ISO 3166-1

'ISO 3166-1', as part of the ISO 3166 standard, provides codes for the names of countries and dependent territories, and is published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The official name of the standard is ''Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes''. It defines three sets of country codes:^[1]

★ ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, a two-letter system, used in many applications, most prominently for country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), with some exceptions.

★ ISO 3166-1 alpha-3, a three-letter system, which allows a better visual association between country name and code element than the alpha-2 code.

★ ISO 3166-1 numeric, a three-digit numerical system, with the advantage of script (writing system) independence, and hence useful for people or systems which uses a non-Latin script. This is identical to codes defined by the United Nations Statistics Division.
ISO 3166 has included alphabetical country codes since its first edition in 1974, and numeric country codes since its second edition in 1981. The country codes were first published as ISO 3166-1 in 1997 in the fifth edition of ISO 3166, when ISO 3166 were divided into three separate parts.^[2]
ISO 3166-1 is not the only standard for country codes. Many international organizations use their own country codes, where some of them closely correspond to the ISO 3166-1 codes. For examples, see ''country codes''.

Contents

Criteria for inclusion

Officially assigned code elements

Reserved and user-assigned code elements

Changes

References

See also

External links

Criteria for inclusion

Currently, 244 countries and territories are assigned official codes by ISO 3166-1. According to the Maintenance Agency for ISO 3166 country codes, the only way to enter a new country name into ISO 3166-1 is to have it registered in one of the following two sources:^[3]

★ United Nations Terminology Bulletin Country Names, or

★ Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use of the UN Statistics Division.
To be listed in the bulletin ''Country Names'', a country or territory must be any of the following:

★ a member country of the United Nations,

★ a member of one of its specialized agencies, or

★ a party to the ''Statute of the International Court of Justice''.
Once a country name or territory name appears in either of these two sources, it will be added to ISO 3166-1 by default.

Officially assigned code elements

The following is a complete ISO 3166-1 encoding code list in alphabetical order by the English short country names officially used by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA), which uses country names from United Nations sources.^[4]
The table includes officially assigned codes only.

Official country names used by the ISO 3166/MA	Numeric	Alpha-3	Alpha-2	Local ISO codes
Afghanistan	004	AFG	AF
Åland Islands	248	ALA	AX
Albania	008	ALB	AL
Algeria	012	DZA	DZ
American Samoa	016	ASM	AS
Andorra	020	AND	AD
Angola	024	AGO	AO
Anguilla	660	AIA	AI
Antarctica	010	ATA	AQ
Antigua and Barbuda	028	ATG	AG
Argentina	032	ARG	AR
Armenia	051	ARM	AM
Aruba	533	ABW	AW
Australia	036	AUS	AU
Austria	040	AUT	AT
Azerbaijan	031	AZE	AZ
Bahamas	044	BHS	BS
Bahrain	048	BHR	BH
Bangladesh	050	BGD	BD
Barbados	052	BRB	BB
Belarus	112	BLR	BY
Belgium	056	BEL	BE
Belize	084	BLZ	BZ
Benin	204	BEN	BJ
Bermuda	060	BMU	BM
Bhutan	064	BTN	BT
Bolivia	068	BOL	BO
Bosnia and Herzegovina	070	BIH	BA
Botswana	072	BWA	BW
Bouvet Island	074	BVT	BV
Brazil	076	BRA	BR
British Indian Ocean Territory	086	IOT	IO
Brunei Darussalam	096	BRN	BN
Bulgaria	100	BGR	BG
Burkina Faso	854	BFA	BF
Burundi	108	BDI	BI
Cambodia	116	KHM	KH
Cameroon	120	CMR	CM
Canada	124	CAN	CA
Cape Verde	132	CPV	CV
Cayman Islands	136	CYM	KY
Central African Republic	140	CAF	CF
Chad	148	TCD	TD
Chile	152	CHL	CL
China	156	CHN	CN
Christmas Island	162	CXR	CX
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	166	CCK	CC
Colombia	170	COL	CO
Comoros	174	COM	KM
Congo	178	COG	CG
Congo, Democratic Republic of the	180	COD	CD
Cook Islands	184	COK	CK
Costa Rica	188	CRI	CR
Côte d'Ivoire	384	CIV	CI
Croatia	191	HRV	HR
Cuba	192	CUB	CU
Cyprus	196	CYP	CY
Czech Republic	203	CZE	CZ
Denmark	208	DNK	DK
Djibouti	262	DJI	DJ
Dominica	212	DMA	DM
Dominican Republic	214	DOM	DO
Ecuador	218	ECU	EC
Egypt	818	EGY	EG
El Salvador	222	SLV	SV
Equatorial Guinea	226	GNQ	GQ
Eritrea	232	ERI	ER
Estonia	233	EST	EE
Ethiopia	231	ETH	ET
Falkland Islands	238	FLK	FK
Faroe Islands	234	FRO	FO
Fiji	242	FJI	FJ
Finland	246	FIN	FI
France	250	FRA	FR
French Guiana	254	GUF	GF
French Polynesia	258	PYF	PF
French Southern Territories	260	ATF	TF
Gabon	266	GAB	GA
Gambia	270	GMB	GM
Georgia	268	GEO	GE
Germany	276	DEU	DE
Ghana	288	GHA	GH
Gibraltar	292	GIB	GI
Greece	300	GRC	GR
Greenland	304	GRL	GL
Grenada	308	GRD	GD
Guadeloupe	312	GLP	GP
Guam	316	GUM	GU
Guatemala	320	GTM	GT
Guernsey	831	GGY	GG
Guinea	324	GIN	GN
Guinea-Bissau	624	GNB	GW
Guyana	328	GUY	GY
Haiti	332	HTI	HT
Heard Island and McDonald Islands	334	HMD	HM
Vatican City	336	VAT	VA
Honduras	340	HND	HN
Hong Kong	344	HKG	HK
Hungary	348	HUN	HU
Iceland	352	ISL	IS
India	356	IND	IN
Indonesia	360	IDN	ID
Iran	364	IRN	IR
Iraq	368	IRQ	IQ
Ireland	372	IRL	IE
Isle of Man	833	IMN	IM
Israel	376	ISR	IL
Italy	380	ITA	IT
Jamaica	388	JAM	JM
Japan	392	JPN	JP
Jersey	832	JEY	JE
Jordan	400	JOR	JO
Kazakhstan	398	KAZ	KZ
Kenya	404	KEN	KE
Kiribati	296	KIR	KI
North Korea	408	PRK	KP
South Korea	410	KOR	KR
Kuwait	414	KWT	KW
Kyrgyzstan	417	KGZ	KG
Laos	418	LAO	LA
Latvia	428	LVA	LV
Lebanon	422	LBN	LB
Lesotho	426	LSO	LS
Liberia	430	LBR	LR
Libya	434	LBY	LY
Liechtenstein	438	LIE	LI
Lithuania	440	LTU	LT
Luxembourg	442	LUX	LU
Macao	446	MAC	MO
Republic of Macedonia	807	MKD	MK
Madagascar	450	MDG	MG
Malawi	454	MWI	MW
Malaysia	458	MYS	MY
Maldives	462	MDV	MV
Mali	466	MLI	ML
Malta	470	MLT	MT
Marshall Islands	584	MHL	MH
Martinique	474	MTQ	MQ
Mauritania	478	MRT	MR
Mauritius	480	MUS	MU
Mayotte	175	MYT	YT
Mexico	484	MEX	MX
Federated States of Micronesia	583	FSM	FM
Moldova	498	MDA	MD
Monaco	492	MCO	MC
Mongolia	496	MNG	MN
Montenegro	499	MNE	ME
Montserrat	500	MSR	MS
Morocco	504	MAR	MA
Mozambique	508	MOZ	MZ
Myanmar	104	MMR	MM
Namibia	516	NAM	NA
Nauru	520	NRU	NR
Nepal	524	NPL	NP
Netherlands	528	NLD	NL
Netherlands Antilles	530	ANT	AN
New Caledonia	540	NCL	NC
New Zealand	554	NZL	NZ
Nicaragua	558	NIC	NI
Niger	562	NER	NE
Nigeria	566	NGA	NG
Niue	570	NIU	NU
Norfolk Island	574	NFK	NF
Northern Mariana Islands	580	MNP	MP
Norway	578	NOR	NO
Oman	512	OMN	OM
Pakistan	586	PAK	PK
Palau	585	PLW	PW
Palestinian territories	275	PSE	PS
Panama	591	PAN	PA
Papua New Guinea	598	PNG	PG
Paraguay	600	PRY	PY
Peru	604	PER	PE
Philippines	608	PHL	PH
Pitcairn	612	PCN	PN
Poland	616	POL	PL
Portugal	620	PRT	PT
Puerto Rico	630	PRI	PR
Qatar	634	QAT	QA
Réunion	638	REU	RE
Romania	642	ROU	RO
Russian Federation	643	RUS	RU
Rwanda	646	RWA	RW
Saint Helena	654	SHN	SH
Saint Kitts and Nevis	659	KNA	KN
Saint Lucia	662	LCA	LC
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	666	SPM	PM
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	670	VCT	VC
Samoa	882	WSM	WS
San Marino	674	SMR	SM
Sao Tome and Principe	678	STP	ST
Saudi Arabia	682	SAU	SA
Senegal	686	SEN	SN
Serbia	688	SRB	RS
Seychelles	690	SYC	SC
Sierra Leone	694	SLE	SL
Singapore	702	SGP	SG
Slovakia	703	SVK	SK
Slovenia	705	SVN	SI
Solomon Islands	090	SLB	SB
Somalia	706	SOM	SO
South Africa	710	ZAF	ZA
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	239	SGS	GS
Spain	724	ESP	ES
Sri Lanka	144	LKA	LK
Sudan	736	SDN	SD
Suriname	740	SUR	SR
Svalbard and Jan Mayen	744	SJM	SJ
Swaziland	748	SWZ	SZ
Sweden	752	SWE	SE
Switzerland	756	CHE	CH
Syria	760	SYR	SY
Republic of China	158	TWN	TW
Tajikistan	762	TJK	TJ
Tanzania	834	TZA	TZ
Thailand	764	THA	TH
Timor-Leste	626	TLS	TL
Togo	768	TGO	TG
Tokelau	772	TKL	TK
Tonga	776	TON	TO
Trinidad and Tobago	780	TTO	TT
Tunisia	788	TUN	TN
Turkey	792	TUR	TR
Turkmenistan	795	TKM	TM
Turks and Caicos Islands	796	TCA	TC
Tuvalu	798	TUV	TV
Uganda	800	UGA	UG
Ukraine	804	UKR	UA
United Arab Emirates	784	ARE	AE
United Kingdom	826	GBR	GB
United States	840	USA	US
United States Minor Outlying Islands	581	UMI	UM
Uruguay	858	URY	UY
Uzbekistan	860	UZB	UZ
Vanuatu	548	VUT	VU
Venezuela	862	VEN	VE
Viet Nam	704	VNM	VN
British Virgin Islands	092	VGB	VG
United States Virgin Islands	850	VIR	VI
Wallis and Futuna	876	WLF	WF
Western Sahara	732	ESH	EH
Yemen	887	YEM	YE
Zambia	894	ZMB	ZM
Zimbabwe	716	ZWE	ZW

Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin were detached from Guadeloupe and became overseas collectivities of France on February 21, 2007. The ISO has yet to release the official codes for the new collectivities.

Reserved and user-assigned code elements

Besides the officially assigned codes, code elements may be expanded by using either reserved codes or user-assigned codes.^[5]
Reserved code elements are codes which, while not ISO 3166-1 codes, are in use for some applications in conjunction with the ISO 3166 codes. They are reserved to add flexibility to the coding system. Usually, obsolete codes may be kept as reserved, while some overseas territories, international organizations, and special nationality status have reserved codes of their own. See the corresponding sections in ''ISO 3166-1 alpha-2'' and ''ISO 3166-1 alpha-3'' for their respective reserved codes (ISO 3166-1 numeric does not have reserved codes).
User-assigned code elements are codes at the disposal of users who need to add further names of countries, territories or other geographical entities to their in-house application of ISO 3166-1, and the ISO 3166/MA will never use them in the updating process of the standard. See the corresponding sections in ''ISO 3166-1 alpha-2'', ''ISO 3166-1 alpha-3'' and ''ISO 3166-1 numeric'' for their respective user-assigned codes.

Changes

A country or territory may get new codes if it changes its name or its territorial boundaries. A country generally gets new alphabetical codes if its name changes, whereas a new numeric code is associated with a change of boundaries. Changes to ISO 3166-1 are announced in periodic newsletters, of which 12 have been released since the first edition of ISO 3166-1 was published in 1997:
# Newsletter V-1 – Published 1998-02-05: change of official name of Samoa
# Newsletter V-2 – Published 1999-10-01: new entries for Palestinian Territory, Occupied
# Newsletter V-3 – Published 2002-02-01: change of alpha-3 code element for Romania
# Newsletter V-4 – Published 2002-05-20: name changes for various countries
# Newsletter V-5 – Published 2002-05-20: change of names and alphabetical code elements for East Timor
# Newsletter V-6 – Published 2002-11-15: change of names for East Timor (to Timor-Leste)
# Newsletter V-7 – Published 2002-11-15: change of official name of Comoros
# Newsletter V-8 – Published 2003-07-23: deletion of Yugoslavia, new entry for Serbia and Montenegro
# Newsletter V-9 – Published 2004-02-13: new entry for Åland Islands
# Newsletter V-10 – Published 2004-04-26: name changes for Afghanistan and Åland Islands
# Newsletter V-11 – Published 2006-03-29: new entries for Guernsey, Isle of Man and Jersey
# Newsletter V-12 – Published 2006-09-26: deletion of Serbia and Montenegro, new entries for Montenegro and Serbia
The second edition of ISO 3166-1 was published in 2007, which comprises a consolidation of all changes to the lists as published in the newsletters above.^[6]

References

1. ISO 3166 FAQs – General questions
2. Development of ISO 3166
3. ISO 3166-1 and ccTLDs
4. ISO 3166 and the UN
5. Customizing ISO 3166-1
6. Second edition of ISO 3166-1 published

Information on reserved codes taken from "Reserved code elements under ISO 3166-1" published by Secretariat of ISO/TC 46, ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency, 2001-02-13, available on request from ISO 3166/MA.

See also

★ ISO 3166-2

★ ISO 3166-3

★ List of IOC country codes, slightly different codes from ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes, used by the International Olympic Committee

★ List of FIFA country codes, slightly different codes from ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes, used by FIFA

★ Comparison of IOC, FIFA, and ISO 3166 country codes

★ Federal Information Processing Standard

External links

★ ISO 3166/MA – ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency at the International Organization for Standardization – includes up-to-date lists of two-letter codes.

★ United Nations Statistics Division – Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use – includes three-letter and numeric codes.

★ CIA World Factbook – Cross-Reference List of Country Data Codes (public domain)

★ a list of ISO 3166-1 codes (including three-letter and numeric codes), and includes information about changes that have been made over the years.

★ an xml document containing country codes and country names in 7 languages.