Country code
5375
212844516
2008-05-16T15:02:30Z
Dwheeler
3297
/* Other country codes */
{{two other uses||the rules of behaviour in the British countryside|The Country Code|international phone dialing codes|List of country calling codes}}
'''Country codes''' are short alphabetic or numeric [[geography|geographical]] [[code]]s ([[geocode]]s) developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The most famous of these is [[ISO 3166-1]]. The term ''country code'' frequently refers to international dialing codes, the [[E.164]] [[list of country calling codes|country calling codes]].
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==ISO 3166-1==
{{main|ISO 3166-1}}
This standard defines for most of the countries and dependent areas in the world:
*a two letter ([[ISO 3166-1 alpha-2]])
*a three-letter ([[ISO 3166-1 alpha-3]]), and
*a three-digit numeric ([[ISO 3166-1 numeric]]) code.
The two-letter codes are used as the basis for some other codes or applications, e.g.
*for [[ISO 4217]] [[currency]] codes and
*with deviations, for country code [[top-level domain]] names (ccTLDs) on the Internet: [[list of Internet TLDs]].
For more applications see [[ISO 3166-1 alpha-2]].
==Other country codes==
*The [[International Olympic Committee]] (IOC) three letter codes used in sporting events: [[list of IOC country codes]]
*The Fédération Internationale de Football Association ([[FIFA]]) assigns a three-letter code (dubbed FIFA Trigramme) to each of its member and non-member countries: [[List of FIFA country codes]]
*The [[North Atlantic Treaty Organisation]] (NATO) used two-letter codes of its own: [[list of NATO country codes]]. They were largely borrowed from the FIPS 10-4 codes mentioned below. In [[2003]], the eighth edition of the Standardisation Agreement (STANAG) adopted the ISO 3166 three-letter codes with one exception (the code for Macedonia). With the ninth edition, NATO is transitioning to four- and six-letter codes based on ISO 3166 with a few exceptions and additions.
*The coding system for car [[license plate]]s under the 1949 and 1968 United Nations Road Traffic Conventions (distinguishing signs of vehicles in international traffic): [[List of international license plate codes]] [http://www.unece.org/trans/conventn/Distsigns_Sept2003.pdf]
*The [[World Meteorological Organization]] (WMO) has its own list of country codes, used in reporting meteorological observations.
*The [[United Nations Development Program]] (UNDP) also has its own list of [[List of UNDP country codes|trigram country codes]].
*The [[Federal Information Processing Standard]] (FIPS) [[FIPS 10-4|10-4]] defines two letter codes used by the [[United States|US]] government and in the [[CIA World Factbook]]: [[list of FIPS country codes]], See also [[List of FIPS region codes]] for a set of 4-character region codes, also assigned by FIPS 10-4.
*The coding system for [[diplomatic license plates in the United States]], assigned by the [[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]].
*From the [[International Telecommunication Union]] (ITU):
**the [[E.164]] international telephone dialling codes: [[list of country calling codes]] with 1-3 digits,
**the [[IMSI|E.212]] [[mobile country codes]] (MCC), for mobile/wireless phone addresses,
**the first few characters of call signs of radio stations (maritime, aeronautical, [[amateur radio]], broadcasting, etc.) define the country: the [[ITU prefix]],
**[[ITU letter codes]] for member-countries,
**Three-digit codes used to identify countries in maritime mobile radio transmissions, known as [[maritime identification digits]]
*[[European Union]]:
**Before the [[Enlargement of the European Union|2004 EU enlargement]] the EU used the UN Road Traffic Conventions [[List of international license plate codes|license plate codes]]; since then, it uses [[ISO 3166-1]], with 2 exceptions: ''EL'' (not ''GR'') is used for [[Greece]], and ''UK'' (not ''GB'') is used for the [[United Kingdom]]. [http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-370100.htm]
**The ''[[Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques]]'' (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics, NUTS) of the [[European Union]], mostly focusing on subdivisions of the EU member states
*From the [[International Civil Aviation Organization]] (ICAO):
**[[aircraft registration|aircraft registration prefixes]],
**nationality letters for location indicators.
* From the [[International Union of Railways]] (UIC):
**[[UIC Country Code]]
* [[GOST 7.67]]
The developers of ISO 3166 intended that in time it would replace other coding systems in existence.
==Other codings==
The following can represent countries:
*The initial digits of International Standard Book Numbers ([[ISBN]]) are group identifiers for countries, areas, or language regions.
*The first three digits of [[GS1]] Company Prefixes used to identify products, e.g. in [[barcode]]s, designate (national) numbering agencies.
==Lists of country codes by country==
[[Country codes: A|A]] -
[[Country codes: B|B]] -
[[Country codes: C|C]] -
[[Country codes: D-E|D-E]] -
[[Country codes: F|F]] -
[[Country codes: G|G]] -
[[Country codes: H-I|H-I]] -
[[Country codes: J-K|J-K]] -
[[Country codes: L|L]] -
[[Country codes: M|M]] -
[[Country codes: N|N]] -
[[Country codes: O-R|O-R]] -
[[Country codes: S|S]] -
[[Country codes: T|T]] -
[[Country codes: U-Z|U-Z]]
==See also==
*[[Language code]]
*[[Numbering scheme]]
*[[ISO 639]] language codes
==External links==
*Comparison of various systems: http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/codes/country.htm
*Another comparison: {{statoids|id=wab|title=Country Codes}}
*[http://www.doublestandards.org/country/ list with flags]
*[http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49alpha.htm United Nations Region Codes]
[[Category:Country codes|*]]
[[Category:Geocodes]]
[[de:Ländercode]]
[[es:Códigos de países]]
[[fr:Code pays]]
[[is:Landsnúmer]]
[[nl:Landcode]]
[[ja:国名コード]]
[[ru:Код страны]]
[[sh:Državni kod]]
[[sv:Nationalitetsbeteckning]]
[[th:รหัสประเทศ]]
[[tr:Ülke_kodu]]
[[yo:Àmìọ̀rọ̀ orílẹ̀-èdè]]