For example, www.whatever.es is a Spanish web site, because ES is Spain's country code. In this example, ES is the TLD (ccTLD) and whatever is the second-level domain. The www is traditional and if the web server is set up "properly", it might not be necessary, or it could refer to a third-level domain.
ISO 3166 also defines three-letter codes and numeric codes, but unlike the two-letter codes they are not used for Internet domain names and are generally less well known. There are also other country coding systems in use: for example the FIPS two-letter country codes used by the US government and in the CIA World Factbook.
The two-letter ISO 3166 codes form the first two letters of the three-letter ISO standard codes for currencies. There are also several other currency codes defined by the ISO standard beginning with X, connected with international currency unions (e.g. the BCEAO) and with other currency-like assets (gold (XAU), SDRs). The Euro however gets the code EUR, and therefore EU is reserved under ISO 3166 to refer to the European Union. There are also plans to establish a European Union ccTLD using that code.
The following is intended to be a complete list of current ISO 3166 two-letter codes. Some codes are used as ccTLDs even though not ISO 3166 codes (namely AC, GG, IM, JE, SU and UK); these will be found in the reserved code elements list which follows.
Note that AA, ZZ and the ranges QM-QZ and XA-XZ are reserved for private use. In addition, OO is designated as an escape code. If a country code cannot be found in the list then it is probably obsolete, in which case it should be found in the list of obsolete country codes.
AD - Andorra AE - United Arab Emirates AF - Afghanistan AG - Antigua and Barbuda AI - Anguilla (AI previously represented French Afars and Issas) AL - Albania AM - Armenia AN - Netherlands Antilles AO - Angola AQ - Antarctica (defined here as everything south of latitude 60°S) AR - Argentina AS - American Samoa AT - Austria AU - Australia (including Ashmore and Cartier Islands and Coral Sea Islands) AW - Aruba AZ - Azerbaijan
BA - Bosnia and Herzegovina BB - Barbados BD - Bangladesh BE - Belgium BF - Burkina Faso BG - Bulgaria BH - Bahrain BI - Burundi BJ - Benin BM - Bermuda BN - Brunei Darussalam BO - Bolivia BR - Brazil BS - Bahamas BT - Bhutan BV - Bouvet Island BW - Botswana BY - Belarus BZ - Belize
CA - Canada CC - Cocos (Keeling) Islands CD - Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) CF - Central African Republic CG - Republic of the Congo CH - Switzerland (Confoederatio Helvetica) CI - Côte d'Ivoire, a.k.a. Ivory Coast CK - Cook Islands CL - Chile CM - Cameroon CN - China CO - Colombia CR - Costa Rica CU - Cuba CV - Cape Verde CX - Christmas Island CY - Cyprus CZ - Czech Republic
DE - Germany (Deutschland) DJ - Djibouti DK - Denmark DM - Dominica DO - Dominican Republic DZ - Algeria
EC - Ecuador EE - Estonia EG - Egypt EH - Western Sahara (not currently a TLD) ER - Eritrea ES - Spain (España) ET - Ethiopia
FI - Finland FJ - Fiji FK - Falkland Islands FM - Federated States of Micronesia FO - Faroe Islands FR - France
GA - Gabon GB - United Kingdom (with Isle of Man and Channel Islands; the primary ccTLD is UK, which is not an ISO 3166 code) GD - Grenada GE - Georgia (GE previously represented the Gilbert and Ellis Islands) GF - French Guiana GH - Ghana GI - Gibraltar GL - Greenland GM - Gambia GN - Guinea GP - Guadeloupe GQ - Equatorial Guinea GR - Greece GS - South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands GT - Guatemala GU - Guam GW - Guinea-Bissau GY - Guyana
HK - Hong Kong HM - Heard Island and McDonald Islands HN - Honduras HR - Croatia (Hrvatska) HT - Haiti HU - Hungary
ID - Indonesia IE - Ireland IL - Israel IN - India IO - British Indian Ocean Territory IQ - Iraq IR - Iran IS - Iceland IT - Italy
JM - Jamaica JO - Jordan JP - Japan
KE - Kenya KG - Kyrgyzstan KH - Cambodia KI - Kiribati KM - Comoros KN - Saint Kitts and Nevis KP - North Korea (not currently a TLD) KR - South Korea KW - Kuwait KY - Cayman Islands KZ - Kazakhstan
LA - Laos LB - Lebanon LC - Saint Lucia LI - Liechtenstein LK - Sri Lanka LR - Liberia LS - Lesotho LT - Lithuania LU - Luxembourg LV - Latvia LY - Libya
MA - Morocco MC - Monaco MD - Moldova MG - Madagascar MH - Marshall Islands MK - Macedonia ML - Mali MM - Myanmar MN - Mongolia MO - Macau MP - Northern Mariana Islands MQ - Martinique MR - Mauritania MS - Montserrat MT - Malta MU - Mauritius MV - Maldives MW - Malawi MX - Mexico MY - Malaysia MZ - Mozambique
NA - Namibia NC - New Caledonia NE - Niger NF - Norfolk Island NG - Nigeria NI - Nicaragua NL - Netherlands NO - Norway NP - Nepal NR - Nauru NU - Niue NZ - New Zealand
OM - Oman
PA - Panama PE - Peru PF - French Polynesia (with Clipperton Island) PG - Papua New Guinea PH - Philippines
PK - Pakistan PL - Poland PM - Saint Pierre and Miquelon PN - Pitcairn Islands PR - Puerto Rico PS - Occupied Palestinian Territories (i.e., West Bank and Gaza Strip) PT - Portugal PW - Palau PY - Paraguay
QA - Qatar
RE - Reunion RO - Romania RU - Russia RW - Rwanda
SA - Saudi Arabia SB - Solomon Islands SC - Seychelles SD - Sudan SE - Sweden SG - Singapore SH - Saint Helena (including Ascension Island and other dependencies) SI - Slovenia SJ - Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands SK - Slovakia (SK previously represented Sikkim) SL - Sierra Leone SM - San Marino SN - Senegal SO - Somalia SR - Suriname ST - Sao Tome and Principe SV - El Salvador SY - Syria SZ - Swaziland
TC - Turks and Caicos Islands TD - Chad TF - French Southern and Antarctic Lands TG - Togo TH - Thailand TJ - Tajikistan TK - Tokelau TM - Turkmenistan TN - Tunisia TO - Tonga TP - East Timor TR - Turkey TT - Trinidad and Tobago TV - Tuvalu TW - Taiwan TZ - Tanzania
UA - Ukraine UG - Uganda UM - United States Minor Outlying Islands US - United States of America UY - Uruguay UZ - Uzbekistan
VA - Vatican City State VC - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines VE - Venezuela VG - British Virgin Islands VI - U.S. Virgin Islands VN - Vietnam VU - Vanuatu
WF - Wallis and Futuna WS - Samoa (formerly Western Samoa)
YE - Yemen YT - Mayotte YU - Yugoslavia (that is, Serbia and Montenegro)
ZA - South Africa ZM - Zambia ZW - Zimbabwe
The reserved code elements list, as of 2001-02-13, is as follows:
In addition, the ISO 3166 MA has undertaken, for the time being, not to use the following alpha-2 codes from WIPO Standard ST.3:
In addition, WIPO Standard ST.3 also uses EA to code the Eurasian Patent Organization. However, ISO 3166 MA has stated it cannot guarantee to reserve the code EA from use, since it is already used for customs purposes to represent Ceuta and Melilla. ISO 3166 MA proposed in 1995 that EV be used by WIPO for the purpose of representing the Eurasian Patent Organization; however, this request was not honoured by WIPO.
The following alpha-3 codes currently exist in the ISO 3166 standard:
The following alpha-3 codes are subject to a transitional reservation:
The following three letter codes are subject to an indeterminate reservation, having been notified to the United Nations Secretary-General under the 1949 and/or 1968 Road Transport Conventions:
The following alpha-3 code elements are subject to an exceptional reservation:
For the time being, ISO 3166 MA has agreed not to use the following codes, taken from ISO/IEC 7501-1 (Machine readable travel documents), as alpha-3 country codes:
External links:
Sources: Information on reserved codes taken from "Reserved code elements under ISO 3166-1" published by Secretariat of ISO/TC 46, ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency, 2001-02-13, available on request from ISO 3166 MA.
![[Home]](wikipedia.png)