ISO 3166-2 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and defines codes for identifying the principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces or states) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part 2: Country subdivision code. It was first published in 1998.
The purpose of ISO 3166-2 is to establish an international standard of short and unique alphanumeric codes to represent the relevant administrative divisions and dependent territories of all countries in a more convenient and less ambiguous form than their full names. Each complete ISO 3166-2 code consists of two parts, separated by a hyphen:[1]
Each complete ISO 3166-2 code can then be used to uniquely identify a country subdivision in a global context.
there are 5,046 codes defined in ISO 3166-2. For some countries, codes are defined for more than one level of subdivisions.
The following table can be used to access the current ISO 3166-2 codes of each country, and comprises three columns:[2]
For the following countries, a number of their subdivisions in ISO 3166-2, most of them dependent territories, are also officially assigned their own country codes in ISO 3166-1:[2]
| Entry | Country name | Subdivisions included in ISO 3166-1 (alpha-2 code) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN | China | Taiwan Hong Kong Macao | |
| FI | Finland | Åland | |
| FR | France | Guadeloupe Martinique French Guiana Réunion Mayotte Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin New Caledonia French Polynesia Saint Pierre and Miquelon French Southern Territories Wallis and Futuna | |
| NL | Netherlands, Kingdom of the | Aruba Bonaire [4] Saba Sint Eustatius Curaçao Sint Maarten | |
| NO | Norway | Svalbard [5] Jan Mayen | |
| US | United States | American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico United States Minor Outlying Islands Virgin Islands, U.S. |
The format of the ISO 3166-2 codes is different for each country. The codes may be alphabetic, numeric, or alphanumeric, and they may also be of constant or variable length. The following is a table of the ISO 3166-2 codes of each country (those with codes defined), grouped by their format:
| Number of characters (second part) | Alphabetic | Numeric | Alphanumeric | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AR, BO, FJ, GM, KI, KM, LS, MG, SL, ST, TG, TM, VE First-level subdivisions only: BD, CV, FR, GN, GQ, GR, GW, KN, MH, MW, NZ, UG | AT, GA, IS, NE First-level subdivisions only: LK, NP | ||
| 2 | AE, AM, BI, BJ, BN, BQ, BR, BS, BW, BY, CA, CD, CH, CI, CL, CM, CN, DE, DJ, ER, ET, GE, GH, GL, GT, GY, HN, HT, HU, ID, IN, IQ, JO, KW, LA, LB, LR, LT, LU, LY, MC, MD, MU, NA, NG, NI, OM, PK, QA, SB, SD, SH, SK, SN, SO, SR, SS, SV, SY, SZ, TD, TJ, TL, US, UY, UZ, WS, YE, ZW First-level subdivisions only: CZ, RS Second-level subdivisions only: AL, CV, GN, GQ, GW, IT, MW, NP | AD, AG, BB, BG, BH, CU, CY, DK, DM, DO, DZ, EE, FI, GD, HR, IR, JM, JP, KP, KR, LC, LI, ME, MK, MM, MT, MY, NO, NR, PL, PT, RW, SA, SC, SG, SM, TN, TO, TR, TZ, UA, UM, VC, ZM First-level subdivisions only: AL, BF, IT, MA, PH Second-level subdivisions only: BA, BD, KN, LK, RS | BT, MV, VN Second-level subdivisions only: FR, GR | |
| 3 | AF, AO, BE, FM, GB, KZ, MX, PE, PG, PS, TT, TV, TW, VU First-level subdivisions only: BA Second-level subdivisions only: BF, MA, MH, NZ, PH | KE, PW, SI Second-level subdivisions only: UG | Second-level subdivisions only: CZ | |
| 1 or 2 | CR, EC, ES, IE, IL, KG, RO, SE | KH | PA, TH | |
| 1 or 3 | MZ | MN | ML | |
| 2 or 3 | AU, AZ, BZ, CF, CO, RU, ZA | LV, MR, NL | ||
| 1, 2, or 3 | EG | CG, PY |
The ISO 3166/MA updates ISO 3166-2 when necessary. Changes in ISO 3166-2 consist mostly of spelling corrections, addition and deletion of subdivisions, and modification of the administrative structure.
ISO used to announce changes in newsletters which updated the currently valid standard, and releasing new editions which comprise a consolidation of newsletter changes. As of July 2013, changes are published in the online catalogue of ISO only and no newsletters are published anymore. Past newsletters remain available on the ISO website.
| Edition/Newsletter | Date issued | Affected entries | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First edition of ISO 3166-2 | |||
| BY, CA, DO, ER, ES, IT, KR, NG, PL, RO, RU, TR, VN, YU | |||
| AE, AL, AO, AZ, BD, BG, BJ, CA, CD, CN, CV, CZ, ES, FR, GB, GE, GN, GT, HR, ID, IN, IR, KZ, LA, MA, MD, MW, NI, PH, TR, UZ, VN | |||
| AE, CZ, IN, KZ, MD, MO, PS (new entry), TP (changed to TL), UG | |||
| BI, CA, EC, ES, ET, GE, ID, IN, KG, KH, KP, KZ, LA, MD, MU, RO, SI, TJ, TL, TM, TW, UZ, VE, YE | |||
| BW, CH, CZ, LY, MY, SN, TN, TZ, UG, VE, YU (changed to CS) | |||
| AF, AL, AU, CN, CO, ID, KP, MA, TN, ZA | |||
| AF, DJ, ID, RU, SI, VN | |||
| AD, AG, BB, BH, CI, CS (deleted, replaced with ME and RS), DM, GB, GD, GG (new entry), IM (new entry), IR, IT, JE (new entry), KN, LI, ME (new entry), MK, NR, PW, RS (new entry), RU, RW, SB, SC, SM, TD, TO, TV, VC | |||
| BG, BL (new entry), CZ, FR, GB, GE, LB, MF (new entry), MK, MT, RU, SD, SG, UG, ZA | |||
| Second edition of ISO 3166-2 (these changes were not announced in a newsletter)[6] BA, DK, DO, EG, GN, HT, KE, KW, LC, LR, TV, YE, ZA | |||
(corrected ) | AL, BO, CZ, ES, FR, GN, GR, GW, ID, IE, IT, KN, KP, LK, MA, MH, NP, RS, UG, VE | ||
| AG, AR, BA, BF, BI, BS, BY, CF, CL, CV, EC, EG, GB, GL, HU, IT, KE, KM, LY, MD, MW, NG, NZ, OM, PA, PE, PH, RU, SC, SH, SI, SN, TD, TM, YE | |||
(corrected ) | AF, AN (deleted, replaced with BQ, CW and SX), AW, AZ, BD, BE, BG, BQ (new entry), BS, CV, CW (new entry), DJ, DK, ER, FI, FR, GB, GQ, HN, HR, HT, ID, IE, IN, JO, KW, LS, LV, MC, ME, MK, MM, MV, NL, NO, NP, NR, PG, PK, PL, PS, QA, SA, SD, SE, SH, SS (new entry), SX (new entry), TL, TN, TR, VN | ||
| Third edition of ISO 3166-2 (changes are published in the online catalogue of ISO only and no newsletters are published anymore) | |||
| ISO 3166-2:2020 | 2020-08 | Fourth edition of ISO 3166-2 |