List of ISBN registration groups explained

The registration group or identifier group is the second element in a 13-digit ISBN (first element in a 10-digit ISBN) and indicates the country, geographic region, or language area where a book was published.^[1] The element ranges from one to five numerical digits.

In 2007, the length of an ISBN changed from 10 to 13 digits, and a new 3-digit prefix (978 or 979) was added in front of 10-digit ISBNs.^[2] The following registration groups are compatible with or without a 978- prefix:

0–5
600–639
64–69
7
80–94
950–989
9900–9989
99900–99999

The following must have a 979- prefix:

(is reserved for International Standard Music Numbers for sheet music)^[3]
through

Shorter registration group numbers are generally used for countries or regions with greater publishing volume. Because a longer number leaves room for fewer publishers and ISBNs, several countries have more than one number assigned. On the other hand, some countries (Australia, Switzerland, Fiji) have no unique number because they fall in a broader geographic region or language area.

With 10-digit ISBN or 978- prefix

Prefixes of length 1

	Country, region, or language area	Type
0	English	Language area
1	English	Language area
2	French	Language area
3	German	Language area
4	Japan	National
5	former USSR	Regional
6	see Prefixes of length 2 and Prefixes of length 3
7	China	National
8	see Prefixes of length 2
9	see Prefixes of length 2 , Prefixes of length 3 , Prefixes of length 4 , and Prefixes of length 5

Prefixes of length 2

	Country, region, or language area	Type
00~59	see Prefixes of length 1
60~63	see Prefixes of length 3
64	unallocated
65	Brazil	National
66~69	unallocated
70~79	see Prefixes of length 1
80	former Czechoslovakia	Regional
81	India	National
82	Norway	National
83	Poland	National
84	Spain	National
85	Brazil	National
86	former Yugoslavia	Regional
87	Denmark	National
88	Italy	National
89		National
90	Netherlands	National
91	Sweden	National
92	International NGO Publishers and EC Organizations	Other
93	India	National
94	Netherlands	National
95~98	see Prefixes of length 3
99	see Prefixes of length 4 and Prefixes of length 5

Prefixes of length 3

	Country, region, or language area	Type	ISBN example
600		National
601	Kazakhstan	National
602	Indonesia	National
603	Saudi Arabia	National
604		National
605	Turkey	National
606	Romania	National
607	Mexico	National
608		National
609	Lithuania	National
610	unallocated
611	Thailand	National
612	Peru	National
613	Mauritius	National
614	Lebanon	National
615	Hungary	National
616	Thailand	National	.
617	Ukraine	National
618	Greece	National
619	Bulgaria	National
620	Mauritius	National
621	Philippines	National
622		National
623	Indonesia	National
624	Sri Lanka	National
625	Turkey	National
626		National
627	Pakistan	National
628	Colombia	National
629	Malaysia	National
630	Romania	National
631	Argentina	National
632		National
633	Egypt	National
634	Indonesia	National
635~649	unallocated
650~659	see Prefixes of length 2
660~699	unallocated
700~799	see Prefixes of length 1
800~949	see Prefixes of length 2
950	Argentina	National
951	Finland	National
952	Finland	National
953	Croatia	National
954	Bulgaria	National
955	Sri Lanka	National
956	Chile	National
957		National
958	Colombia	National
959	Cuba	National
960	Greece	National
961	Slovenia	National
962	Hong Kong	National
963	Hungary	National
964		National
965	Israel	National
966	Ukraine	National
967	Malaysia	National
968	Mexico	National
969	Pakistan	National
970	Mexico	National
971	Philippines	National
972	Portugal	National
973	Romania	National
974	Thailand	National
975	Turkey	National
976		Regional
977	Egypt	National
978	Nigeria	National
979	Indonesia	National
980		National
981	Singapore	National
982	South Pacific	Regional
983	Malaysia	National
984	Bangladesh	National
985	Belarus	National
986		National
987	Argentina	National
988	Hong Kong	National
989	Portugal	National
990~998	see Prefixes of length 4
999	see Prefixes of length 5

Prefixes of length 4

	Country, region, or language area	Type	ISBN example
8000~9499	see Prefixes of length 2
9500~9899	see Prefixes of length 3
9900~9907	unallocated
9908	Estonia	National
9909	Tunisia	National
9910	Uzbekistan	National
9911	Montenegro	National
9912		National
9913	Uganda	National
9914	Kenya	National
9915	Uruguay	National
9916	Estonia	National
9917		National
9918	Malta	National
9919	Mongolia	National
9920	Morocco	National
9921	Kuwait	National
9922	Iraq	National
9923	Jordan	National
9924	Cambodia	National
9925	Cyprus	National
9926	Bosnia and Herzegovina	National
9927	Qatar	National
9928	Albania	National
9929	Guatemala	National
9930	Costa Rica	National
9931	Algeria	National
9932		National
9933		National
9934	Latvia	National
9935	Iceland	National
9936	Afghanistan	National
9937	Nepal	National
9938	Tunisia	National
9939	Armenia	National
9940	Montenegro	National
9941	Georgia	National
9942	Ecuador	National
9943	Uzbekistan	National
9944	Turkey	National
9945	Dominican Republic	National
9946		National
9947	Algeria	National
9948	United Arab Emirates	National
9949	Estonia	National
9950		National
9951		National
9952	Azerbaijan	National
9953	Lebanon	National
9954	Morocco	National
9955	Lithuania	National
9956	Cameroon	National
9957	Jordan	National
9958	Bosnia and Herzegovina	National
9959	Libya	National
9960	Saudi Arabia	National
9961	Algeria	National
9962	Panama	National
9963	Cyprus	National
9964	Ghana	National	-->
9965	Kazakhstan	National
9966	Kenya	National
9967	Kyrgyzstan	National
9968	Costa Rica	National
9969	Algeria	National
9970	Uganda	National
9971	Singapore	National
9972	Peru	National
9973	Tunisia	National
9974	Uruguay	National
9975		National
9976		National
9977	Costa Rica	National
9978	Ecuador	National
9979	Iceland	National
9980	Papua New Guinea	National
9981	Morocco	National
9982	Zambia	National
9983	Gambia	National
9984	Latvia	National
9985	Estonia	National
9986	Lithuania	National
9987		National
9988	Ghana	National
9989		National
9990~9999	see Prefixes of length 5

Prefixes of length 5

	Country, region, or language area	Type	ISBN example
80000~94999	see Prefixes of length 2
95000~98999	see Prefixes of length 3
99000~99079	unallocated
99080~99899	see Prefixes of length 4
99900	unallocated
99901	Bahrain	National
99902	Reserved Agency (was Gabon)	Other
99903	Mauritius	National
99904	(was, and Aruba)	National
99905		National
99906	Kuwait	National
99907	unallocated
99908	Malawi	National
99909	Malta	National
99910	Sierra Leone	National
99911	Lesotho	National
99912	Botswana	National
99913	Andorra	National
99914	Suriname	National
99915	Maldives	National
99916	Namibia	National
99917		National
99918	Faroe Islands	National
99919	Benin	National
99920	Andorra	National	-->
99921	Qatar	National
99922	Guatemala	National
99923	El Salvador	National
99924	Nicaragua	National
99925	Paraguay	National
99926	Honduras	National
99927	Albania	National
99928		National
99929	Mongolia	National
99930	Armenia	National
99931	Seychelles	National
99932	Malta	National
99933	Nepal	National
99934	Dominican Republic	National
99935	Haiti	National
99936	Bhutan	National
99937		National
99938		National
99939	Guatemala	National
99940		National
99941	Armenia	National
99942	Sudan	National
99943	Albania	National
99944	Ethiopia	National
99945	Namibia	National
99946	Nepal	National
99947	Tajikistan	National
99948	Eritrea	National
99949	Mauritius	National
99950	Cambodia	National
99951	Reserved Agency (was)	Other
99952	Mali	National
99953	Paraguay	National
99954		National
99955		National
99956	Albania	National
99957	Malta	National
99958	Bahrain	National
99959	Luxembourg	National
99960	Malawi	National
99961	El Salvador	National
99962	Mongolia	National
99963	Cambodia	National
99964	Nicaragua	National
99965		National
99966	Kuwait	National
99967	Paraguay	National
99968	Botswana	National
99969	Oman	National
99970	Haiti	National
99971	Myanmar	National
99972	Faroe Islands	National
99973	Mongolia	National
99974		National
99975	Tajikistan	National
99976		National
99977	Rwanda	National
99978	Mongolia	National
99979	Honduras	National
99980	Bhutan	National
99981		National
99982	Benin	National
99983	El Salvador	National
99984		National
99985	Tajikistan	National
99986	Myanmar	National
99987	Luxembourg	National
99988	Sudan	National
99989	Paraguay	National
99990	Ethiopia	National
99991	unallocated
99992	Oman	National
99993	Mauritius	National
99994	Haiti	National
99995	Seychelles	National
99996~99999	unallocated

Distribution

Length	Allocated	Unallocated	Unallocated list
1	7 (100%)		-
2	16 (76%)	5 (24%)	64, 66~69
3	74 (93%)	6 (7%)	610, 635~639
4	82 (91%)	8 (9%)	9900~9907
5	93 (93%)	7 (7%)	99900, 99907, 99991, 99996~99999
total	272	26

Countries by language area

Country	English 0	English 1	French 2	German 3
Australia	✓	✓
Austria				✓
Belgium			✓
Bermuda	✓	✓
Canada	✓	✓	✓
	✓	✓
France			✓
Germany				✓
Gibraltar	✓	✓
Ireland	✓	✓
Luxembourg			✓	✓
Namibia	✓
New Zealand	✓	✓
South Africa	✓	✓
Switzerland			✓	✓
United Kingdom	✓	✓
	✓	✓
Zimbabwe	✓	✓

Countries in broader registration groups

5 former USSR (14)

Latvia,

Lithuania,,,

Tajikistan,

Ukraine,

Uzbekistan

80 former (2)

Czech Republic,

Slovakia

86 former (7)

Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Croatia,

Montenegro,,,

Serbia,

Slovenia

976 (5)^[4]

Barbados,

Belize,

Jamaica,

Trinidad and Tobago

982 South Pacific (14)

Cook Islands,,

Fiji,

Kiribati,

Marshall Islands,

Nauru,

Niue,

Palau,

Papua New Guinea,

Samoa,

Solomon Islands,

Tonga,

Tuvalu, and

Vanuatu

Countries with no exclusive registration group

18 countries

Canada,

Serbia,

Countries with multiple registration groups

In parentheses, how many numbers are available.

Countries with over one million numbers are highlighted.

Two (53 countries)

Andorra (2×10⁴), Bahrain (2×10⁴), Benin (2×10⁴), Bhutan (2×10⁴), Bosnia and Herzegovina (20×10⁴), Botswana (2×10⁴), (2000×10⁴), Brunei (2×10⁴), (200×10⁴), (200×10⁴), Cyprus (20×10⁴), Dominican Republic (11×10⁴), Ecuador (20×10⁴), (200×10⁴), Ethiopia (2×10⁴), Faroe Islands (2×10⁴), (200×10⁴), Ghana (20×10⁴), (200×10⁴), Honduras (2×10⁴), (200×10⁴), (200×10⁴), Iceland (20×10⁴), (2000×10⁴), Jordan (20×10⁴), (110×10⁴), Kenya (20×10⁴), Latvia (20×10⁴), (110×10⁴), Luxembourg (2×10⁴), Malawi (2×10⁴), Montenegro (20×10⁴), Myanmar (2×10⁴), Namibia (2×10⁴), (2000×10⁴), Nicaragua (2×10⁴), (110×10⁴), Oman (2×10⁴), (200×10⁴), (110×10⁴), (200×10⁴), (200×10⁴), Qatar (11×10⁴), (110×10⁴), Seychelles (2×10⁴), (110×10⁴), (200×10⁴), Sudan (2×10⁴), Uganda (20×10⁴), (200×10⁴), Uruguay (20×10⁴), Uzbekistan (20×10⁴), (200×10⁴)

Three (23 countries)

(300×10⁴), Armenia (12×10⁴), Cambodia (12×10⁴), Costa Rica (30×10⁴), El Salvador (3×10⁴), Georgia (12×10⁴), Guatemala (12×10⁴), Haiti (3×10⁴), (300×10⁴), Kuwait (12×10⁴), (120×10⁴), Macau (3×10⁴), (300×10⁴), (300×10⁴), Morocco (30×10⁴), Nepal (12×10⁴), Republika Srpska (3×10⁴), (300×10⁴), (300×10⁴), Tajikistan (3×10⁴), Tanzania (30×10⁴), (300×10⁴), Tunisia (30×10⁴)

Four (8 countries)

Albania (13×10⁴), Algeria (40×10⁴), Bolivia (13×10⁴), Estonia (40×10⁴), (400×10⁴), Malta (13×10⁴), Paraguay (4×10⁴), (310×10⁴)

Five (2 countries)

(203×10⁴), Mongolia (14×10⁴)

ISBN vs UN

UN countries not part of ISBN (38)

Angola,

Central African Republic,

Chad,

Comoros, (formerly "99951-"),,

Gabon (formerly "99902-"),

Guinea,

Guyana,

Monaco,

Niger,

Saint Kitts and Nevis,

Saint Lucia,

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,

San Marino,,

Senegal,

Somalia,,,

Togo,

Turkmenistan,

Yemen

ISBN agencies not part of the UN (10)

Bermuda,,

Faroe Islands,