ISO 3166-1 (Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country code) is a standard defining codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. It is the first part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization.
It defines three sets of country codes: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 – two-letter country codes which are used most prominently for the Internet's country code top-level domains (with a few exceptions). ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 – three-letter country codes which allow a better visual association between the codes and the country names than the 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.
The alphabetic country codes were first included in ISO 3166 in 1974, and the numeric country codes were first included in 1981. The country codes have been published as ISO 3166-1 since 1997, when ISO 3166 was expanded into three parts, with ISO 3166-2 defining codes for subdivisions and ISO 3166-3 defining codes for former countries.
As a widely used international standard, ISO 3166-1 is implemented in other standards and used by international organizations to allow facilitation of the exchange of goods and information. However, it is not the only standard for country codes. Other country codes used by many international organizations are partly or totally incompatible with ISO 3166-1, although some of them closely correspond to ISO 3166-1 codes.
Find a country Enter an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code to find the corresponding country article.
Criteria for inclusion
Codes for 249 countries, territories, or areas of geographical interest are assigned in ISO 3166-1. According to the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA), 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: United Nations Terminology Bulletin Country Names, or Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use of the United Nations Statistics Division.
To be listed in the bulletin Country Names, a country must be at least one of the following:
A member state of the United Nations A member of one of its specialized agencies A party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice
The list of names in Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use of the UN Statistics Division is based on the bulletin Country Names and other UN sources.
Once a country name or territory name appears in either of these two sources, it will be added to ISO 3166-1 by default.
The ISO 3166/MA may reserve code elements for other entities that do not qualify for inclusion based on the above criteria. For example, because the European Union is not a country, it is not formally included in ISO 3166-1, but for practical reasons, the ISO 3166/MA has "reserved the two-letter combination for the purpose of identifying the European Union within the framework of ISO 3166-1".
Information included
ISO 3166-1 is published officially in both English and French. Since the second edition of ISO 3166-1, the following columns are included for each entry: Country Name – English (or French) short name (all upper-case) English (or French) short name lower case (title case) English (or French) full name Alpha-2 code Alpha-3 code Numeric code Remarks Independent Additional information: Administrative language(s) alpha-2 code element(s) Additional information: Administrative language(s) alpha-3 code element(s) Additional information: Local short name(s)
Naming and code construction
Naming and disputes
The country names used in ISO 3166-1 are taken from the two UN sources. Some country names used by the UN, and accordingly by ISO, are disputed:
Short name upper case in ISO 3166Short name lower case in ISO 3166 Full nameListed as independent in ISO 3166Local short nameDisputeLink to ISO 3166-2AFGHANISTANAfghanistanthe Islamic Republic of AfghanistanUnder the unrecognized government of the Islamic Emirate of AfghanistanISO 3166-2:AFCHINAChina the People's Republic of China (zh)Disputed sovereignty with TaiwanISO 3166-2:CNCYPRUSCyprus the Republic of CyprusDisputed sovereignty with Northern CyprusISO 3166-2:CY (MALVINAS)Falkland Islands (the) [Malvinas]Disputed sovereignty and namingISO 3166-2:FKPALESTINE, STATE OFPalestine, State of the State of Palestine (ar)Disputed sovereignty with IsraelISO 3166-2:PSTaiwan (Province of China) (zh)Disputed sovereignty and namingISO 3166-2:TWWESTERN SAHARAWestern Sahara (ar)Disputed sovereignty with MoroccoISO 3166-2:EH
Coding
The codes are chosen, according to the ISO 3166/MA, "to reflect the significant, unique component of the country name in order to allow a visual association between country name and country code". For this reason, common components of country names like "Republic", "Kingdom", "United", "Federal" or "Democratic" are normally not used for deriving the code elements. As a consequence, for example, the United Kingdom is officially assigned the alpha-2 code rather than , based on its official name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" (although is reserved on the request of the United Kingdom). The rule is not watertight: the United States of America is still assigned the code for example. Some codes are chosen based on the native names of the countries. For example, Germany is assigned the alpha-2 code , based on its native name "Deutschland".
Codes The complete ISO 3166-1 list of countries and their assigned codes, listed in alphabetical order by the country's English short name used by the ISO 3166/MA:
Each country's alpha-2 code is linked to more information about the assignment of its code elements.