ISO 3166-1 numeric (or numeric-3) codes are three-digit country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. They are similar to the three-digit country codes developed and maintained by the United Nations Statistics Division, from which they originate in its UN M.49 standard. They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its second edition in 1981, but they were released by the United Nations Statistics Division since as early as 1970.[1]
An advantage of numeric codes over alphabetic codes is script (writing system) independence.[2] The ISO 3166-1 alphabetic codes (alpha-2 and alpha-3) use letters from the 26-letter English alphabet and are suitable for languages based on the Latin alphabet. For people and systems using non-Latin scripts (such as Arabic or Japanese), the English alphabet may be unavailable or difficult to use, understand, or correctly interpret. While numeric codes overcome the problems of script dependence, this independence comes at the cost of loss of mnemonic convenience.
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.
The following is a complete list of the current officially assigned ISO 3166-1 numeric codes,[3] using a title case version of the English short names officially used by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA):
| Code | Country name | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Until 1992 part of Yugoslavia | |||
| Formerly British Honduras | |||
| Formerly British Solomon Islands | |||
| Formerly Burma | |||
| Formerly Byelorussian SSR | |||
| Formerly Cape Verde | |||
| Formerly Ceylon | |||
| Until 1975 part of Comoros, own ISO code since 1993 | |||
| Until 1992 part of Yugoslavia | |||
| Until 1993 part of Czechoslovakia | |||
| Formerly Dahomey | |||
| Until 1993 part of Ethiopia | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Previously spelled Faeroe Islands | |||
| Until 1993 part of the Falkland Islands | |||
| Until 2004 included with Finland | |||
| Formerly French Territory of the Afars and the Issas | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Replaced the Gaza Strip, which was assigned code by the United Nations Statistics Division | |||
| Unified country since 1990 | |||
| Formerly Gilbert and Ellice Islands | |||
| Formerly Ivory Coast | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Until 2006 part of Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro | |||
| Formerly Muscat and Oman | |||
| Until 2010 part of the Netherlands Antilles | |||
| Until 1986 part of the Netherlands Antilles | |||
| Until 2010 part of the Netherlands Antilles | |||
| Until 2010 part of the Netherlands Antilles | |||
| Formerly New Hebrides | |||
| Until 1986 part of Pacific Islands (Trust Territory) | |||
| Merger of uninhabited U.S. islands on the Pacific Ocean in 1986 | |||
| Until 1986 part of Pacific Islands (Trust Territory) | |||
| Until 1986 part of Pacific Islands (Trust Territory) | |||
| Until 1986 part of Pacific Islands (Trust Territory) | |||
| Formerly Portuguese Guinea | |||
| Formerly Portuguese Timor and East Timor | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Until 2007 part of Guadeloupe | |||
| Until 1985 part of Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla | |||
| Until 1985 part of Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla | |||
| Until 2007 part of Guadeloupe | |||
| Until 2006 part of Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro | |||
| Until 1993 part of Czechoslovakia | |||
| Official name Socialist Republic of Viet Nam | |||
| Until 1992 part of Yugoslavia | |||
| Formerly Southern Rhodesia | |||
| Until 2011 part of Sudan | |||
| Formerly Spanish Sahara | |||
| Formerly Swaziland | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Formerly Trucial States | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Until 1993 part of Yugoslavia | |||
| Formerly United Arab Republic | |||
| Until 2006 included with the United Kingdom | |||
| Until 2006 included with the United Kingdom | |||
| Until 2006 included with the United Kingdom | |||
| Formerly Upper Volta | |||
| Until 1991 part of the USSR | |||
| Formerly Western Samoa | |||
| Unified country since 1990 | |||
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. The ISO 3166/MA will never use these codes in the updating process of the standard. The numeric codes to can be user-assigned.[4]
When countries merge, split, or undergo territorial change, their numeric codes are withdrawn and new numeric codes are assigned. For example:
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 has remained the same.
The following numeric codes have been withdrawn from ISO 3166-1:[6]
| Code | Country name | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| before Eritrea split away in 1993 | |||
| i.e., East Germany | |||
| i.e., West Germany | |||
| after Aruba split away in 1986 | |||
| Netherlands Antilles | before Aruba split away in 1986 | ||
| before adding Panama Canal Zone in 1979 | |||
| i.e., South Yemen | |||
| before South Sudan split away in 2011 | |||
| i.e., North Yemen | |||
| original name: Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of |
The following numeric codes were also assigned by the United Nations Statistics Division, but these territories were never officially included in ISO 3166-1:
| Code | Territory name | |
|---|---|---|
| Gaza Strip (Palestine) | ||
| German Democratic Republic, Berlin | ||
| Germany, West Berlin | ||
| Ryukyu Islands | ||
| Spanish North Africa (note: this code is now used by South Sudan) | ||
| Channel Islands |
In the UN M.49 standard developed by the United Nations Statistics Division, additional numeric codes are used to represent geographical regions and groupings of countries and areas for statistical processing purposes, but these codes are not included in ISO 3166-1. Unlike alphabetic codes, there are no reserved numeric codes in ISO 3166-1.