Jump to content

Country code

Page protected with pending changes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kbrose (talk | contribs) at 15:10, 23 April 2025 (Telephone country codes: refactor section). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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.

The term country code frequently refers to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, as well as the telephone country 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

Telephone country codes

Telephone country codes, originally termed International Codes in 1960 by the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (C.C.I.T.T.),[1] but also sometimes referred to as "country dial-in codes", or historically "international subscriber dialing" (ISD) codes in the U.K., are telephone number prefixes for international direct dialing (IDD), a system for reaching subscribers in foreign areas via international telecommunication networks. Country codes are defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in ITU-T standards E.123 and E.164.

Country codes constitute the international telephone numbering plan. They are used only when dialing a telephone number in a foreign region other than the caller's. They are dialed before the national telephone number, but typically require at least one additional prefix, the international call prefix which is an exit code from the national numbering plan to the international one. ITU standards recommend the digit sequence 00 for the prefix, and most countries comply. The prefix is 011 in the countries of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) while a minority of countries use other prefixes. When printing telephone numbers the requirement of dialing this prefix is indicated by a plus-sign (+) in front of a complete international telephone number, per ITU Recommendation E164.

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). Country codes are defined by the ITU-T section of the ITU in standards E.123 and E.164.

Historically, country codes were first defined in 1960 by the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (C.C.I.T.T) in Recommendation E.29 in the ITU Red Book as international codes for Europe, parts of western Asia, and some Mediterranean countries,[2]

In 1964, E.29 was expanded with a global code system based on world numbering zones. In the 1968 White Book, the definition of country codes was relegated to ITU Recommendation E.161.

Codes were typically allocated by landmass and then subdivided by the capacity of each network at the time. France, the United Kingdom, the USA and USSR obtained preferential numbers due to their dominance in telecommunications at the time, whilst China was able to ensure that Taiwan was officially unlisted whilst being allocated the code "886".[3]

Other ITU codes

The ITU also maintains the following other country codes:

Other country codes

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

Other general-purpose systems

Business

Sport

Transport

Other specific-purpose codes

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

References

  1. ^ C.C.I.T.T. IInd Plenary Assembly, Red Book Volume IIbis, p.43 (1960, New Delhi)
  2. ^ Recommendation E.29, C.C.I.T.T. IInd Plenary Assembly (1960, New Delhi), Red Book Volume IIbis, ITU, p.43 (September 1961)
  3. ^ "How were telephone dialling codes allocated to countries - eg 32 for Belgium, 33 for France, 44 for UK? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  4. ^ "Announcing Approval of the Withdrawal of Ten Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)". Federal Register. 73 (170): 51276. Sep 2, 2008. E8-20138.