ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 explained

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard^[1] published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. They are the most widely used of the country codes published by ISO (the others being alpha-3 and numeric), and are used most prominently for the Internet's country code top-level domains (with a few exceptions). They are also used as country identifiers extending the postal code when appropriate within the international postal system for paper mail, and have replaced the previous one consisting one-letter codes. They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its first edition in 1974.

Uses and applications

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are used in different environments and are also part of other standards. In some cases they are not perfectly implemented.

Perfect implementations

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are used in the following standards:

Short name	Long name	Comment
ISO 3166-2	Country subdivision code
ISO 3901	International Standard Recording Code (ISRC)^[2]
ISO 4217	Currency code^[3]
ISO 6166	International Securities Identifying Number (ISIN)^[4]
ISO 9362	Bank Identifier Codes (BIC)	Also known as SWIFT codes^[5]
ISO 13616	International Bank Account Number (IBAN)^[6]
ISO 15511	International Standard Identifier for Libraries and Related Organizations (ISIL)
UN/LOCODE	United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations	Implemented by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe^[7]

Imperfect implementations

Starting in 1985, ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes have been used in the Domain Name System as country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority currently assigns the ccTLDs mostly following the alpha-2 codes, but with a few exceptions.^[8] For example, the United Kingdom, whose alpha-2 code is, uses .uk instead of .gb as its ccTLD, as is currently exceptionally reserved in ISO 3166-1 on the request of the United Kingdom.

The WIPO coding standard ST.3 is based on ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes, but includes a number of additional codes for international intellectual property organizations, which are currently reserved and not used at the present stage in ISO 3166-1.^[9]

The European Commission generally uses ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes with two exceptions: (not) is used to represent Greece, and (not) is used to represent the United Kingdom.^{[10] [11]} This notwithstanding, the Official Journal of the European Communities specified that and be used to represent Greece and United Kingdom respectively.^[12] For VAT administration purposes, the European Commission uses and for Greece and the United Kingdom respectively.

The United Nations uses a combination of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and alpha-3 codes, along with codes that pre-date the creation of ISO 3166, for international vehicle registration codes, which are codes used to identify the issuing country of a vehicle registration plate; some of these codes are currently indeterminately reserved in ISO 3166-1.^[13]

IETF language tags (conforming to the BCP 47 standard track and maintained in an IANA registry) are also partially derived from ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes (for the region subtags). The full list of ISO 3166-1 codes assigned to countries and territories are usable as region subtags. Also, the "exceptionally reserved" alpha-2 codes defined in ISO 3166-1 (with the exception of) are also usable as region subtags for language tags. However, newer stability policies (agreed with ISO) have been implemented to avoid deleting subtags that have been withdrawn in ISO 3166-1; instead they are kept and aliased to the new preferred subtags, or kept as subtags grouping several countries. Some other region grouping subtags are derived from other standards. Under the newer stability policies, old assigned codes that have been withdrawn from ISO 3166-1 should no longer be reassigned to another country or territory (as has occurred in the past for "CS").

Current codes

Decoding table

The following is a colour-coded decoding table of all ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes.

Decoding table of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes

title="Azerbaijan"
title="Belize"
title="Czechia"
title="Algeria"
title="exceptionally reserved: Eurozone"
title="unassigned"
title="unassigned"
title="unassigned"
title="unassigned"
title="unassigned"
title="Kazakhstan"
title="unassigned"
title="Mozambique"
title="New Zealand"
title="unassigned"
title="deleted: Panama Canal Zone; unassigned"
title="user-assigned"
title="unassigned"
title="Eswatini"
--DO NOT CHANGE-->Taiwan, Province of China<	--"Taiwan, Province of China" is the country name used in ISO 3166: https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:code:3166:TW -->"	title="Tanzania, United Republic of"
title="Uzbekistan"
--DO NOT CHANGE-->Viet Nam<	--"Viet Nam" is the country name used in ISO 3166: https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:code:3166:VN -->"	title="unassigned"
title="unassigned"
title="user-assigned"
title="unassigned"

242

Officially assigned assigned to a country, territory, or area of geographical interest
7	Officially assigned formerly either assigned to a different entity or reserved indeterminately, then deleted and later reassigned as above
43	User-assigned free for assignment at the disposal of users
13	Exceptionally reserved reserved on request for restricted use
30	Indeterminately reserved used in coding systems associated with ISO 3166-1
7	Transitionally reserved deleted from ISO 3166-1 but reserved transitionally
14	Deleted deleted and free for reassignment
320	Unassigned: free for assignment by the ISO 3166/MA only

676

Overall total

Officially assigned code elements

The following is a complete list of the 249 current officially assigned ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes, with the following columns:^[1]

• Code: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code, pointing to its ISO 3166-2 article
• Country name: English short name officially used by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA)
• Year: Year when alpha-2 code was first officially assigned (1974, first edition of ISO 3166)
• ccTLD: Corresponding country code top-level domain (some are inactive); exceptions where another ccTLD is assigned for the country are shown in parentheses
• Notes: Any unofficial notes

Code	Country name (using title case)	Year	ccTLD	Notes
-- If it is not working **for you**, the problem is most likely a misguided ad blocker on your computer. Since Wikipedia does not display ads, you might want to add wikipedia.org to your list of exceptions in your ad blocker-->			1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1985		previously represented French Afars and Issas
		1974
		1992
		1974
		1974		Covers the territories south of 60° south latitude Code taken from name in French: French: Antarctique
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Includes the Ashmore and Cartier Islands and the Coral Sea Islands
		1986
		2004		An autonomous county of Finland
		1992
		1992
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1984		Name changed from Upper Volta
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1977		Name changed from Dahomey
		2007
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Brunei
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Bolivia
		2010		Consists of three Caribbean "special municipalities", which are part of the Netherlands proper: Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba (the BES Islands) Previous ISO country name: Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba previously represented British Antarctic Territory
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Dependency of Norway
		1974
		1974		Code taken from previous ISO country name: Byelorussian SSR (now assigned ISO 3166-3 code) Code assigned as the country was already a UN member since 1945^[14]
		1974
		1974
		1974		External territory of Australia
		1997		Name changed from Zaire
		1974
		1974
		1974		Code taken from name in Latin: Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica
		1974		ISO country name follows UN designation (common name and previous ISO country name: Ivory Coast)
		1974
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Cameroon, United Republic of
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		ISO country name follows UN designation (common name and previous ISO country name: Cape Verde, another previous ISO country name: Cape Verde Islands)
		2010
		1974		External territory of Australia
		1974
		1993		Previous ISO country name: Czech Republic
		1974		Code taken from name in German: German: Deutschland Code used for West Germany before 1990 (previous ISO country name: Germany, Federal Republic of)
		1977		Name changed from French Afars and Issas
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Code taken from name in Arabic الجزائر al-Djazā'ir, Algerian Arabic الدزاير al-Dzāyīr, or Berber ⴷⵣⴰⵢⵔ Dzayer
		1974
		1992		Code taken from name in Estonian: Estonian: Eesti
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Spanish Sahara (code taken from name in Spanish: Spanish; Castilian: Sahara español) ccTLD has not been implemented.^[15]
		1993
		1974		Code taken from name in Spanish: Spanish; Castilian: España
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		ISO country name follows UN designation due to the Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute (local common name: Falkland Islands)^[16]
		1986		Previous ISO country name: Micronesia
		1974		Code taken from name in Faroese: Føroyar
		1974		Includes Clipperton Island
		1974
		1974	.gb (.uk)	Includes Akrotiri and Dhekelia (Sovereign Base Areas) Code taken from Great Britain (from official name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)^[17] Previous ISO country name: United Kingdom .uk is the primary ccTLD of the United Kingdom instead of .gb (see code, which is exceptionally reserved)
		1974
		1992		previously represented Gilbert and Ellice Islands
		1974		Code taken from name in French: French: Guyane française
		2006		A British Crown Dependency
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Code taken from name in French: French: Guinée équatoriale
		1974
		1993
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Hong Kong is officially a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China since 1 July 1997
		1974		External territory of Australia
		1974
		1992		Code taken from name in Croatian: Croatian: Hrvatska
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		2006		A British Crown Dependency
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Iran
		1974		Code taken from name in Icelandic: Icelandic: Ísland
		1974
		2006		A British Crown Dependency
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1992
		1974		Code taken from former name: Khmer Republic Previous ISO country name: Kampuchea, Democratic
		1979		Name changed from Gilbert Islands
		1974		Code taken from name in Comorian: Bantu languages: Komori Previous ISO country name: Comoro Islands
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla
		1974		ISO country name follows UN designation (common name: North Korea)
		1974		ISO country name follows UN designation (common name: South Korea)
		1974
		1974
		1992		Previous ISO country name:
		1974		ISO country name follows UN designation (common name and previous ISO country name: Laos)
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1992		LT formerly reserved indeterminately for Libya Tripoli
		1974
		1992
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
		1974		Code taken from name in French: French: Maroc
		1974
		1992		Previous ISO country name: Moldova (briefly from 2008 to 2009)
		2006		ME formerly reserved indeterminately for Western Sahara
		2007		The Dutch part of Saint Martin island is assigned code
		1974
		1986
		1993		Code taken from name in Macedonian: Macedonian: Severna Makedonija Previous ISO country name: Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of (designated as such due to Macedonia naming dispute)
		1974
		1989		Name changed from Burma
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Macau; Macao is officially a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China since 20 December 1999
		1986
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		External territory of Australia
		1974
		1974
		1974		Officially includes the islands Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba, which also have code BQ in ISO 3166-1. Within ISO 3166-2, Aruba (AW), Curaçao (CW), and Sint Maarten (SX) are also coded as subdivisions of NL.^[18] Previous ISO country name: Netherlands
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Niue Island
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Code taken from name in French: French: Polynésie française
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Pitcairn Islands
		1974
		1999		Previous ISO country name: Palestinian Territory, Occupied Consists of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
		1974
		1986
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		2006		Republic of Serbia
		1992		ISO country name follows UN designation (common name: Russia); RU formerly reserved indeterminately for Burundi
		1974
		1974
		1974		Code taken from former name: British Solomon Islands
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Saint Helena.
		1992
		1974		Previous ISO name: Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands Consists of two Arctic territories of Norway: Svalbard and Jan Mayen
		1993		previously represented the Kingdom of Sikkim
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Surinam
		2011
		1974
		1974
		2010		The French part of Saint Martin island is assigned code
		1974		ISO country name follows UN designation (common name and previous ISO country name: Syria)
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Swaziland
		1974
		1974		Code taken from name in French: French: Tchad
		1979		Covers the French Southern and Antarctic Lands except Adélie Land Code taken from name in French: French: Terres australes françaises
		1974
		1974
		1992
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Tokelau Islands
		2002		Name changed from East Timor
		1992
		1974
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Turkey
		1974
		1977
		1974		Covers the current jurisdiction of the Republic of China ISO country name follows UN designation (due to political status of Taiwan within the UN) (common name: Taiwan)
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Ukrainian SSR Code assigned as the country was already a UN member since 1945
		1974
		1986		Consists of nine minor insular areas of the United States: Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Navassa Island, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island ccTLD was revoked in 2007^[19] The United States Department of State uses the following user assigned alpha-2 codes for the nine territories, respectively, XB, XH, XQ, XU, XM, QM, XV, XL, and QW.^[20]
		1974		Previous ISO country name: United States
		1974
		1992
		1974		Covers Vatican City, territory of the Holy See Previous ISO country names: Vatican City State (Holy See) and Holy See (Vatican City State)
		1974
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Venezuela
		1974
		1974
		1974		ISO country name follows UN designation (common name: Vietnam) Code used for Republic of Viet Nam (common name: South Vietnam) before 1977
		1980		Name changed from New Hebrides
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Wallis and Futuna Islands
		1974		Code taken from former name: Western Samoa
		1974		Previous ISO country name: Yemen, Republic of (for three years after the unification) Code used for North Yemen before 1990
		1993
		1974		Code taken from name in Dutch: Dutch; Flemish: Zuid-Afrika
		1974
		1980		Name changed from Southern Rhodesia

User-assigned code elements

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 these codes in the updating process of the standard. The following alpha-2 codes can be user-assigned:, to, to, and .^[21] For example:

• The International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) uses as a second country code for the United States, as it ran out of three-character registrant codes within the prefix. It also uses for some registrants assigned directly.^[22]
• The Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) assigns to represent Outlying Oceania (a multi-territory region containing Antarctica, Bouvet Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the French Southern Territories, and the United States Minor Outlying Islands), and to represent "Unknown or Invalid Territory". Before the adoption of the macroregion code by ISO, CLDR also used to represent the European Union.^[23]
• The code is being used by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as an indicator for the Community Plant Variety Office.
• The code is being used by Switzerland^[24] as a country code for the Canary Islands, although is already reserved for that purpose.
• The codes and are being used by Russia^[25] to represent Abkhazia and South Ossetia respectively.
• The code is being used by the UK Government,^[26] as an EORI number country code prefix for Northern Ireland, and the members of European Union for European Union value added tax reports with trade with Northern Ireland.^[27]
• The code is being used by the European Commission^[28] the IMF, and SWIFT,^[29] the CLDR, and other organizations as a temporary country code for Kosovo.^[30]
• The code is being used by WIPO as an indicator for the Nordic Patent Institute, an international organization common to Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.^[31]
• The code is being used by WIPO as an indicator for the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
• The code is being used by WIPO as an indicator for the Visegrad Patent Institute.
• The code is being used by WIPO as an indicator for unknown states, other entities or organizations.
• UN/LOCODE assigns to represent installations in international waters.

Furthermore, the code element is designated as an escape code if the number of regular user-assigned code elements is not sufficient.^[32]

Reserved code elements

Reserved code elements are codes which have become obsolete, or are required in order to enable a particular user application of the standard but do not qualify for inclusion in ISO 3166-1. To avoid transitional application problems and to aid users who require specific additional code elements for the functioning of their coding systems, the ISO 3166/MA, when justified, reserves these codes which it undertakes not to use for other than specified purposes during a limited or indeterminate period of time. The reserved alpha-2 codes can be divided into the following four categories: exceptional reservations, transitional reservations, indeterminate reservations, and codes currently agreed not to use.

Exceptional reservations

Exceptionally reserved code elements are codes reserved at the request of national ISO member bodies, governments and international organizations, which are required in order to support a particular application, as specified by the requesting body and limited to such use; any further use of such code elements is subject to approval by the ISO 3166/MA. The following alpha-2 codes are currently exceptionally reserved:

Code	Area name or country name	Current actual country	ccTLD	Notes
				Reserved on request of UPU for stamp issuing area
			—	Reserved on request of ITU for location of certain telecommunications installations
			—	Reserved on request of the United Kingdom. Letters are derived from French name Sercq.
			—	Reserved on request of ITU for location of certain telecommunications installations
			—	Reserved on request of WCO for area not covered by European Union Customs arrangements^[33] Part of Spanish North Africa (Spanish: Spanish; Castilian: África Septentrional Española)
		multiple		Reserved on request of ISO 4217/MA for the European monetary unit Euro Extended for ISO 6166 "Securities  - International securities identification numbering system (ISIN)" in March 1998 Extended for any application needing to represent the name European Union in August 1999
		multiple	—	Reserved on request of ISO 6166/RA for the European OTC derivatives within International securities identification numbering system (ISIN)
			—	Reserved on request of France Officially assigned before deleted from ISO 3166-1 (now assigned ISO 3166-3 code)
			—	Reserved on request of WCO for area not covered by European Union Customs arrangements. Code taken from name in Spanish: Spanish; Castilian: Islas Canarias
		multiple		From June 2008; Transitionally reserved from September 1992 Officially assigned before deleted from ISO 3166-1 (now assigned ISO 3166-3 code) Official name and previous ISO country name:^[34] Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (common name: Soviet Union)
			—	Reserved on request of UPU for stamp issuing area
				Reserved on request of the United Kingdom lest be used for any other country Also used by the European Commission United Kingdom is officially assigned the alpha-2 code
		multiple	—	Reserved directly by ISO 3166/MA for the United Nations

The following alpha-2 codes were previously exceptionally reserved, but are now officially assigned:

Code	Area name or country name	Notes
		Reserved on request of Finland
		Reserved on request of UPU for stamp issuing area
		Reserved on request of UPU for stamp issuing area
		Reserved on request of UPU for stamp issuing area

Transitional reservations

Transitional reserved code elements are codes reserved after their deletion from ISO 3166-1. These codes may be used only during a transitional period of at least five years while new code elements that may have replaced them are taken into use. These codes may be reassigned by the ISO 3166/MA after the expiration of the transitional period. The following alpha-2 codes are currently transitionally reserved:

Code	Formerly used country name	Reserved from	Reserved to	ccTLD		Notes
		2010-12	2060-12			Divided into (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba), (Curaçao) and (Dutch part of Sint Maarten)
		1989-12	2039-12	—		Name changed to Myanmar
		2006-09	2056-09			Code taken from name in Serbian: Serbian: Srbija i Crna Gora, for Serbia and Montenegro, which however is now divided into Montenegro and Serbia . (Though reserved, the ccTLD .cs was never actually assigned to Serbia and Montenegro; the ccTLD of Serbia and Montenegro was .yu, as that formerly unified country's name, and that of its larger predecessor, had previously been Yugoslavia.) originally represented Czechoslovakia. Its successor state Czechia uses, and Slovakia .
		1993-07	2043-07	—		Divided between Iraq (IQ) and Saudi Arabia (SA)
		2002-05	2052-05			Code taken from previous ISO country name: Portuguese Timor, name changed to Timor-Leste
		2003-07	2053-07			Code used for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia before 1992 and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after 1992
		1997-07	2047-07			Name changed to Congo, the Democratic Republic of the

The following alpha-2 code was previously transitionally reserved, but was later reassigned to another country as its official code:

For each deleted alpha-2 code, an entry for the corresponding former country name is included in ISO 3166-3. Each entry is assigned a four-letter alphabetic code, where the first two letters are the deleted alpha-2 code.

Indeterminate reservations

Indeterminately reserved code elements are codes used to designate road vehicles under the 1949 and 1968 United Nations Conventions on Road Traffic but differing from those contained in ISO 3166-1. These code elements are expected eventually to be either eliminated or replaced by code elements within ISO 3166-1. In the meantime, the ISO 3166/MA has reserved such code elements for an indeterminate period. Any use beyond the application of the two Conventions is discouraged and will not be approved by the ISO 3166/MA. Moreover, these codes may be reassigned by the ISO 3166/MA at any time. The following alpha-2 codes are currently indeterminately reserved:

Code elements reserved indeterminately

Code	Area name or country name	Current code	Notes
			^[35]
			^[36]
			^[37]
	Bolivia [cf. Botswana: identical code element]
	Botswana [cf. Bolivia: identical code element]
		&
			^[38]
			^[39]

The following alpha-2 codes were previously indeterminately reserved, but have been reassigned to another country as its official code:

Code elements previously reserved indeterminately

Code	Area name or country name	Current code	Notes	Code reassigned to
				Lithuania
				Montenegro
				Russian Federation

Notes

1. Web site: Country Codes - ISO 3166. International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
2. Web site: The International Standard Recording Code. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. 2009-03-06. 2014-02-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20140212033615/http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/isrc_handbook.html#Heading226. dead.
3. Web site: Currency codes - ISO 4217. ISO.
4. Web site: ISO6166 - an outline of the standard. Association of National Numbering Agencies. 2009-03-06. 2009-07-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20090727064817/http://www.anna-web.com/neu/ISO_6166/iso_standard.php. dead.
5. Web site: About BIC. Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090301051718/http://www.swift.com/biconline/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_aboutbic. 2009-03-01.
6. Web site: IBAN Registry . Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100102222442/http://www.swift.com/solutions/messaging/information_products/bic_downloads_documents/pdfs/IBAN_Registry.pdf . 2010-01-02 .
7. Web site: UN/LOCODE Code List by Country . United Nations Economic Commission for Europe . 6 May 2017.
8. Web site: IANA  - Root Zone Database. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.
9. Web site: Standard ST.3  - Recommended standard on two-letter codes for the representation of states, other entities and intergovernmental organizations. Handbook on Industrial Property Information and Documentation. 3.3.1–3.3.9. April 2007. World Intellectual Property Organization.
10. Web site: Publications Office  - Interinstitutional style guide  - Countries. European Union.
11. Web site: Interinstitutional style guide – 'EU-27 and candidate countries' . 2022-10-03 . publications.europa.eu.
12. Web site: Commission Regulation (EC) No 2645/98 of 9 December 1998 on the nomenclature of countries and territories for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States. Official Journal of the European Communities, L 335. 22–29. 1998-12-10. European Union.
13. Web site: Distinguishing signs used on vehicles in international traffic. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
14. Web site: Codes to history: Code for formerly used names of countries completes the trilogy of country codes. ISO Bulletin. 10–12. April 2000. ISO. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20081205093809/http://www.iso.org/iso/codes0004-2.pdf. December 5, 2008.
15. https://www.iana.org/root-whois/eh.htm IANA .eh whois information
16. Web site: Falkland Islands Government . 2016-12-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161211102148/http://www.falklands.gov.fk/ . 2016-12-11 . dead .
17. Web site: ISO 3166  - FAQs  - Specific. ISO.
18. Web site: NL - Netherlands (Kingdom of the). ISO Online Browsing Platform.
19. http://www.icann.org/minutes/minutes-17jan07.htm Special Meeting of the Board Minutes
20. Web site: Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty . 2022-04-27 . U.S. Department of State.
21. Web site: Glossary for ISO 3166 - Codes for countries and their subdivisions. ISO.
22. Web site: International ISRC Agency Bulletin 2010/02: Country Code for ISRC in the United States . 6 December 2010 . . 2019-02-27 . 2012-08-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120810091340/http://ifpi.org/content/library/isrc_bulletin-2010-02.pdf . dead .
23. Web site: Unicode Technical Standard #35: Unicode Locale Data Markup Language (LDML). Mark Davis. Unicode Consortium.
24. Web site: List of Countries for the foreign trade statistics of Switzerland 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170202010542/https://www.ezv.admin.ch/dam/ezv/en/dokumente/archiv/a5/tares_bemerkungen/laenderverzeichnis.pdf.download.pdf/list_of_countries.pdf. 2017-02-02. 2017. ezv.admin.ch.
25. Web site: Мир ∙ География ∙ Справочник ∙ Президент России.
26. Web site: Get an EORI number. gov.uk. 2020-12-07.
27. https://www.skatteverket.se/foretag/internationellt/saharpaverkasmomsenavbrexit Swedish tax Authority: This is how VAT is affected by Brexit - Special rules for trade with Northern Ireland
28. Web site: Glossary:Country codes - Statistics Explained. europa.eu.
29. [Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication|SWIFT]
30. Web site: XK country code for Kosovo . GeoNames Blog . 8 March 2010.
31. Web site: Agreement between the Nordic Patent Institute and the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization . World Intellectual Property Organization . 1 May 2013 . 2013-08-07.
32. Web site: Country codes in ISO 3166. davros.org. 2003-07-25. 2018-11-13.
33. Web site: EA - . ISO Online Browsing Platform.
34. Web site: Codes for the representation of names of countries . First . 15 December 1974 . International Organization for Standardization . 9 July 2021 . cia.gov.
35. Code notified to United Nations Secretary-General under 1949 and/or 1968 Road Traffic Conventions
36. Code in use for road transport purposes, but not notified to United Nations Secretary-General under 1949 Road Traffic Convention
37. Code under 1949 Road Traffic Convention
38. Code under 1968 Road Traffic Convention
39. Code notified to United Nations Secretary-General under 1949 and/or 1968 Road Traffic Conventions.
    Previously used in international postal codes and vehicle registration codes to represent Finland (code was not officially assigned), and the code was previously listed as transitionally reserved from 1995-09 until 2012-06.
    Code taken from name in Finnish and Swedish combined: Finnish: Suomi Swedish: Finland.

Codes currently agreed not to use

In addition, the ISO 3166/MA will not use the following alpha-2 codes at the present stage, as they are used for international intellectual property organizations in WIPO Standard ST.3:

WIPO code elements not formally reserved

Code	Organization name
	African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO)
	Benelux Trademarks and Designs Office (BOIP)
	Union of Countries under the European Community Patent Convention
	European Trademark Office (EUIPO)
	European Patent Organization (EPOrg), i.e. union of countries under the European Patent Convention (EPC)
	Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO)
	Patent Office of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCCPO)
	International Bureau of WIPO
	African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI)
	World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

WIPO Standard ST.3 actually uses, instead of, to represent the Eurasian Patent Organization. However, was already exceptionally reserved by the ISO 3166/MA to represent Ceuta and Melilla for customs purposes. The ISO 3166/MA proposed in 1995 that be used by WIPO to represent the Eurasian Patent Organization; however, this request was not honoured by WIPO.

Deleted codes

Besides the codes currently transitionally reserved and two other codes currently exceptionally reserved (for France, Metropolitan and for USSR), the following alpha-2 codes have also been deleted from ISO 3166-1:^[40]

Code	Formerly used country name		Notes
			Code later reassigned to Anguilla
			Code later reassigned to Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
			Code taken from name in German: German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik Common name: East Germany
			Name changed to Benin The code is now indeterminately reserved.
			See and .
	Gilbert Islands (initially Gilbert and Ellice Islands)		Code later reassigned to Georgia
			Code taken from name in French: French: Haute-Volta
			A dependent territory of Norway
			Consisted of Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Kingman Reef, and Palmyra Atoll
			Name used by country itself: Rhodesia (Southern Rhodesia was the colonial name)
			Code later reassigned to Slovakia
			Common name: North Vietnam
			Common name: South Yemen

For each deleted alpha-2 code, an entry for the corresponding former country name is included in ISO 3166-3. Each entry is assigned a four-letter alphabetic code, where the first two letters are the deleted alpha-2 code.

See also

• List of FIPS country codes in FIPS 10-4, part of the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)
• The Regional Indicator Symbol in Unicode, introduced to use these codes
• ISO 639-1, a different set of two-letter codes used for languages

References

1. Web site: Country Codes - ISO 3166. International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
2. Web site: The International Standard Recording Code. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. 2009-03-06. 2014-02-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20140212033615/http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/isrc_handbook.html#Heading226. dead.
3. Web site: Currency codes - ISO 4217. ISO.
4. Web site: ISO6166 - an outline of the standard. Association of National Numbering Agencies. 2009-03-06. 2009-07-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20090727064817/http://www.anna-web.com/neu/ISO_6166/iso_standard.php. dead.
5. Web site: About BIC. Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090301051718/http://www.swift.com/biconline/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_aboutbic. 2009-03-01.
6. Web site: IBAN Registry . Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100102222442/http://www.swift.com/solutions/messaging/information_products/bic_downloads_documents/pdfs/IBAN_Registry.pdf . 2010-01-02 .
7. Web site: UN/LOCODE Code List by Country . United Nations Economic Commission for Europe . 6 May 2017.
8. Web site: IANA  - Root Zone Database. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.
9. Web site: Standard ST.3  - Recommended standard on two-letter codes for the representation of states, other entities and intergovernmental organizations. Handbook on Industrial Property Information and Documentation. 3.3.1–3.3.9. April 2007. World Intellectual Property Organization.
10. Web site: Publications Office  - Interinstitutional style guide  - Countries. European Union.
11. Web site: Interinstitutional style guide – 'EU-27 and candidate countries' . 2022-10-03 . publications.europa.eu.
12. Web site: Commission Regulation (EC) No 2645/98 of 9 December 1998 on the nomenclature of countries and territories for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States. Official Journal of the European Communities, L 335. 22–29. 1998-12-10. European Union.
13. Web site: Distinguishing signs used on vehicles in international traffic. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
14. Web site: Codes to history: Code for formerly used names of countries completes the trilogy of country codes. ISO Bulletin. 10–12. April 2000. ISO. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20081205093809/http://www.iso.org/iso/codes0004-2.pdf. December 5, 2008.
15. https://www.iana.org/root-whois/eh.htm IANA .eh whois information
16. Web site: Falkland Islands Government . 2016-12-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161211102148/http://www.falklands.gov.fk/ . 2016-12-11 . dead .
17. Web site: ISO 3166  - FAQs  - Specific. ISO.
18. Web site: NL - Netherlands (Kingdom of the). ISO Online Browsing Platform.
19. http://www.icann.org/minutes/minutes-17jan07.htm Special Meeting of the Board Minutes
20. Web site: Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty . 2022-04-27 . U.S. Department of State.
21. Web site: Glossary for ISO 3166 - Codes for countries and their subdivisions. ISO.
22. Web site: International ISRC Agency Bulletin 2010/02: Country Code for ISRC in the United States . 6 December 2010 . . 2019-02-27 . 2012-08-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120810091340/http://ifpi.org/content/library/isrc_bulletin-2010-02.pdf . dead .
23. Web site: Unicode Technical Standard #35: Unicode Locale Data Markup Language (LDML). Mark Davis. Unicode Consortium.
24. Web site: List of Countries for the foreign trade statistics of Switzerland 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170202010542/https://www.ezv.admin.ch/dam/ezv/en/dokumente/archiv/a5/tares_bemerkungen/laenderverzeichnis.pdf.download.pdf/list_of_countries.pdf. 2017-02-02. 2017. ezv.admin.ch.
25. Web site: Мир ∙ География ∙ Справочник ∙ Президент России.
26. Web site: Get an EORI number. gov.uk. 2020-12-07.
27. https://www.skatteverket.se/foretag/internationellt/saharpaverkasmomsenavbrexit Swedish tax Authority: This is how VAT is affected by Brexit - Special rules for trade with Northern Ireland
28. Web site: Glossary:Country codes - Statistics Explained. europa.eu.
29. [Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication|SWIFT]
30. Web site: XK country code for Kosovo . GeoNames Blog . 8 March 2010.
31. Web site: Agreement between the Nordic Patent Institute and the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization . World Intellectual Property Organization . 1 May 2013 . 2013-08-07.
32. Web site: Country codes in ISO 3166. davros.org. 2003-07-25. 2018-11-13.
33. Web site: EA - . ISO Online Browsing Platform.
34. Web site: Codes for the representation of names of countries . First . 15 December 1974 . International Organization for Standardization . 9 July 2021 . cia.gov.
35. Code notified to United Nations Secretary-General under 1949 and/or 1968 Road Traffic Conventions
36. Code in use for road transport purposes, but not notified to United Nations Secretary-General under 1949 Road Traffic Convention
37. Code under 1949 Road Traffic Convention
38. Code under 1968 Road Traffic Convention
39. Code notified to United Nations Secretary-General under 1949 and/or 1968 Road Traffic Conventions.
    Previously used in international postal codes and vehicle registration codes to represent Finland (code was not officially assigned), and the code was previously listed as transitionally reserved from 1995-09 until 2012-06.
    Code taken from name in Finnish and Swedish combined: Finnish: Suomi Swedish: Finland.
40. Web site: Country codes in ISO 3166 (Table 2: codes withdrawn from use). Clive Feather. 2003-07-25.

Sources and external links

• ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency, International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
  • Online Browsing Platform (OBP) - searchable list of country codes
  • Text file (English, 2016)
  • XML file (English, 2016)
  • Reserved code elements under ISO 3166-1 "Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes", available on request from ISO 3166/MA
• The World Factbook (public domain), Central Intelligence Agency
  • Appendix D  - Country Data Codes - comparison of FIPS 10, ISO 3166, and STANAG 1059 country codes
• List of all countries with their 2 digit codes (ISO 3166-1) (CSV, JSON)
  • Comprehensive country codes: ISO 3166, ITU, ISO 4217 currency codes and many more (CSV, JSON)
• Administrative Divisions of Countries ("Statoids"), Statoids.com
  • Country codes - comparison of ISO 3166-1 country codes with other country codes
  • ISO 3166-1 Change History