Country Codes

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The following list shows the countries of the world, according to international standard ISO 3166-1. Selected standard codes for the countries are shown. There is also an indication of which entities are or are not independent countries.

249 countriesA-2A-3NumITUGECIOCFIFADSWMOGAULMARCDialIndependent
AfghanistanAFAFG004AFGAFAFGAFGAFGAF1af93Yes
ÅlandAXALA248   ALDFIN 1242 358Part of FI
AlbaniaALALB008ALBALALBALBALAB3aa355Yes
AlgeriaDZDZA012ALGAGALGALGDZAL4ae213Yes
American SamoaASASM016SMAAQASAASAUSA 5as1-684Territory of US
AndorraADAND020ANDANANDANDAND 7an376Yes
AngolaAOAGO024AGLAOANGANGAOAN8ao244Yes
AnguillaAIAIA660AIAAVAIAAIA  9am1-264Territory of GB
AntarcticaAQATA010 AY ROS3 AA10ay672International
Antigua and BarbudaAGATG028ATGACANTATG AT11aq1-268Yes
ArgentinaARARG032ARGARARGARGRAAG12ag54Yes
ArmeniaAMARM051ARMAMARMARMAMAY13ai374Yes
ArubaAWABW533ABWAAARUARUAWNU14aw297Part of NL
AustraliaAUAUS036AUSASAUSAUSAUSAU17at61Yes
AustriaATAUT040AUTAUAUTAUTAOS18au43Yes
AzerbaijanAZAZE031AZEAJAZEAZEAZAJ19aj994Yes
BahamasBSBHS044BAHBFBAHBAHBSBA20bf1-242Yes
BahrainBHBHR048BHRBABRNBHRBRNBN21ba973Yes
BangladeshBDBGD050BGDBGBANBANBDBW23bg880Yes
BarbadosBBBRB052BRBBBBARBRBBDSBR24bb1-246Yes
BelarusBYBLR112BLRBOBLRBLRBYBY26bw375Yes
BelgiumBEBEL056BELBEBELBELBBX27be32Yes
BelizeBZBLZ084BLZBHBIZBLZBHBH28bh501Yes
BeninBJBEN204BENBNBENBENDYBJ29dm229Yes
BermudaBMBMU060BERBDBERBERBMBE30bm1-441Territory of GB
BhutanBTBTN064BTNBTBHUBHUBT 31bt975Yes
BoliviaBOBOL068BOLBLBOLBOLBOLBO33bo591Yes
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius
and Saba
BQBES535ATNNLAHOANTNANU176ca599Part of NL
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBABIH070BIHBKBIHBIHBIHBG34bn387Yes
BotswanaBWBWA072BOTBCBOTBOTBWBC35bs267Yes
Bouvet IslandBVBVT074 BV BVBV36bv47Territory of NO
BrazilBRBRA076BBRBRABRABRBZ37bl55Yes
British Indian Ocean
Territory
IOIOT086BIOIO   38bi246Territory of GB
Brunei DarussalamBNBRN096BRUBXBRUBRUBRUBD40bx673Yes
BulgariaBGBGR100BULBUBULBULBGBU41bu359Yes
Burkina FasoBFBFA854BFAUVBURBFABFHV42uv226Yes
BurundiBIBDI108BDIBYBDIBDIRUBI43bd257Yes
CambodiaKHKHM116CBGCBCAMCAMKKP44cb855Yes
CameroonCMCMR120CMECMCMRCMRCAMCM45cm237Yes
CanadaCACAN124CANCACANCANCDNCN46xxc1Yes
Cape VerdeCVCPV132CPVCVCPVCPVCVCV47cv238Yes
Cayman IslandsKYCYM136CYMCJCAYCAYKYGC48cj1-345Territory of GB
Central African RepublicCFCAF140CAFCTCAFCTARCACE49cx236Yes
ChadTDTCD148TCDCDCHACHATCHCD50cd235Yes
ChileCLCHL152CHLCICHICHIRCHCH51cl56Yes
ChinaCNCHN156CHNCHCHNCHNCNCI53cc86Yes
Christmas IslandCXCXR162CHRKT CXRAUSKI54xa61Territory of AU
Cocos (Keeling) IslandsCCCCK166ICOCK CCKAUSKK56xb61Territory of AU
ColombiaCOCOL170CLMCOCOLCOLCOCO57ck57Yes
ComorosKMCOM174COMCNCOMCOMKMIC58cq269Yes
Congo (Brazzaville)CGCOG178COGCFCGOCGORCBCG59cf242Yes
Congo (Kinshasa)CDCOD180CODCGCODCODZREZR68cg243Yes
Cook IslandsCKCOK184CKHCWCOKCOKNZKU60cw682Associated with NZ
Costa RicaCRCRI188CTRCSCRCCRCCRCS61cr506Yes
Côte d'IvoireCICIV384CTIIVCIVCIVCIIV66iv225Yes
CroatiaHRHRV191HRVHRCROCROHRRH62ci385Yes
CubaCUCUB192CUBCUCUBCUBCCU63cu53Yes
CuraçaoCWCUW531UCco599Part of NL
CyprusCYCYP196CYPCYCYPCYPCYCY64cy357Yes
Czech RepublicCZCZE203CZEEZCZECZECZCZ65xr420Yes
DenmarkDKDNK208DNKDADENDENDKDN69dk45Yes
DjiboutiDJDJI262DJIDJDJIDJIFDJ70ft253Yes
DominicaDMDMA212DMADODMADMAWDDO71dq1-767Yes
Dominican RepublicDODOM214DOMDRDOMDOMDOMDR72dr1-809
1-829
1-849
Yes
EcuadorECECU218EQAECECUECUECEQ73ec593Yes
EgyptEGEGY818EGYEGEGYEGYETEG40765ua20Yes
El SalvadorSVSLV222SLVESESASLVESES75es503Yes
Equatorial GuineaGQGNQ226GNEEKGEQEQGEQGQ76eg240Yes
EritreaERERI232ERIERERIERIER 77ea291Yes
EstoniaEEEST233ESTENESTESTESTEO78er372Yes
EthiopiaETETH231ETHETETHETHETHET79et251Yes
Falkland IslandsFKFLK238FLKFKFLKFLK FK81fk500Territory of GB
Faroe IslandsFOFRO234FROFOFARFROFOFA82fa298Part of DK
FijiFJFJI242FJIFJFIJFIJFJIFJ83fj679Yes
FinlandFIFIN246FINFIFINFINFINFI84fi358Yes
FranceFRFRA250FFRFRAFRAFFR85fr33Yes
French GuianaGFGUF254GUFFGFGUGUFFFG86fg594Part of FR
French PolynesiaPFPYF258OCEFPFPOTAH2FPF87fp689Territory of FR
French Southern LandsTFATF260 FS F 88fs262Territory of FR
GabonGAGAB266GABGBGABGABGGO89go241Yes
GambiaGMGMB270GMBGAGAMGAMWAGGB90gm220Yes
GeorgiaGEGEO268GEOGGGEOGEOGEGG92gs995Yes
GermanyDEDEU276DGMGERGERDDL93gw49Yes
GhanaGHGHA288GHAGHGHAGHAGHGH94gh233Yes
GibraltarGIGIB292GIBGIGIBGBZGBZGI95gi350Territory of GB
GreeceGRGRC300GRCGRGREGREGRGR97gr30Yes
GreenlandGLGRL304GRLGLGRLGRLDKGL98gl299Part of DK
GrenadaGDGRD308GRDGJGRNGRNWGGD99gd1-473Yes
GuadeloupeGPGLP312GDLGPGUDGLPFMF100gp590Part of FR
GuamGUGUM316GUMGQGUMGUMUSAGM101gu1-671Territory of US
GuatemalaGTGTM320GTMGTGUAGUAGCAGU103gt502Yes
GuernseyGGGGY831 GK GBGGBG 104uik44Crown dependency of GB
GuineaGNGIN324GUIGVGUIGUIRGGN106gv224Yes
Guinea-BissauGWGNB624GNBPUGBSGNBGWGW105pg245Yes
GuyanaGYGUY328GUYGYGUYGUYGUYGY107gy592Yes
HaitiHTHTI332HTIHAHAIHAIRHHA108ht509Yes
Heard and McDonald IslandsHMHMD334 HM AUS 109hm672Territory of AU
HondurasHNHND340HNDHOHONHON HO111ho504Yes
Hong KongHKHKG344HKGHKHKGHKGHKHK33364 852Part of CN
HungaryHUHUN348HNGHUHUNHUNHHU113hu36Yes
IcelandISISL352ISLICISLISLISIL114ic354Yes
IndiaININD356INDININDINDINDIN115ii91Yes
IndonesiaIDIDN360INSIDINAIDNRIID116io62Yes
IranIRIRN364IRNIRIRIIRNIRIR117ir98Yes
IraqIQIRQ368IRQIZIRQIRQIRQIQ118iq964Yes
IrelandIEIRL372IRLEIIRLIRLIRLIE119ie353Yes
Isle of ManIMIMN833 IM GBMGBM 120uik44Crown dependency of GB
IsraelILISR376ISRISISRISRILIS121is972Yes
ItalyITITA380IITITAITAIIY122it39Yes
JamaicaJMJAM388JMCJMJAMJAMJAJM123jm1-876Yes
JapanJPJPN392JJAJPNJPNJJP126ja81Yes
JerseyJEJEY832 JE GBJGBJ 128uik44Crown dependency of GB
JordanJOJOR400JORJOJORJORHKJJD130jo962Yes
KazakhstanKZKAZ398KAZKZKAZKAZKZKZ132kz7Yes
KenyaKEKEN404KENKEKENKENEAKKN133ke254Yes
KiribatiKIKIR296KIRKRKIRKIR KB135gb686Yes
Korea, NorthKPPRK408KREKNPRKPRK KR67kn850Yes
Korea, SouthKRKOR410KORKSKORKORROKKO202ko82Yes
KuwaitKWKWT414KWTKUKUWKUWKWTKW137ku965Yes
KyrgyzstanKGKGZ417KGZKGKGZKGZKSKG138kg996Yes
LaosLALAO418LAOLALAOLAOLAOLA139ls856Yes
LatviaLVLVA428LVALGLATLVALVLV140lv371Yes
LebanonLBLBN422LBNLELIBLIBRLLB141le961Yes
LesothoLSLSO426LSOLTLESLESLSLS142lo266Yes
LiberiaLRLBR430LBRLILBRLBRLBLI144lb231Yes
LibyaLYLBY434LBYLYLBALBYLARLY145ly218Yes
LiechtensteinLILIE438LIELSLIELIEFL 146lh423Yes
LithuaniaLTLTU440LTULHLTULTULTLT147li370Yes
LuxembourgLULUX442LUXLULUXLUXLBX148lu352Yes
MacauMOMAC446MACMCMACMACMOMU149 853Part of CN
MacedoniaMKMKD807MKDMKMKDMKDMKMJ241xn389Yes
MadagascarMGMDG450MDGMAMADMADRMMG150mg261Yes
MalawiMWMWI454MWIMIMAWMWIMWMW152mw265Yes
MalaysiaMYMYS458MLAMYMASMASMALMS153my60Yes
MaldivesMVMDV462MLDMVMDVMDVMVMV154xc960Yes
MaliMLMLI466MLIMLMLIMLIRMMMI155ml223Yes
MaltaMTMLT470MLTMTMLTMLTMML156mm356Yes
Marshall IslandsMHMHL584MHLRMMSHMHL MH157xe692Yes
MartiniqueMQMTQ474MRTMBMRTMTQFMR158mq596Part of FR
MauritaniaMRMRT478MTNMRMTNMTNRIMMT159mu222Yes
MauritiusMUMUS480MAUMPMRIMRIMSMA160mf230Yes
MayotteYTMYT175MYTMFMAYMYT  161ot262Part of FR
MexicoMXMEX484MEXMXMEXMEXMEXMX162mx52Yes
MicronesiaFMFSM583FSMFMFSMFSM  163fm691Yes
MoldovaMDMDA498MDAMDMDAMDAMDRM165mv373Yes
MonacoMCMCO492MCOMNMONMONMC 166mc377Yes
MongoliaMNMNG496MNGMGMGLMNGMGLMO167mp976Yes
MontenegroMEMNE499MNEMJMGOMNEMNE 2647mo382Yes
MontserratMSMSR500MSRMHMNTMSR  168mj1-664Territory of GB
MoroccoMAMAR504MRCMOMARMARMAMC169mr212Yes
MozambiqueMZMOZ508MOZMZMOZMOZMOCMZ170mz258Yes
MyanmarMMMMR104MYABMMYAMYABURBM171br95Yes
NamibiaNANAM516NMBWANAMNAMNAMNM172sx264Yes
NauruNRNRU520NRUNRNRUNRUNAUNW173nu674Yes
NepalNPNPL524NPLNPNEPNEPNEPNP175np977Yes
NetherlandsNLNLD528HOLNLNEDNEDNLNL177ne31Yes
New CaledoniaNCNCL540NCLNCNCDNCLFNC178nl687Territory of FR
New ZealandNZNZL554NZLNZNZLNZLNZNZ179nz64Yes
NicaraguaNINIC558NCGNUNCANCANICNK180nq505Yes
NigerNENER562NGRNGNIGNIGRNNR181ng227Yes
NigeriaNGNGA566NIGNINGRNGAWANNI182nr234Yes
NiueNUNIU570NIUNENIUNIUNZ 183xh683Associated with NZ
Norfolk IslandNFNFK574NFKNFNFINFKAUSNF184nx672Territory of AU
Northern Mariana IslandsMPMNP580MRACQNMANMIUSAMY185nw1-670Commonwealth of US
NorwayNONOR578NORNONORNORNNO186no47Yes
OmanOMOMN512OMAMUOMAOMA OM187mk968Yes
PakistanPKPAK586PAKPKPAKPAKPKPK188pk92Yes
PalauPWPLW585PLWPSPLWPLW  189pw680Yes
PalestinePSPSE275 GZ
WE
PLEPLE  91
267
gz
wj
970In contention
PanamaPAPAN591PNRPMPANPANPAPM191pn507Yes
Papua New GuineaPGPNG598PNGPPPNGPNGPNGNG192pp675Yes
ParaguayPYPRY600PRGPAPARPARPYPY194py595Yes
PeruPEPER604PRUPEPERPERPEPR195pe51Yes
PhilippinesPHPHL608PHLRPPHIPHIRPPH196ph63Yes
PitcairnPNPCN612PTCPC PCN PT197pc870Territory of GB
PolandPLPOL616POLPLPOLPOLPLPL198pl48Yes
PortugalPTPRT620PORPOPORPORPPO199po351Yes
Puerto RicoPRPRI630PTRRQPURPURUSAPU200pr1Commonwealth of US
QatarQAQAT634QATQAQATQATQQT201qa974Yes
ReunionREREU638REUREREUREUFRE206re262Part of FR
RomaniaROROU642ROUROROUROURORO203rm40Yes
Russian FederationRURUS643RUSRSRUSRUSRUSRS204ru7Yes
RwandaRWRWA646RRWRWRWARWARWARW205rw250Yes
Saint BarthélemyBLBLM652 TB    sc590Part of FR
Saint HelenaSHSHN654SHNSHHELSHNSHHE207xj290 nTerritory of GB
Saint Kitts and NevisKNKNA659KNASCSKNSKNKNAT208xd1-869Yes
Saint LuciaLCLCA662LCASTLCALCAWLLC209xk1-758Yes
Saint Martin (French part)MFMAF663 RN    st590Part of FR
Saint Pierre and MiquelonPMSPM666SPMSBSPMSPMFFP210xl508Part of FR
Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines
VCVCT670VCTVCVINVINWVVG211xm1-784Yes
SamoaWSWSM882SMOWSSAMSAMWSZM212ws685Yes
San MarinoSMSMR674SMRSMSMRSMRRSM 213sm378Yes
Sao Tome and PrincipeSTSTP678STPTPSTPSTPSTTP214sf239Yes
Saudi ArabiaSASAU682ARSSAKSAKSASASD215su966Yes
SenegalSNSEN686SENSGSENSENSNSG217sg221Yes
SerbiaRSSRB688SRBRI
KV
SRBSRBSRBYG2648rb381 pYes
SeychellesSCSYC690SEYSESEYSEYSYSC220se248Yes
Sierra LeoneSLSLE694SRLSLSLESLEWALSL221sl232Yes
SingaporeSGSGP702SNGSNSINSINSGPSR222si65Yes
Sint MaartenSXSXM534NNsn1-721Part of NL
SlovakiaSKSVK703SVKLOSVKSVKSKSQ223xo421Yes
SloveniaSISVN705SVNSISLOSVNSLOLJ224xv386Yes
Solomon IslandsSBSLB090SLMBPSOLSOLSBSO225bp677Yes
SomaliaSOSOM706SOMSOSOMSOMSOSI226so252Yes
South AfricaZAZAF710AFSSFRSARSAZAZA227sa27Yes
South Georgia and South
Sandwich Islands
GSSGS239 SX   228xs500Territory of GB
South SudanSSSSD728SSDODsd211Yes
SpainESESP724ESPESPESPESP229sp34Yes
Sri LankaLKLKA144CLNCESRISRICLSB231ce94Yes
SudanSDSDN729SDNSUSUDSUDSUDSU40764sj249Yes
SurinameSRSUR740SURNSSURSURSMESM233sr597Yes
Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Islands
SJSJM744NORSV
JN
  SZ234 47Territory of NO
SwazilandSZSWZ748SWZWZSWZSWZSDSV235sq268Yes
SwedenSESWE752SSWSWESWESSN236sw46Yes
SwitzerlandCHCHE756SUISZSUISUICHSW237sz41Yes
SyriaSYSYR760SYRSYSYRSYRSYRSY238sy963Yes
TaiwanTWTWN158 TWTPETPERC 925ch886Yes
TajikistanTJTJK762TJKTITJKTJKTJTA239ta992Yes
TanzaniaTZTZA834TZATZTANTANEATTN257tz255Yes
ThailandTHTHA764THATHTHATHATTH240th66Yes
Timor-LesteTLTLS626TLSTTTLSTLSRITM242em670Yes
TogoTGTGO768TGOTOTOGTOGTGTG243tg228Yes
TokelauTKTKL772TKLTL TKLNZTK244tl690Territory of NZ
TongaTOTON776TONTNTGATGATOTO245to676Yes
Trinidad and TobagoTTTTO780TRDTDTTOTRITTTD246tr1-868Yes
TunisiaTNTUN788TUNTSTUNTUNTNTS248ti216Yes
TurkeyTRTUR792TURTUTURTURTRTU249tu90Yes
TurkmenistanTMTKM795TKMTXTKMTKMTMTR250tk993Yes
Turks and Caicos IslandsTCTCA796TCATKTKSTCA TI251tc1-649Territory of GB
TuvaluTVTUV798TUVTVTUVTUVTVTV252tv688Yes
UgandaUGUGA800UGAUGUGAUGAEAUUG253ug256Yes
UkraineUAUKR804UKRUPUKRUKRUAUR254un380Yes
United Arab EmiratesAEARE784UAEAEUAEUAE ER255ts971Yes
United KingdomGBGBR826GUKGBR1GBUK256xxk44Yes
United States Minor
Outlying Islands
UMUMI581 a USA b Territories of US
United States of AmericaUSUSA840USAUSUSAUSAUSAUS259xxu1Yes
UruguayUYURY858URGUYURUURUROUUY260uy598Yes
UzbekistanUZUZB860UZBUZUZBUZBUZUZ261uz998Yes
VanuatuVUVUT548VUTNHVANVANVUNV262nn678Yes
Vatican CityVAVAT336CVAVT VATV 110vc39-06Yes
VenezuelaVEVEN862VENVEVENVENYVVN263ve58Yes
VietnamVNVNM704VTNVMVIEVIEVNVS264vm84Yes
Virgin Islands, BritishVGVGB092VRGVIIVBVGBBVIVI39vb1-284Territory of GB
Virgin Islands, U.S.VIVIR850VIRVQISVVIRUSAVI258vi1-340Territory of US
Wallis and Futuna IslandsWFWLF876WALWFWAFWLFFFW266wf681Territory of FR
Western SaharaEHESH732AOEWI SAH  268ss212In contention
YemenYEYEM887YEMYMYEMYEMYARYE269ye967Yes
ZambiaZMZMB894ZMBZAZAMZAMZZB270za260Yes
ZimbabweZWZWE716ZWEZIZIMZIMZWZW271rh263Yes
  • Country name: As shown in "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries".
  • A-2: Alpha-2 codes from ISO 3166-1
  • A-3: Alpha-3 codes from ISO 3166-1 (synonymous with World Bank Codes)
  • Num: Numeric codes from ISO 3166-1
  • ITU: Codes assigned by the International Telecommunications Union
  • GEC: Codes from the U.S. standard GEC
  • IOC: Codes assigned by the International Olympics Committee . These codes identify the nationality of athletes and teams during Olympic events.
  • FIFA: Codes assigned by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association 
  • DS: Distinguishing signs of vehicles in international traffic (oval bumper sticker codes)
  • WMO: Country abbreviations used in weather reports from the World Meteorological Organization
  • GAUL: Global Administrative Unit Layers from the Food and Agriculture Organization
  • MARC: MAchine-Readable Cataloging codes from the Library of Congress
  • Dial: Country code from ITU-T recommendation E.164 (international dialing code), sometimes followed by area code
  • Independent: Country status, based on the CIA World Factbook. This column is just a superficial note, provided for convenience. I don't care to
    argue about it. For full details, please consult your favorite official source.

 

Sources and notes:

ISO - The Maintenance Agency for ISO standard 3166 is supported directly by the central secretariat of the ISO in Geneva. It maintains an authoritative list of ISO Alpha-2 Codes . Its list is coordinated with a list of countries used by the United Nations Statistics Division for reporting purposes. If I understand correctly, the organization that defines ISO Alpha-3 and Numeric Codes is actually the U.N. Statistics Division . Here are the changes since 1982  for those codes. See the changes in ISO 3166-1 page for the change history. I have also written a page about using ISO 3166-1 in software.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) administers top-level domain names (.com, .edu, .org, and so on). The majority of top-level domain names are referred to as ccTLD, or country-code Top Level Domains. They include .fr, .in, etc. URLs with .fr as their top-level domain are supposed to be assigned to French individuals, organizations, and companies by a French administrative body. IANA has chosen to use ISO 3166 as a basis for the ccTLDs (see their list ), and sticks to it very closely. It does, however, use .uk as well as .gb for the United Kingdom. It also allows .ac for Ascension Island (properly part of Saint Helena).

ITU - A number of Web pages say that the ITU country codes are being used, mostly to identify radio transmitter locations. The ITU Web site  has the list. These should not be confused with several other ITU codes, mostly numeric, which are used as dialing prefixes (e.g., ITU-T Recommendation E.164 ). The ITU code for Serbia and Montenegro recently changed from YUG to SCG. See also "Dialing codes", below.

GEC - The GEC  page has an official U.S. government listing of codes. See the changes in GEC page for the change history. Eric Muller has created a website  that keeps track of changes in the GEC codes for primary subdivisions.

The GEC country list differs from ISO 3166 in many minor and sometimes surprising ways. It has assigned separate codes to Bassas da India (BS), Europa Island (EU), Glorioso Islands (GO), Juan de Nova Island (JU), and Tromelin Island (TE), tiny and mostly uninhabited Indian Ocean islands administered with the French Southern Territories; also, Ashmore and Cartier Islands (AT) and Coral Sea Islands (CR), Australian territories; and Clipperton Island (IP), which is administered from French Polynesia. It splits Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands into two countries (JN and SV). a It shows United States Minor Outlying Islands as nine countries: Baker Island (FQ), Howland Island (HQ), Jarvis Island (DQ), Johnston Atoll (JQ), Kingman Reef (KQ), Midway Islands (MQ), Navassa Island (BQ), Palmyra Atoll (LQ), and Wake Island (WQ). It treats Palestine as the Gaza Strip (GZ) plus the West Bank (WE); also, a code is assigned to No Man's Land (NM), a small and winding band of neutral territory near Jerusalem. Since Kosovo declared independence, it has treated Serbia as Serbia proper (RI) plus Kosovo (KV). The 2004 edition of the CIA World Factbook explains why it has added country listings for Akrotiri and Dhekelia, two British military bases in Cyprus. They were assigned the GEC codes AX and DX, respectively, by FIPS Change Notice 12, dated 2007-06-11. At the same time, codes were added for the Southern Kuril Islands (a.k.a. Hoppo Ryodo) (PJ) and areas of undesignated sovereignty (UU), which overlaps with some other codes. The UU code was revoked in 2010-04 with the changeover to Geopolitical Entities and Codes. Finally, GEC allocates codes to the Paracel (PF) and Spratly (PG) Islands, two island groups in the South China Sea that are claimed by every country within shooting distance; ISO 3166 is noncommittal about the Paracels and Spratlys. When ISO split Åland from Finland, GEC did not, so that is one more point of difference between them. The newer GENC standard has retained these variations, but uses ISO-like codes.

IOC - The International Olympics Committee code for Yugoslavia changed from YUG to SCG at about the same time as the ISO Alpha-3 code. Faroe Islands didn't compete in the 2004 Olympics, but in the Paralympic Games they were identified by FRO rather than the former code, FAR. The code for Trinidad and Tobago changed from TRI to TTO in 2014.

FIFA - The FIFA (soccer) codes are taken from the FIFA website , with supplemental codes as shown in Wikipedia . There are a couple of discrepancies between the two sources. Notes: 1 The United Kingdom is covered by several codes: ENG (England), NIR (Northern Ireland), SCO (Scotland), and WAL (Wales). 2 Represents Tahiti. 3 Represents Ross Dependency.

DS - Have you ever wondered about those white oval stickers on cars, with a country code in them? They are provided for by Article 20 of the Convention on Road Traffic  (Geneva, 1949). Therein, they are called "distinguishing signs of the place of registration" of vehicles. There's a list of them on this United Nations Economic Commission for Europe  page. However, some of the codes reported there are not the ones in actual use, because some countries are lax in reporting their codes to the U.N. Secretary General. Neil Parker, John Weeks, and Reg Wilson (of Europlate), in their book "Registration Plates of the World" (ISBN 0-9502735-6-2 paperback, 0-9502735-7-0 hardback), list the codes actually being used on vehicles. That list (as sent to me by Mr. Parker) is the primary source of the data given in the table above.

In recent years, unauthorized stickers have come on the market to promote various tourist areas. One of the earliest was MV for Martha's Vineyard. Besides, when a code changes (e.g. Faroe Islands changed from FR to FO in the mid-1990s), the old stickers don't disappear in a flash. Consequently, even direct observation may not be sufficient to establish the correct Distinguishing Sign for a country.

A Wikipedia user in Uruguay, MauriManya, says that the Distinguishing Sign for Uruguay has changed to UY "al adoptar el sistema unificado en todo el país" (on the adoption of a unified system throughout the country).

The list of countries by Distinguishing Sign is a bit different from the ISO 3166 country list. Instead of Tanzania, there are Tanganyika (EAT) and Zanzibar (EAZ), dating back to before 1964 when the two countries united. There is even a code for Alderney (GBA), which is a dependency of Guernsey.

GAUL - GAUL is a relatively new initiative from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), a specialized agency of the U.N. It aims to codify all the world's statoids and their changes, from about 1990 on. So far it has developed data for countries, primary, and secondary divisions, including boundary data and entity codes. The entity codes are integers, assigned sequentially, with no duplication between layers; that is, no country has the same code as any primary subdivision, and so on. When an entity splits or merges, its code is dropped and new codes are created. However, the codes for its subdivisions remain the same. Therefore, there is no permanent relationship between the codes for an entity and those for its subdivisions; the system is not hierarchical. A revised set of codes is released annually. Some information about GAUL is at Description , PDF document , Presentation , and List of codes .

MARC - MARC is a standard for encoding bibliographic materials in electronic form. The Library of Congress maintains the MARC code list for countries . For background on MARC and a list of country code changes, see the changes in MARC page. In general, MARC country codes are two letters. For three countries, MARC provides three-letter subdivision codes. In these cases, the first two letters represent the state or province, and the third letter indicates the country. If the first two letters are xx, the code represents a location in an unspecified subdivision of that country. b There are five MARC codes that represent parts of United States Minor Outlying Islands: ji Johnston Atoll, xf Midway Islands, wk Wake Island, uc United States Misc. Caribbean Islands, and up United States Misc. Pacific Islands.

Dialing codes - In most places that allow direct-dialed international calls, you must first dial an international access code. For that reason, the E.164 country codes are often printed with a plus sign prefixed, as in +44-01632-496123. In the U.S., the international access code is 011, so you would dial 01144, etc., to reach that number. n Ascension Island's code is 247. p Kosovo has been given the code 383, to take effect "by 2015".

The digits of a telephone number following the country code often have a geographical significance, and are often called area codes. Some lists of area codes for different countries can be found online. Here are a few such sites. All of these links are to other websites.

CountryCodes 
InternationalCodes
BangladeshCodes
CanadaCodes
IndiaCodes Codes
LithuaniaCodes
MadagascarCodes
RussiaCodes
TajikistanCodes
USACodes Codes

 

Misc. - The Educational Testing Service has a set of three-digit country codes in a PDF file .

The U.S. Census Bureau has a set of four-digit country codes - Schedule C  - for use in reporting trade statistics. The (PDF file) AID Geographic Code Book  lists region and country codes used by the U.S. Agency for International Development, along with GEC codes.

There are NATO standards called STANAG (for STANdardization AGreement), used to communicate military information among NATO members. STANAG 1059  is used for countries and other regions. The country codes are based closely on the ISO Alpha-3 codes. The Stanag code for Macedonia is FYR instead of MKD; almost all of the others are the same.

The history of STANAG 1059 is hard to track. Its first Wikipedia entry was made in 2004, and referenced a seventh edition dated 2000 and an eighth edition dated 2003. The eighth edition became effective on 2004-04-01. The ninth edition appeared in draft form in 2005. A tenth edition was planned, but I can't find it online. The first seven editions were closely based on FIPS 10-4 two-letter country codes. The eighth edition added ISO two- and three-letter country codes. It also listed primary subdivisions, with their ISO 3166-2 and FIPS 10-4 codes. All FIPS codes in this document are deprecated.

Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union, has modified the ISO 3166-1 standard to create its own Geonomenclature , or GEONOM for short. These codes are intended to be used in compiling external trade statistics for EU countries.

CountryCodes.CO , a website devoted to code lookups, has several codes not listed here.

 

All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name. - Ps. lxxxvi:9.

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