ISO 3166-1 Totally Explained

Everything about Iso 3166-1 totally explained

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:

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.
ISO 3166-1 isn't 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.

Criteria for inclusion

Currently, 246 countries and territories are assigned official codes 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 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'll be added to ISO 3166-1 by default.

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

English (or French) short name lower case

English (or French) full name

Alpha-2 code

Alpha-3 code

Numeric code

Remarks

Independent (# denotes the country is independent)

Additional information (official language alpha-2 codes)

Additional information (official language alpha-3 codes)

Additional information (local name)

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/MA, which uses country names from United Nations sources. The table includes officially assigned codes only.

Official country names used by the ISO 3166/MA	Numeric	a href=http://ISO_3166-1_alpha-3.totallyexplained.com title="ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 - Totally Explained">Alpha-3	a href=http://ISO_3166-1_alpha-2.totallyexplained.com title="ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 - Totally Explained">Alpha-2
	004	AFG	AF
	248	ALA	AX
	008	ALB	AL
	012	DZA	DZ
	016	ASM	AS
	020	AND	AD
	024	AGO	AO
	660	AIA	AI
	010	ATA	AQ
	028	ATG	AG
	032	ARG	AR
	051	ARM	AM
	533	ABW	AW
	036	AUS	AU
	040	AUT	AT
	031	AZE	AZ

	044	BHS	BS
	048	BHR	BH
	050	BGD	BD
	052	BRB	BB
	112	BLR	BY
	056	BEL	BE
	084	BLZ	BZ
	204	BEN	BJ
	060	BMU	BM
	064	BTN	BT
	068	BOL	BO
	070	BIH	BA
	072	BWA	BW
Bouvet Island	074	BVT	BV
	076	BRA	BR
	086	IOT	IO
	096	BRN	BN
	100	BGR	BG
	854	BFA	BF
	108	BDI	BI

	116	KHM	KH
	120	CMR	CM
	124	CAN	CA
	132	CPV	CV
	136	CYM	KY
	140	CAF	CF
	148	TCD	TD
	152	CHL	CL
	156	CHN	CN
	162	CXR	CX
	166	CCK	CC
	170	COL	CO
	174	COM	KM
	178	COG	CG
	180	COD	CD
	184	COK	CK
	188	CRI	CR
	384	CIV	CI
	191	HRV	HR
	192	CUB	CU
	196	CYP	CY
	203	CZE	CZ

	208	DNK	DK
	262	DJI	DJ
	212	DMA	DM
	214	DOM	DO

	218	ECU	EC
	818	EGY	EG
	222	SLV	SV
	226	GNQ	GQ
	232	ERI	ER
	233	EST	EE
	231	ETH	ET

	238	FLK	FK
	234	FRO	FO
	242	FJI	FJ
	246	FIN	FI
	250	FRA	FR
	254	GUF	GF
	258	PYF	PF
	260	ATF	TF

	266	GAB	GA
	270	GMB	GM
	268	GEO	GE
	276	DEU	DE
	288	GHA	GH
	292	GIB	GI
	300	GRC	GR
	304	GRL	GL
	308	GRD	GD
	312	GLP	GP
	316	GUM	GU
	320	GTM	GT
	831	GGY	GG
	324	GIN	GN
	624	GNB	GW
	328	GUY	GY

	332	HTI	HT
Heard Island and McDonald Islands	334	HMD	HM
	336	VAT	VA
	340	HND	HN
	344	HKG	HK
	348	HUN	HU

	352	ISL	IS
	356	IND	IN
	360	IDN	ID
	364	IRN	IR
	368	IRQ	IQ
	372	IRL	IE
	833	IMN	IM
	376	ISR	IL
	380	ITA	IT

	388	JAM	JM
	392	JPN	JP
	832	JEY	JE
	400	JOR	JO

	398	KAZ	KZ
	404	KEN	KE
	296	KIR	KI
	408	PRK	KP
	410	KOR	KR
	414	KWT	KW
	417	KGZ	KG

	418	LAO	LA
	428	LVA	LV
	422	LBN	LB
	426	LSO	LS
	430	LBR	LR
	434	LBY	LY
	438	LIE	LI
	440	LTU	LT
	442	LUX	LU

	446	MAC	MO
	807	MKD	MK
	450	MDG	MG
	454	MWI	MW
	458	MYS	MY
	462	MDV	MV
	466	MLI	ML
	470	MLT	MT
	584	MHL	MH
	474	MTQ	MQ
	478	MRT	MR
	480	MUS	MU
	175	MYT	YT
	484	MEX	MX
	583	FSM	FM
	498	MDA	MD
	492	MCO	MC
	496	MNG	MN
	499	MNE	ME
	500	MSR	MS
	504	MAR	MA
	508	MOZ	MZ
	104	MMR	MM

	516	NAM	NA
	520	NRU	NR
	524	NPL	NP
	528	NLD	NL
	530	ANT	AN
	540	NCL	NC
	554	NZL	NZ
	558	NIC	NI
	562	NER	NE
	566	NGA	NG
	570	NIU	NU
	574	NFK	NF
	580	MNP	MP
	578	NOR	NO

	512	OMN	OM

	586	PAK	PK
	585	PLW	PW
	275	PSE	PS
	591	PAN	PA
	598	PNG	PG
	600	PRY	PY
	604	PER	PE
	608	PHL	PH
	612	PCN	PN
	616	POL	PL
	620	PRT	PT
	630	PRI	PR

	634	QAT	QA

	638	REU	RE
	642	ROU	RO
	643	RUS	RU
	646	RWA	RW

	652	BLM	BL
	654	SHN	SH
	659	KNA	KN
	662	LCA	LC
	663	MAF	MF
	666	SPM	PM
	670	VCT	VC
	882	WSM	WS
	674	SMR	SM
	678	STP	ST
	682	SAU	SA
	686	SEN	SN
	688	SRB	RS
	690	SYC	SC
	694	SLE	SL
	702	SGP	SG
	703	SVK	SK
	705	SVN	SI
	090	SLB	SB
	706	SOM	SO
	710	ZAF	ZA
	239	SGS	GS
	724	ESP	ES
	144	LKA	LK
	736	SDN	SD
	740	SUR	SR
Svalbard and Jan Mayen	744	SJM	SJ
	748	SWZ	SZ
	752	SWE	SE
	756	CHE	CH
	760	SYR	SY

	158	TWN	TW
	762	TJK	TJ
	834	TZA	TZ
	764	THA	TH
	626	TLS	TL
	768	TGO	TG
	772	TKL	TK
	776	TON	TO
	780	TTO	TT
	788	TUN	TN
	792	TUR	TR
	795	TKM	TM
	796	TCA	TC
	798	TUV	TV

	800	UGA	UG
	804	UKR	UA
	784	ARE	AE
	826	GBR	GB
	840	USA	US
United States Minor Outlying Islands	581	UMI	UM
	858	URY	UY
	860	UZB	UZ

	548	VUT	VU
	862	VEN	VE
	704	VNM	VN
	092	VGB	VG
	850	VIR	VI

	876	WLF	WF
	732	ESH	EH

	887	YEM	YE

	894	ZMB	ZM
	716	ZWE	ZW

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.
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 doesn't 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 newsletters by ISO 3166/MA.
12 newsletters were released between the first and second editions of ISO 3166-1 (published in 1997 and 2006 respectively):

Newsletter V-1

– Published 1998-02-05: Change of official name (Samoa).

Newsletter V-2

– Published 1999-10-01: Inclusion of new country name and code elements (Palestinian Territory, Occupied).

Newsletter V-3

– Published 2002-02-01: Change of alpha-3 Code Element (Romania).

Newsletter V-4

– Published 2002-05-20: Name changes (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fiji, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Macao, Niue, Somalia, and Venezuela).

Newsletter V-5

– Published 2002-05-20: Change of names and alphabetical code elements of East Timor.

Newsletter V-6

– Published 2002-11-15: Change of names of 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"; inclusion of "Serbia and Montenegro" with new alphabetical code elements.

Newsletter V-9

– Published 2004-02-13: Inclusion of an entry for Åland Islands.

Newsletter V-10

– Published 2004-04-26: Name changes (Afghanistan and Åland Islands).

Newsletter V-11

– Published 2006-03-29: Inclusion of an entry for Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man. Change of remark for the United Kingdom.

Newsletter V-12

– Published 2006-09-26: Inclusion of the new entries for "Serbia" and "Montenegro" (replacing Serbia and Montenegro). The second edition of ISO 3166-1 comprised a consolidation of all changes from the first edition as published in the newsletters from V-1 to V-12. Two newsletters have been released since the second edition of ISO 3166-1 was published:

Newsletter VI-1

– Published 2007-09-21: Assignment of code elements for Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin and update of France and other French Territories (French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Guadeloupe, and Réunion).

Newsletter VI-2

– Published 2008-04-08: Name changes for Moldova, Montenegro and other minor corrections (Madagascar, Palestinian Territory, Occupied, and Saint Barthélemy).Further Information

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