands country code top-level domain .nl instead.
- ^ The country code top-level domain .bv has not been implemented.
- ^ Both the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the United Nations (UN) use the country name Brunei Darussalam for Brunei.
- ^ Cabo Verde was previously known as Cape Verde.
- ^ The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) uses the United Nations (UN) country name The Congo for the Republic of the Congo.
- ^ Côte d'Ivoire was previously known as Ivory Coast.
- ^ Czechia was previously known by its state name Czech Republic.
- ^ Eswatini was previously known as Swaziland.
- ^ The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) uses the country name The Falkland Islands [Malvinas] for the Falkland Islands.
- ^ The ISO 3166 country name France includes Clipperton Island.
- ^ The ISO 3166 country name The French Southern Territories comprises all of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands except Adélie Land which is included in the ISO 3166 country name Antarctica.
- ^ The Holy See governs and represents the Vatican City State.
- ^ Both the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the United Nations (UN) use the full state name The Democratic People's Republic of Korea for North Korea.
- ^ Both the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the United Nations (UN) use the full state name The Republic of Korea for South Korea.
- ^ Both the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the United Nations (UN) use the full state name The Lao People's Democratic Republic for Laos.
- ^ Macao may be spelt either Macao or Macau.
- ^ Myanmar was previously known as Burma.
- ^ The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) used The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as the country name prior to February 2019 when the naming dispute with Greece was settled.
- ^ The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) uses the United Nations (UN) country name Pitcairn for the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands.
- ^ Both the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the United Nations (UN) use the full state name The Russian Federation for Russia.
- ^ The country code top-level domain .sj has not been implemented.
- ^ The Syrian Arab Republic is also known by its common country name Syria.
- ^ The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) uses the country name Taiwan (Province of China) for Taiwan.
- ^ The Republic of China controls Taiwan. The People's Republic of China claims Taiwan as its Taiwan Province. In deference to the People's Republic of China, the United Nations refers to Taiwan as Taiwan, Province of China.
- ^ Timor-Leste was previously known as East Timor.
- ^ Türkiye was previously known as Turkey.
- ^ Although the country code top-level domain .gb is reserved for the United Kingdom, the country uses the .uk country code top-level domain instead.
- ^ The ISO 3166 country name The United States Minor Outlying Islands comprises Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Navassa Island, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island.
- ^ The country code top-level domain .um has not been implemented.
- ^ The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) uses the United Nations (UN) country name Viet Nam for Vietnam.
- ^ The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) uses the country name Virgin Islands (British) for the Virgin Islands of the United Kingdom.
- ^ The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) uses the country name Virgin Islands (U.S.) for the Virgin Islands of the United States.
- ^ The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has designated Western Sahara as the provisional country name for the region of the Maghreb claimed by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
- ^ Both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic claim the region known as Western Sahara. Morocco currently (2018) controls most of the coastal region while the Sahrawis control the interior.
- ^ The country code top-level domain .eh has not been implemented.
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Country Codes – ISO 3166". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ a b "ISO 3166-1:2013 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ a b "ISO 3166-2:2013 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 2: Country subdivision code". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "ISO 3166-3:2013 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 3: Code for formerly used names of countries". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Country Codes on the Online Browsing Platform (OBP)". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ a b "The World Factbook". United States Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ^ "Member States". United Nations. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "Non-Self-Governing Territories". United Nations. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ "Root Zone Database". Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "HK - Hong Kong". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
- ^ "MO - Macao". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
- ^ "Greece vote settles 27-year Macedonia row". 25 January 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ "UM - United States Minor Outlying Islands". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 13 March 2023.