Country code

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A country code is a short alphanumeric identification code for countries and dependent areas. Its primary use is in data processing and communications. Several identification systems have been developed.

Contents

The term country code frequently refers to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, as wall as the international dialing code, which is embodied in the E.164 recommendation by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

ISO 3166-1

The standard ISO 3166-1 defines short identification codes for most countries and dependent areas:

The two-letter codes are used as the basis for other codes and applications, for example,

Other applications are defined in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2.

ITU country calling codes

In telecommunication, a country code, also called country dialing code and international subscriber dialing (ISD) code, is a telephone number prefix used in international direct dialing (IDD) and for destination routing of telephone calls to a country other than the caller's. A country or region with an autonomous telephone administration must apply for membership in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to participate in the international public switched telephone network (PSTN). County codes are defined by the ITU-T section of the ITU in standards E.123 and E.164.

Country codes are a component of the international telephone numbering plan and are dialed only when calling a telephone number in another country. They are dialed before the national telephone number.

The ITU standard specifies that an international telephone number is represented by prefixing it with a plus sign (+), which indicates to a caller that the local international call prefix must be dialed first. These prefixes are different in various countries, but the ITU recommends the prefix 00 for new implementations.

Other country codes

The developers of ISO 3166 intended that in time it would replace other coding systems.

Other codings

Country identities may be encoded in the following coding systems:

Lists of country codes by country

A - B - C - D–E - F - G - H–I - J–K - L - M - N - O–Q - R - S - T - U–Z

See also

Related Research Articles

ISO 3166 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, special areas of geographical interest, and their principal subdivisions. The standard employs a code of letters and numbers to represent the name of a given geographical area in order to save time and energy when describing the area, as well as to reduce the risk of description errors. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions.

E.164 is an international standard, titled The international public telecommunication numbering plan, that defines a numbering plan for the worldwide public switched telephone network (PSTN) and some other data networks.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter 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 allow a better visual association between the codes and the country names than the two-letter alpha-2 codes. They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its first edition in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ISO 3166-1 alpha-2</span> Two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter 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 the most widely used of the country codes published by ISO, and are used most prominently for the Internet's country code top-level domains. They are also used as country identifiers extending the postal code when appropriate within the international postal system for paper mail, and have replaced the previous one consisting one-letter codes. They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its first edition in 1974.

ISO 3166-2:AR is the entry for Argentina in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.

These are data codes for Switzerland.

ISO 3166-2:TH is the entry for Thailand in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.

ISO 3166-2:FR is the entry for France in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.

ISO 3166-2:IT is the entry for Italy in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.

A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, reachable by a system of destination code routing. Telephone numbering plans are defined in each of the administrative regions of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and in private telephone networks.

E.123 is an international standard by the standardization union (ITU-T), entitled Notation for national and international telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and web addresses. It provides guidelines for the presentation of telephone numbers, email addresses, and web addresses in print, on letterheads, and similar purposes.

ISO 3166-2:DK is the entry for Denmark in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.

International direct dialing (IDD) or international subscriber dialling (ISD) is placing an international telephone call, dialed directly by a telephone subscriber, rather than by a telephone operator. Subscriber dialing of international calls typically requires an international call prefix to be dialed before the country code.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in Taiwan</span>

Telephone numbers in Taiwan use a system of area codes, beginning 02 to 08. The leading digit(s) following the area code denote the network operator. Mobile numbers begin 09. The international code for calls into Taiwan is 886.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E.161</span> ITU-T Recommendation

E.161 is an ITU-T Recommendation that defines the arrangement of digits, letters, and symbols on telephone keypads and rotary dials. It also defines the recommended mapping between the basic Latin alphabet and digits. Uses for this mapping include:

This is a listing of lists of country codes:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E.118</span> ITU-T Recommendation

E.118 is an international standard that defines the international telecommunication charge card, for use in payphones, it also defines the Integrated Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID), which is used in SIM cards, including eSIM cards. The standard was first developed in 1988 by what became the Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) with several revisions having been published since then.

References

  1. ↑ "Announcing Approval of the Withdrawal of Ten Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)". Federal Register. 73 (170): 51276. Sep 2, 2008. E8-20138.
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