Editing ISO 3166

{{Short description|Standard codes for geographical names}}
{{Distinguish-redirect|Geographic code|Address geocoding{{!}}Geographic coding}}{{Multiple issues|{{Third-party | date = March 2018}}
{{Single source | date = November 2024}}}}
'''ISO 3166''' is a standard published by the [[International Organization for Standardization]] (ISO) that defines [[code]]s for the names of [[country|countries]], [[dependent territory|dependent territories]], special areas of geographical interest, and their principal [[administrative divisions|subdivisions]] (e.g., [[province]]s or [[state (administrative division)|states]]). The official name of the standard is '''''Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions'''''.

==Parts==
It consists of three parts:<ref name="iso-info">{{cite web| url=https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html| title=Country Codes - ISO 3166| publisher=International Organization for Standardization (ISO)}}</ref>
* '''[[ISO 3166-1]]''', ''Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country code'', defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. It defines three sets of [[country code]]s:
** [[ISO 3166-1 alpha-2]] – two-letter country codes which are the most widely used of the three, and used most prominently for the [[Internet]]'s [[country code top-level domain]]s (with a few exceptions).
** [[ISO 3166-1 alpha-3]] – three-letter country codes which allow a better visual association between the codes and the country names than the alpha-2 codes.
** [[ISO 3166-1 numeric]] – three-digit country codes which are identical to those developed and maintained by the [[United Nations Statistics Division]], with the advantage of script ([[writing system]]) independence, and hence useful for people or systems using non-[[Latin script]]s.
* '''[[ISO 3166-2]]''', ''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 3166-3]]''', ''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.

==Editions==
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.<ref name="iso-info"/>

==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]]. Originally it was located at the [[Deutsches Institut für Normung]] (DIN) in [[Berlin]]. Its principal tasks are:<ref name="iso-info"/>
* 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.

===Members===
There are fifteen experts with voting rights on the ISO 3166/MA.<ref name="iso-info"/> Nine are representatives of national [[standards organization]]s:

* [[Association française de normalisation]] (AFNOR){{snd}}France
* [[American National Standards Institute]] (ANSI){{snd}}United States
* [[British Standards Institution]] (BSI){{snd}}United Kingdom
* [[Deutsches Institut für Normung]] (DIN){{snd}}Germany
* [[Japanese Industrial Standards Committee]] (JISC){{snd}}Japan
* [[Standards Australia]] (SA){{snd}}Australia
* [[Kenya Bureau of Standards]] (KEBS){{snd}}Kenya
* [[Standardization Administration of China]] (SAC){{snd}}China
* [[Swedish Standards Institute]] (SIS){{snd}}Sweden

The other six are representatives of major [[List of specialized agencies of the United Nations|United Nations agencies]] or other [[international organization]]s who are all users of ISO 3166-1:

* [[International Atomic Energy Agency]] (IAEA)
* [[International Civil Aviation Organization]] (ICAO)
* [[International Telecommunication Union]] (ITU)
* [[Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers]] (ICANN)
* [[Universal Postal Union]] (UPU)
* [[United Nations Economic Commission for Europe]] (UNECE)

The ISO 3166/MA has further associated members who do not participate in the votes but who, through their expertise, have significant influence on the decision-taking procedure in the maintenance agency.

==Codes beginning with "X"==
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.{{efn|[[XK (user assigned code)|XK]] for [[Kosovo]] is a unilateral "user assigned code" and not an ISO 3166 standard country code.}} Examples of X codes include:

* The ISO 3166-based [[NATO]] [[List of NATO country codes|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 [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe|SHAPE]] or XXS for [[Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic|SACLANT]]. 
* [[ISO 4217#X currencies|X currencies defined in ISO 4217]].

==Current country codes==
{{Main|List of ISO 3166 country codes}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Geography}}

* {{Annotated link |International Organization for Standardization}}
**[[ISO standard]]s
**ISO 3166
*** {{Annotated link |ISO 3166-1}}
**** {{anli|ISO 3166-1 alpha-2}}
**** {{anli|ISO 3166-1 alpha-3}}
**** {{anli|ISO 3166-1 numeric}}
*** {{Annotated link |ISO 3166-2}}
*** {{Annotated link |ISO 3166-3}}
** {{Annotated link |List of ISO 3166 country codes}}
* {{Annotated link |Country code}}
** {{Annotated link |International vehicle registration code}}
* {{Annotated link |Lists of sovereign states and dependent territories}}
** {{Annotated link |Sovereign state}}
*** {{Annotated link |List of sovereign states}}
*** {{Annotated link |Associated state#States currently in a formal association|List of associated states}}
*** {{Annotated link |List of states with limited recognition|List of de facto states}}
** {{Annotated link |Dependent territory}}
* {{Annotated link |United Nations}}
** {{Annotated link |Member states of the United Nations}}
** {{Annotated link |United Nations list of non-self-governing territories}}

== Explanatory notes==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency], International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

{{ISO 3166}}
{{Geocoding-systems}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:ISO 3166| ]]
[[Category:ISO standards|#03166]]
[[Category:1974 introductions]]
[[Category:1974 establishments]]
[[Category:Internationalization and localization]]