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ISO 3166

 

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ISO 3166



 
 
ISO 3166 is a three-part standard
Standardization

Standardization is the process of developing and agreeing upon Standard . A standard is a document that establishes uniform engineering or technical specifications, criteria, methods, processes, or practices....
 published by the International Organization for Standardization
International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO , is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations....
 (ISO), and defines code
Code

In communications, a code is a Operator for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....
s for the names of countries
Country

Country may refer to the territory of a state, or to a smaller, or former, political division of a geographical region. In another meaning of the word, the country is also a term used to refer to rural areas....
, dependent territories
Dependent territory

A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a Territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State....
, and special areas of geographical interest, and their principal subdivisions
Country subdivision

Country subdivision refers to the division of a country's territory for the sake of its local government, description or other such purpose. The resulting units of division are known generically as "country subdivisions"....
 (e.g., province
Province

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state....
s or states). The official name is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions. It was first published in 1974, and has been modified over the years, with subsequent editions published in 1981, 1988, and 1993.






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ISO 3166 is a three-part standard
Standardization

Standardization is the process of developing and agreeing upon Standard . A standard is a document that establishes uniform engineering or technical specifications, criteria, methods, processes, or practices....
 published by the International Organization for Standardization
International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO , is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations....
 (ISO), and defines code
Code

In communications, a code is a Operator for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....
s for the names of countries
Country

Country may refer to the territory of a state, or to a smaller, or former, political division of a geographical region. In another meaning of the word, the country is also a term used to refer to rural areas....
, dependent territories
Dependent territory

A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a Territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State....
, and special areas of geographical interest, and their principal subdivisions
Country subdivision

Country subdivision refers to the division of a country's territory for the sake of its local government, description or other such purpose. The resulting units of division are known generically as "country subdivisions"....
 (e.g., province
Province

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state....
s or states). The official name is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions. It was first published in 1974, and has been modified over the years, with subsequent editions published in 1981, 1988, and 1993. The most recent edition, its fifth, was published between 1997 and 1999.

Parts

Since the fifth edition, the standard has been divided into three parts:
  • ISO 3166-1
    ISO 3166-1

    ISO 3166-1 is part of the ISO 3166 standardization published by the International Organization for Standardization , and defines codes for the names of country, dependent territory, and special areas of geographical interest....
    , Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes, defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. ISO 3166 has included alphabetic country codes since its first edition in 1974, and numeric country codes since its second edition in 1981. The country codes were first published as ISO 3166-1 in 1997. It defines three sets of country code
    Country code

    Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geography codes developed to represent country and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications....
    s:
    • ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
      ISO 3166-1 alpha-2

      ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standardization published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent country, dependent territory, and special areas of geographical interest....
       — two-letter country codes (used most prominently for the Internet
      Internet

      The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available server and other computers by moving information from them to the computer's local memory....
      's country code top-level domain
      Country code top-level domain

      TLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs. Creation and delegation of ccTLDs is performed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ...
      s)
    • ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
      ISO 3166-1 alpha-3

      ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standardization published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent country, dependent territory, and special areas of geographical interest....
       — three-letter country codes
    • ISO 3166-1 numeric
      ISO 3166-1 numeric

      ISO 3166-1 numeric codes are three-digit country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standardization published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent country, dependent territory, and special areas of geographical interest....
       — three-digit country codes
  • ISO 3166-2
    ISO 3166-2

    ISO 3166-2 is part of the ISO 3166 standardization published by the International Organization for Standardization , and defines codes for the names of the principal country subdivisions of all country coded in ISO 3166-1....
    , Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 2: Country subdivision code, defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces or states) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. It was first published in 1998.
  • ISO 3166-3
    ISO 3166-3

    ISO 3166-3 is part of the ISO 3166 standardization published by the International Organization for Standardization , and defines codes for country names which have been deleted from ISO 3166-1 since its first publication in 1974....
    , Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 3: Code for formerly used names of countries, defines codes for country names which have been deleted from ISO 3166-1 since its first publication in 1974. It was first published in 1999.


ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency

The ISO 3166 standard is maintained by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA), located at the ISO central office in Geneva
Geneva

Geneva is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie . Situated where the Rh?ne River exits Lake Geneva , it is the capital of the Canton of Geneva....
. Originally it was located at the Deutsches Institut für Normung
Deutsches Institut für Normung

Deutsches Institut f?r Normung e.V. is the Germany national organization for standardization and is that country's International Organization for Standardization member body....
 (DIN) in Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
. Its principal tasks are:
  • To add and to eliminate country names (respectively, country subdivision names) and to assign code elements to them;
  • To publish lists of country names (respectively, country subdivision names) and code elements;
  • To maintain a reference list of all country code elements and country subdivision code elements used and their period of use;
  • To issue newsletters announcing changes to the code tables;
  • To advise users on the application of ISO 3166.


Members

There are ten experts with voting rights on the ISO 3166/MA. Five are representatives of the following national standards organizations:
  • Association française de normalisation (AFNOR) — France
    France

    France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
  • American National Standards Institute
    American National Standards Institute

    The American National Standards Institute or ANSI is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States....
     (ANSI) — United States
    United States

    The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
  • British Standards Institution (BSI) — United Kingdom
    United Kingdom

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
  • Deutsches Institut für Normung
    Deutsches Institut für Normung

    Deutsches Institut f?r Normung e.V. is the Germany national organization for standardization and is that country's International Organization for Standardization member body....
     (DIN) — Germany
    Germany

    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
  • Swedish Standards Institute
    Swedish Standards Institute

    SIS, Swedish Standards Institute, is an independent organization, founded in 1922, with members from the private and public sector....
     (SIS) — Sweden
    Sweden

    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....


The other five are representatives of major UN
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
 or other international organizations who are all users of ISO 3166-1:
  • International Atomic Energy Agency
    International Atomic Energy Agency

    The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology and to inhibit its use for nuclear weapon....
     (IAEA)
  • International Telecommunication Union
    International Telecommunication Union

    The International Telecommunication Union is the second-oldest international organization still in existence , established to standardize and regulate international radio and telecommunications....
     (ITU)
  • Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
  • Universal Postal Union
    Universal Postal Union

    The Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, and hence the world-wide postal system....
     (UPU)
  • United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
    United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

    The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe was established in 1947 to encourage economic cooperation among its member States. It is one of five regional commissions under the administrative direction of United Nations headquarters....
     (UNECE)


There are also associated members but they do not participate in votes.

See also

  • ISO 639
    ISO 639

    ISO 639 is the set of International Organization for Standardization that lists short language code for language names. It was also the name of the original standard, approved in 1967 and withdrawn in 2002....
     — Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages
  • Federal Information Processing Standard
    Federal Information Processing Standard

    Federal Information Processing Standards are publicly announced Standardizations developed by the United States Federal government for use by all non-military government agencies and by government contractors....
     (FIPS), standard developed by the Federal government of the United States
    Federal government of the United States

    The Federal Government of the United States is the central current reigning United States governmental body, established by the United States Constitution....
  • Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics
    Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics

    The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, , is a geocode standardization for referencing the administrative divisions of country for statistical purposes....
     (NUTS), standard developed by the European Union
    European Union

    The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European Union member state, located primarily in Europe. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community....


External links

  • , International Organization for Standardization (ISO) — includes alpha-2 codes
  • , United Nations Statistics Division — includes alpha-3 and numeric codes
  • [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-d.html Appendix D – Cross-Reference List of Country Data Codes], from The World Factbook
    The World Factbook

    The World Factbook is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with almanac-style information about the List of countries....
     (public domain), Central Intelligence Agency — comparison of FIPS 10, ISO 3166, and STANAG 1059 country codes
  • , Statoids.com — comparison of many country codes