Most people refer to ISO 3166, but actually it is divided into three parts. The purpose of ISO 3166 is to define internationally recognized codes of letters and/or numbers that we can use when we refer to countries and their subdivisions. However, it does not define the names of countries – this information comes from United Nations sources (Terminology Bulletin Country Names and the Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use maintained by the United Nations Statistics Divisions). If a country changes its name without any territorial change, its numeric code remains the same. For example, when Burma was renamed Myanmar without territorial change in 1989, its alphabetic codes were changed, but its numeric code 104 has remained the same. Following notification from the United Nations (UN), the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency assigns alpha-2 and alpha-3 country code elements to new UN member states.
User-assigned code elements
- The purpose of ISO 3166 is to define internationally recognized codes of letters and/or numbers that we can use when we refer to countries and their subdivisions.
- As a consequence, for example, the United Kingdom is officially assigned the alpha-2 code GB rather than UK, based on its official name “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” (although UK is reserved on the request of the United Kingdom).
- Most people refer to ISO 3166, but actually it is divided into three parts.
- How the alpha-4 codes are constructed depends on the reason why the country name has been removed.
- For example, Germany is assigned the alpha-2 code DE, based on its native name “Deutschland”.
These changes are done by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA). Each country’s alpha-2 code is linked to more information about the assignment of its code elements. There are also reserved code elements that do not represent a country but reserved for a certain use. How the alpha-4 codes are constructed depends on the reason why the country name has been removed. ISO allows free-of-charge use of its country, currency and language codes from ISO 3166, ISO 4217 and ISO 639, respectively. We also have a product, the Country Codes Collection, which you can preview free of charge on the OBP (where you will also find a decoding table).
ISO 3166-1 numeric
It contains the codes from Parts 1, 2 and 3 of ISO 3166 in three different formats (.xml, .csv, and .xls) for easy integration into your own systems. You will be notified when changes are made so you can download the latest versions. In this way, you can be sure that your database is always using the most up-to-date information from ISO. © All Rights Reserved All ISO publications and materials are protected by copyright and are subject to the user’s acceptance of ISO’s conditions of copyright. Read more about the different types of codes in the Glossary for ISO 3166. The information on the OBP is always up to date and you can sign up for notifications to be informed when changes are made by clicking on the follow function in the top right-hand corner.
By using ISO 3166 codes, clarity is provided in communicating information to people and organizations around the globe, without having to know local languages and dialects.See also How ISO codes connect the world. The codes for subdivisions are represented as the alpha-2 code for the country, followed by up to three characters. For example ID-RI is the Riau province of Indonesia and NG-RI is the Rivers province in Nigeria. Names and codes for subdivisions are usually taken from relevant official national information sources. As a general rule, the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency does not assign official country code elements to other geopolitical areas or countries that are not member states of the UN.
Currency codes
Users are advised that, because these code elements are defined by themselves, they are not compatible between different entities.There is no ISO procedure for the assignment of user-assigned code elements. Part 1 establishes codes that represent the current names of countries, dependencies, and other areas of particular geopolitical interest, on the basis of country names obtained from the United Nations. Another advantage is that when countries merge or split, they will get a new numeric code, while the alphabetic code stays in use for (a part of) that country. A persistent number is needed in datasets with historical country information. An even more detailed version of these country codes can also be obtained as a CSV file in the download area.
A list of all international calling codes is also available separately. Users of ISO country codes can consult an archive of changes to the standard on our server. Using codes saves time and avoids errors as instead of using a country’s name (which will change depending on the language being used), we can use a combination of letters and/or numbers that are understood all over the world. This part of the standard defines codes for countries that have been replaced or renamed. These codes are no longer in use but are retained for historical reasons. ISO 3166 is regularly updated to reflect changes in country names and subdivisions.
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.
The European IBAN system for bank account numbers also uses this code. ISO 3166 is an international standard which defines codes representing names of countries and their subdivisions. The standard specifies basic guidelines for the implementation and maintenance of country and subdivisions codes.
ISO 3166 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. These codes are typically two or three letters long and are used in various applications, such as international trade, customs clearance, and transportation. ISO 3166 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, special areas of geographical interest, and their principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces or states). The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions. However, the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency may assign country codes to dependencies of countries that are member states of the UN.
To be considered, some criteria, amongst others, include that the area be physically separated from its parent country and outside its territorial waters. Even if all criteria are met, the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency may decide not to assign a code element, for example, due to the very limited number of official alpha-2 code elements available. For example, all national postal organizations throughout the world exchange international mail in containers identified with the relevant country code. Internet domain name systems use the codes to define top-level domain names such as “.fr” for France, “.au” for Australia. In addition, in machine-readable passports, the codes are used to determine the nationality of the user and, when we send money from one bank to another, the country codes are a way to identify where the bank is based.
Overall, ISO 3166 country codes provide a standardized way to refer to countries and their subdivisions in a variety of contexts. They iso 3166 country code of india are widely used in international trade, logistics, and other fields that require clear and unambiguous identification of countries. The International Organization for Standardization has other country codes. Somewhat impractical, due to hardly being legible, is the numeric variant, such as 840 for the United States. It is almost only used in information technology, where it is no longer important that the code be human readable.