ISO 3166

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 (e.g., provinces or states). The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions.

"Geographic code" redirects here. Not to be confused with Geographic coding.

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, states, departments, regions) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.

ISO 3166-2

, 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.

ISO 3166-3

It consists of three parts:^[1]

Editions[edit]

The first edition of ISO 3166, which included only alphabetic country codes, was published in 1974. The second edition, published in 1981, also included numeric country codes, with the third and fourth editions published in 1988 and 1993 respectively. The fifth edition, published between 1997 and 1999, was expanded into three parts to include codes for subdivisions and former countries.^[1]

To add and to eliminate country names and to assign code elements to them;

To publish lists of country names and code elements;

To maintain a reference list of all country code elements and 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.

The ISO 3166-based country codes (STANAG 1059, 9th edition) use "X" codes for imaginary exercise countries ranging from XXB for "Brownland" to XXY for "Yellowland", as well as for major commands such as XXE for SHAPE or XXS for SACLANT.

NATO

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X currencies defined in ISO 4217

Country codes beginning with "X" are used for private custom use (reserved), never for official codes. Despite the words "private custom", the use may include other public standards. ISO affirms that no country code beginning with X will ever be standardised.^[a] Examples of X codes include:

International Organization for Standardization

ISO standards

Country code

International vehicle registration code

Lists of sovereign states and dependent territories

Sovereign state

United Nations

Member states of the United Nations

International Organization for Standardization (ISO)