This country list is a concatination of several lists from sources listed below including The United Nations, The World Bank, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and The CIA World Factbook

As of Jan. 2006 there were 191 Member States of the United Nations, 240 listings in the ISO 3166 country code list, 184 World Bank member countries and 208 economies with populations of more than 30,000 listed at World Bank and 202 National Olympic Comittees.

Country or Territory	ISO Name	ISO Code		Continent
Afghanistan (Islamic State of)	AFGHANISTAN	.af	AFG	FAR EAST
Albania (Republic of)	ALBANIA	.al	ALB	EUROPE
Algeria (People's Democratic Republic of)	ALGERIA	.dz	DZA	AFRICA
American Samoa	AMERICAN SAMOA	.as	ASM	OCEANIA
Andorra (Principality of)	ANDORRA	.ad	AND	EUROPE
Angola (Republic of)	ANGOLA	.ao	AGO	AFRICA
Anguilla	ANGUILLA	.ai	AIA	CENTRAL AMERICA
Antarctica	ANTARCTICA	.aq	ATA	ANTARCTICA
Antigua and Barbuda	ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA	.ag	ATG	CENTRAL AMERICA
Arctic Ocean
Argentine Republic	ARGENTINA	.ar	ARG	SOUTH AMERICA
Armenia (Republic of)	ARMENIA	.am	ARM	EUROPE
Aruba	ARUBA	.aw	ABW	SOUTH AMERICA
Ascension Island (SAINT HELENA)		.ac		AFRICA
Ashmore and Cartier Islands (Australia)				OCEANIA
Atlantic Ocean
Australia	AUSTRALIA	.au	AUS	OCEANIA
Australian External Territories
Austria	AUSTRIA	.at	AUT	EUROPE
Azerbaijani Republic	AZERBAIJAN	.az	AZE	EUROPE
Bahamas (Commonwealth of the)	BAHAMAS	.bs	BHS	CENTRAL AMERICA
Bahrain (Kingdom of)	BAHRAIN	.bh	BHR	MIDDLE EAST
Baker Island				OCEANIA
Bangladesh (People's Republic of)	BANGLADESH	.bd	BGD	FAR EAST
Barbados	BARBADOS	.bb	BRB	CENTRAL AMERICA
Bassas da India (Réunion)				AFRICA
Belarus (Republic of)	BELARUS	.by	BLR	EUROPE
Belgium	BELGIUM	.be	BEL	EUROPE
Belize	BELIZE	.bz	BLZ	CENTRAL AMERICA
Benin (Republic of)	BENIN	.bj	BEN	AFRICA
Bermuda	BERMUDA	.bm	BMU	CENTRAL AMERICA
Bhutan (Kingdom of)	BHUTAN	.bt	BTN	FAR EAST
Bolivia (Republic of)	BOLIVIA	.bo	BOL	SOUTH AMERICA
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA	.ba	BIH	EUROPE
Botswana (Republic of)	BOTSWANA	.bw	BWA	AFRICA
Bouvet Island	BOUVET ISLAND	.bv	BVT	ANTARCTICA
Brazil (Federative Republic of)	BRAZIL	.br	BRA	SOUTH AMERICA
British Antarctic Territory				ANTARCTICA
British Indian Ocean Territory	BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY	.io	IOT	FAR EAST
British Virgin Islands See:Virgin Islands, British				CENTRAL AMERICA
Brunei Darussalam	BRUNEI DARUSSALAM	.bn	BRN	FAR EAST
Bulgaria (Republic of)	BULGARIA	.bg	BGR	EUROPE
Burkina Faso	BURKINA FASO	.bf	BFA	AFRICA
Burma (see Myanmar)	Burma (see Myanmar)
Burundi (Republic of)	BURUNDI	.bi	BDI	AFRICA
Cambodia (Kingdom of)	CAMBODIA	.kh	KHM	FAR EAST
Cameroon (Republic of)	CAMEROON	.cm	CMR	AFRICA
Canada	CANADA	.ca	CAN	NORTH AMERICA
Canary Islands (Spain)				EUOPE
Canton and Enderbury Islands			CTE	OCEANIA
Cape Verde (Republic of)	CAPE VERDE	.cv	CPV	AFRICA
Cayman Islands	CAYMAN ISLANDS	.ky	CYM	CENTRAL AMERICA
Central African Republic	CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC	.cf	CAF	AFRICA
Chad (Republic of)	CHAD	.td	TCD	AFRICA
Channel Islands (UK)
Chatham Island (New Zealand)
Chile	CHILE	.cl	CHL	SOUTH AMERICA
China (People's Republic of)	CHINA	.cn	CHN	FAR EAST
Christmas Island	CHRISTMAS ISLAND	.cx	CXR	OCEANIA
Clipperton Island				OCEANIA
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS	.cc	CCK	FAR EAST
Colombia (Republic of)	COLOMBIA	.co	COL	SOUTH AMERICA
Comoros (Islamic Federal Republic of the)	COMOROS	.km	COM	AFRICA
Congo, Democratic Republic of the	CONGO, THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE	.cd	COG	AFRICA
Congo (Republic of the)	CONGO	.cg		AFRICA
Cook Islands	COOK ISLANDS	.ck	COK	OCEANIA
Coral Sea Islands (Australia)				OCEANIA
Costa Rica	COSTA RICA	.cr	CRI	CENTRAL AMERICA
Côte d'Ivoire (Republic of)	CÔTE D'IVOIRE	.ci	CIV	AFRICA
Croatia (Republic of)	CROATIA	.hr	HRV	EUROPE
Cuba	CUBA	.cu	CUB	CENTRAL AMERICA
Cyprus (Republic of)	CYPRUS	.cy	CYP	MIDDLE EAST
Czech Republic	CZECH REPUBLIC	.cz	CZE	EUROPE
Czechoslovakia (Former )		.cs		EUROPE
Denmark	DENMARK	.dk	DNK	EUROPE
Diego Garcia	Diego Garcia	.
Djibouti (Republic of)	DJIBOUTI	.dj	DJI	AFRICA
Dominica (Commonwealth of)	DOMINICA	.dm	DMA	CENTRAL AMERICA
Dominican Republic	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	.do	DOM	CENTRAL AMERICA
Dronning Maud Land (part of Antarctica)				ANTARCTICA
East Timor (See TIMOR-LESTE)		.tp	TLS
Easter Island (Chile)				SOUTH AMERICA
Ecuador	ECUADOR	.ec	ECU	SOUTH AMERICA
Egypt (Arab Republic of)	EGYPT	.eg	EGY	MIDDLE EAST
El Salvador (Republic of)	EL SALVADOR	.sv	SLV	CENTRAL AMERICA
England see United Kingdom				EUROPE
Equatorial Guinea (Republic of)	EQUATORIAL GUINEA	.gq	GNQ	AFRICA
Eritrea	ERITREA	.er	ERI	AFRICA
Estonia (Republic of)	ESTONIA	.ee	EST	EUROPE
Ethiopia (Federal Democratic Republic of)	ETHIOPIA	.et	ETH	AFRICA
Europa Island (Réunion)				AFRICA
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	FALKLAND ISLANDS (MALVINAS)	.fk	FLK	SOUTH AMERICA
Faroe Islands	FAROE ISLANDS	.fo	FRO	EUROPE
Fiji (Republic of)	FIJI	.fj	FJI	OCEANIA
Finland	FINLAND	.fi	FIN	EUROPE
France	FRANCE	.fr	FRA	EUROPE
French Antilles (GUADELOUPE, MARTINIQUE, St. Martin, St. Barthélemy St Barts)
French Guiana (French Department of)	FRENCH GUIANA	.gf	GUF	SOUTH AMERICA
French Polynesia (Territoire français d'outre-mer)	FRENCH POLYNESIA	.pf	PYF	OCEANIA
French Southern Territories	FRENCH SOUTHERN TERRITORIES	.tf	ATF	ANTARCTICA
Fyrom See: Macedonia
Gabonese Republic	GABON	.ga	GAB	AFRICA
Galapagos Islands (Ecuador)
Gambia (Republic of the)	GAMBIA	.gm	GMB	AFRICA
Gaza Strip (See PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, OCCUPIED)				MIDDLE EAST
Georgia	GEORGIA	.ge	GEO	EUROPE
Germany (Federal Republic of)	GERMANY	.de	DEU	EUROPE
Ghana	GHANA	.gh	GHA	AFRICA
Gibraltar	GIBRALTAR	.gi	GIB	EUROPE
Glorioso Islands				AFRICA
Great Britain see United Kingdom			.gb
Greece	GREECE	.gr	GRC	EUROPE
Greenland (Denmark)	GREENLAND	.gl	GRL	EUROPE
Grenada and Carriacuou	GRENADA	.gd	GRD	CENTRAL AMERICA
Grenadin Islands
Guadeloupe (French Department of)	GUADELOUPE	.gp	GLP	CENTRAL AMERICA
Guam	GUAM	.gu	GUM	OCEANIA
Guantanamo Bay (US)
Guatemala (Republic of)	GUATEMALA	.gt	GTM	CENTRAL AMERICA
Guernsey (Channel Islands)		.gg		EUROPE
Guinea (Republic of)	GUINEA	.gn	GIN	AFRICA
Guinea-Bissau (Republic of)	GUINEA-BISSAU	.gw	GNB	AFRICA
Guyana	GUYANA	.gy	GUY	SOUTH AMERICA
Haiti (Republic of)	HAITI	.ht	HTI	CENTRAL AMERICA
Heard and McDonald Islands	HEARD ISLAND AND MCDONALD ISLANDS	.hm	HMD	ANTARCTICA
Holy See (Vatican)	HOLY SEE (VATICAN CITY STATE)	.va	VAT	EUROPE
Honduras (Republic of)	HONDURAS	.hn	HND	CENTRAL AMERICA
Hong Kong, China	HONG KONG	.hk	HKG	FAR EAST
Howland Island				OCEANIA
Hungary (Republic of)	HUNGARY	.hu	HUN	EUROPE
Iceland	ICELAND	.is	ISL	EUROPE
India (Republic of)	INDIA	.in	IND	FAR EAST
Indian Ocean
Indonesia (Republic of)	INDONESIA	.id	IDN	FAR EAST
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF	.ir	IRN	MIDDLE EAST
Iraq (Republic of)	IRAQ	.iq	IRQ	MIDDLE EAST
Ireland	IRELAND	.ie	IRL	EUROPE
Isle of Man (UK)		.im		EUROPE
Israel (State of)	ISRAEL	.il	ISR	MIDDLE EAST
Italy	ITALY	.it	ITA	EUROPE
Ivory Coast see CÔTE D'IVOIRE
Jamaica	JAMAICA	.jm	JAM	CENTRAL AMERICA
Jan Mayen
Japan	JAPAN	.jp	JPN	FAR EAST
Jarvis Island				OCEANIA
Jersey (Channel Islands)		.je		EUROPE
Johnston Atoll (See US Minor Outlying Islands)				OCEANIA
Jordan (Hashemite Kingdom of)	JORDAN	.jo	JOR	MIDDLE EAST
Juan de Nova Island				AFRICA
Kazakhstan (Republic of)	KAZAKHSTAN	.kz	KAZ	FAR EAST
Kenya (Republic of)	KENYA	.ke	KEN	AFRICA
Kingman Reef				OCEANIA
Kiribati (Republic of)	KIRIBATI	.ki	KIR	OCEANIA
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of	KOREA, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF (North)	.kp	PRK	FAR EAST
Korea (Republic of)	KOREA, REPUBLIC OF (South)	.kr	KOR	FAR EAST
Kuwait (State of)	KUWAIT	.kw	KWT	MIDDLE EAST
Kyrgyz Republic	KYRGYZSTAN	.kg	KGZ	FAR EAST
Lao People's Democratic Republic	LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC	.la	LAO	FAR EAST
Latvia (Republic of)	LATVIA	.lv	LVA	EUROPE
Lebanon	LEBANON	.lb	LBN	MIDDLE EAST
Lesotho (Kingdom of)	LESOTHO	.ls	LSO	AFRICA
Liberia (Republic of)	LIBERIA	.lr	LBR	AFRICA
Libya (Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya)	LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA	.ly	LBY	AFRICA
Liechtenstein (Principality of)	LIECHTENSTEIN	.li	LIE	EUROPE
Lithuania (Republic of)	LITHUANIA	.lt	LTU	EUROPE
Luxembourg	LUXEMBOURG	.lu	LUX	EUROPE
Macao, China	MACAO	.mo	MAC	FAR EAST
Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic	MACEDONIA, THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF)	.mk	MKD	EUROPE
Madagascar (Republic of)	MADAGASCAR	.mg	MDG	AFRICA
Malawi	MALAWI	.mw	MWI	AFRICA
Malaysia	MALAYSIA	.my	MYS	FAR EAST
Maldives (Republic of)	MALDIVES	.mv	MDV	FAR EAST
Mali (Republic of)	MALI	.ml	MLI	AFRICA
Malta	MALTA	.mt	MLT	MIDDLE EAST
Man (see Isle of Man)
Mariana Islands see Northern Mariana Isl.
Marshall Islands (Republic of the)	MARSHALL ISLANDS	.mh	MHL	OCEANIA
Martinique (French Department of)	MARTINIQUE	.mq	MTQ	CENTRAL AMERICA
Mauritania (Islamic Republic of)	MAURITANIA	.mr	MRT	AFRICA
Mauritius (Republic of)	MAURITIUS	.mu	MUS	AFRICA
Mayotte	MAYOTTE	.yt	MYT	AFRICA
Mexico	MEXICO	.mx	MEX	CENTRAL AMERICA
Micronesia (Federated States of)	MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF	.fm	FSM	OCEANIA
Midway Islands (See US Minor Outlying Islands)				OCEANIA
Miquelon
Moldova (Republic of)	MOLDOVA, REPUBLIC OF	.md	MDA	EUROPE
Monaco (Principality of)	MONACO	.mc	MCO	EUROPE
Mongolia	MONGOLIA	.mn	MNG	FAR EAST
Montenegro	MONTENEGRO	.me	MNE	EUROPE
Montserrat	MONTSERRAT	.ms	MSR	CENTRAL AMERICA
Morocco (Kingdom of)	MOROCCO	.ma	MAR	AFRICA
Mozambique (Republic of)	MOZAMBIQUE	.mz	MOZ	AFRICA
Myanmar (Union of)	MYANMAR	.mm	MMR	FAR EAST
Namibia (Republic of)	NAMIBIA	.na	NAM	AFRICA
Nauru (Republic of)	NAURU	.nr	NRU	OCEANIA
Navassa Island				CENTRAL AMERICA
Nepal	NEPAL	.np	NPL	FAR EAST
Netherlands (Kingdom of the)	NETHERLANDS	.nl	NLD	EUROPE
Netherlands Antilles (2)	NETHERLANDS ANTILLES	.an	ANT	SOUTH AMERICA
Neutral Zone	Neutral Zone	.nt
Nevis Nevis (see SAINT KITTS)
New Caledonia (Territoire français d'outre-mer)	NEW CALEDONIA	.nc		OCEANIA
New Zealand	NEW ZEALAND	.nz	NZL	OCEANIA
Nicaragua	NICARAGUA	.ni	NIC	CENTRAL AMERICA
Niger (Republic of the)	NIGER	.ne	NER	AFRICA
Nigeria (Federal Republic of)	NIGERIA	.ng	NGA	AFRICA
Niue	NIUE	.nu	NIU	OCEANIA
Norfolk Island	NORFOLK ISLAND	.nf	NFK	OCEANIA
North Korea (see Korea, Democratic People's Republic)
Northern Cyprus				MIDDLE EAST
Northern Ireland see United Kingdom				EUROPE
Northern Mariana Islands (Commonwealth of the)	NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS	.mp	MNP	OCEANIA
Norway	NORWAY	.no	NOR	EUROPE
Oman (Sultanate of)	OMAN	.om	OMN	MIDDLE EAST
Pacific Ocean
Pakistan (Islamic Republic of)	PAKISTAN	.pk	PAK	FAR EAST
Palau (Republic of)	PALAU	.pw	PLW	OCEANIA
Palestinian Territories (Gaza Strip, West Bank)	PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, OCCUPIED	.ps	PSE	MIDDLE EAST
Palmyra Atoll				OCEANIA
Panama (Republic of)	PANAMA	.pa	PAN	CENTRAL AMERICA
Papua New Guinea	PAPUA NEW GUINEA	.pg	PNG	OCEANIA
Paracel Islands				FAR EAST
Paraguay (Republic of)	PARAGUAY	.py	PRY	SOUTH AMERICA
Peru	PERU	.pe	PER	SOUTH AMERICA
Philippines (Republic of the)	PHILIPPINES	.ph	PHL	FAR EAST
Pitcairn Island	PITCAIRN	.pn	PCN	OCEANIA
Poland (Republic of)	POLAND	.pl	POL	EUROPE
Portugal	PORTUGAL	.pt	PRT	EUROPE
Principe (see Sao Tome)
Puerto Rico	PUERTO RICO	.pr	PRI	CENTRAL AMERICA
Qatar (State of)	QATAR	.qa	QAT	MIDDLE EAST
Réunion (French Department of)	RÉUNION	.re	REU	AFRICA
Romania	ROMANIA	.ro	ROU	EUROPE
Ross Dependency				ANTARCTICA
Russian Federation	RUSSIAN FEDERATION	.ru	RUS	EUROPE
Rwandese Republic	RWANDA	.rw	RWA	AFRICA
Saint Barthélemy St Barts	SAINT BARTHÉLEMY	.bl	BLM	CENTRAL AMERICA
Saint Helena	SAINT HELENA	.sh	SHN	AFRICA
Saint Kitts and Nevis	SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS	.kn	KNA	CENTRAL AMERICA
Saint Lucia	SAINT LUCIA	.lc	LCA	CENTRAL AMERICA
Saint Martin	SAINT Martin	.mf	MAF	CENTRAL AMERICA
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON	.pm	SPM	NORTH AMERICA
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES	.vc	VCT	CENTRAL AMERICA
Saipan				OCEANIA
Samoa (Independent State of)	SAMOA	.ws	WSM	OCEANIA
San Marino (Republic of)	SAN MARINO	.sm	SMR	EUROPE
Sandwich Islands (see SOUTH GEORGIA)				SOUTH AMERICA
Sao Tome and Principe (Democratic Republic of)	SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE	.st	STP	AFRICA
Saudi Arabia (Kingdom of)	SAUDI ARABIA	.sa	SAU	MIDDLE EAST
Scotland see United Kingdom				EUROPE
Senegal (Republic of)	SENEGAL	.sn	SEN	AFRICA
Serbia	SERBIA	.rs	SRB	EUROPE
Seychelles (Republic of)	SEYCHELLES	.sc	SYC	AFRICA
Siberia (Russia)
Sierra Leone	SIERRA LEONE	.sl	SLE	AFRICA
Singapore (Republic of)	SINGAPORE	.sg	SGP	FAR EAST
Slovak Republic	SLOVAKIA	.sk	SVK	EUROPE
Slovenia (Republic of)	SLOVENIA	.si	SVN	EUROPE
Solomon Islands	SOLOMON ISLANDS	.sb	SLB	OCEANIA
Somali Democratic Republic	SOMALIA	.so	SOM	AFRICA
South Africa (Republic of)	SOUTH AFRICA	.za	ZAF	AFRICA
S. Georgia and the S. Sandwich Islands (UK)	SOUTH GEORGIA AND THE SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS	.gs		SOUTH AMERICA
South Korea (see Korea, Republic of
Southern Ocean
Soviet Union (Former)	Being phased out	.su
Spain	SPAIN	.es	ESP	EUROPE
Spratly Islands				FAR EAST
Sri Lanka (Democratic Socialist Republic of)	SRI LANKA	.lk	LKA	FAR EAST
Sudan (Republic of the)	SUDAN	.sd	SDN	AFRICA
Suriname (Republic of)	SURINAME	.sr	SUR	SOUTH AMERICA
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands	SVALBARD AND JAN MAYEN	.sj	SJM	EUROPE
Swaziland (Kingdom of)	SWAZILAND	.sz	SWZ	AFRICA
Sweden	SWEDEN	.se	SWE	EUROPE
Switzerland (Confederation of)	SWITZERLAND	.ch	CHE	EUROPE
Syrian Arab Republic	SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC	.sy	SYR	MIDDLE EAST
Taiwan (China, Republic of)	TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA	.tw	TWN	FAR EAST
Tajikistan (Republic of) (Tadjikistan)	TAJIKISTAN	.tj	TJK	FAR EAST
Tanzania (United Republic of)	TANZANIA, UNITED REPUBLIC OF	.tz	TZA	AFRICA
TATARSTAN (Russia)
Thailand	THAILAND	.th	THA	FAR EAST
TIMOR-LESTE	TIMOR-LESTE	.tl	TLS	FAR EAST
Togolese Republic	TOGO	.tg	TGO	AFRICA
Tokelau	TOKELAU	.tk	TKL	OCEANIA
Tonga (Kingdom of)	TONGA	.to	TON	OCEANIA
Trinidad and Tobago	TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO	.tt	TTO	CENTRAL AMERICA
Tristan da Cunha				SOUTH AMERICA
Tromelin Island				AFRICA
Tunisia	TUNISIA	.tn	TUN	AFRICA
Turkey	TURKEY	.tr	TUR	MIDDLE EAST
Turkmenistan	TURKMENISTAN	.tm	TKM	FAR EAST
Turks and Caicos Islands	TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS	.tc	TCA	CENTRAL AMERICA
Tuvalu	TUVALU	.tv	TUV	OCEANIA
Uganda (Republic of)	UGANDA	.ug	UGA	AFRICA
Ukraine	UKRAINE	.ua	UKR	EUROPE
United Arab Emirates	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES	.ae	ARE	MIDDLE EAST
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	UNITED KINGDOM ‡	.uk/ gb	GBR	EUROPE
United States of America	UNITED STATES	.us	USA	NORTH AMERICA
United States Virgin Islands (see Virgin Isl. U.S.)				CENTRAL AMERICA
Upper Volta see Burkina Faso
US Minor Outlying Islands	UNITED STATES MINOR OUTLYING ISLANDS	.um	UMI
Uruguay (Eastern Republic of)	URUGUAY	.uy	URY	SOUTH AMERICA
USSR (Former)		.su
Uzbekistan (Republic of)	UZBEKISTAN	.uz	UZB	FAR EAST
Vanuatu (Republic of)	VANUATU	.vu	VUT	OCEANIA
Vatican City State (Holy See)	Vatican City State see HOLY SEE	.vc
Vatican City State	Vatican City State	.va	VAT
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	VENEZUELA	.ve	VEN	SOUTH AMERICA
Viet Nam (Socialist Republic of)	VIET NAM	.vn	VNM	FAR EAST
Virgin Islands (British) (Anegada, Jost Van Dyke, Tortola, Virgin Gorda)	VIRGIN ISLANDS, BRITISH	.vg	VGB	CENTRAL AMERICA
Virgin Islands (USA) (Saint Croix, Saint John, Saint Thomas)	VIRGIN ISLANDS, U.S.	.vi	VIR	CENTRAL AMERICA
Wake Island (See US Minor Outlying Islands)				OCEANIA
Wales see United Kingdom				EUROPE
Wallis and Futuna (Territoire français d'outre-mer)	WALLIS AND FUTUNA	.wf	WLF	OCEANIA
West Bank (See PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, OCCUPIED)				MIDDLE EAST
Western Sahara	WESTERN SAHARA	.eh	ESH	AFRICA
Western Samoa see Samoa
Yemen (Republic of)	YEMEN	.ye	YEM	MIDDLE EAST
Yugoslavia (Former)	Being phased out	.yu	YUG
Zaire see CONGO			ZAR
Zambia (Republic of)	ZAMBIA	.zm	ZMB	AFRICA
Zimbabwe (Republic of)	ZIMBABWE	.zw	ZWE	AFRICA

‡ The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Top Level Domain (TLD) Internet code for the United Kingdom is .uk the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) code is gb

(2) Netherland Antilles: Curaçao, Bonaire, Saba, St. Maarten and St. Eustatius
French Antilles: GUADELOUPE, MARTINIQUE, St Martin, St Barts

See Country Codes for Telephone Country Codes
Travel Destinations - Countries

Regions:
See: US State Dept., United Nations
See Regions here.

Africa North Sub-Saharan East West Middle South Northern America

Europe Eastern Europe Northern Europe Southern Europe Western Europe Latin America and the Caribbean Caribbean Central America South America

Asia Eastern Asia South-central Asia South-eastern Asia Western Asia

Oceania Australia and New Zealand Melanesia Micronesia Polynesia Antarctica

The world bank counts sub-saharan Africa by itself and lumps North Africa with the Middle East.

Middle East Countries are: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, (Sometimes includes: Brunei Darussalam, Cyprus, Eritrea, Malta, Northern Cyprus, Turkey).
This is what the UN calls "Western Asia" plus Egypt, Iran, and Malta but without Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia which are put in Europe by some classifications. Sources:

Source	Num.	Other/Comments
Standard 3166 - Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions assigned by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)	240	3166-1 is used for Containers containing international mail, The three letter code is used on machine-readable passports, The two letter code is used by IANA (below) for Internet top level domains, The first two digits of ISO 4217 - Currency Codes e.g. USD for US Dollar. [See: ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 Code lists] 3166-1 Current codes, 3166-2 - Country subdivision code (e.g. US-CA California), 3166-3 - Code for formerly used names. See ISO 3166-3 at Wikipedia
Telephone Country Codes assigned by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)	230
Microsoft MapPoint .NET CountryRegion Entity IDs	xx
Top Level Domains (TLD) assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)	243	Codes are the same as ISO Alpha-2 codes, with some additions and .uk instead of .gb used in ISO. Count does not include .com, .org, .gov, ...
United Nations (UN)	230	230 countries in statistical data. Web page a/o Oct. 2003 had 191 member states.
The World Bank	xx
CIA World Factbook	269	Includes Oceans, Territories, etc.
International Olympic Committees	202	The 3 letter country abbreviations used by the International Olympic Committee are different than the ISO codes.

See links at ISO for others country lists.

People Groups:
People Groups which are distinguished by ethnicity, language, religion, caste and culture are defined in several places. Several Christian organizations have tried to categorize them in order to direct missionary efforts to the unreached. The number of groups ranges from 10,500 to 25,000.
There are over 6,800 languages currently spoken; 2,261 have writing systems.
See Christianity Page.

Other Sources:
World Population Prospects Population Database at the United Nations (UN) (esa.un.org/unpp/)
Countries of the World - www.worldhistory.com/timelines/countries.htm population numbers above come from here. (2002 estimates)
World Resources Institute - Regions
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations - Developing, Developed
World Bank - High, Medium, Low Income
Economic stats
UNICEF - Industrialized, Developing and Least Developed, Other Regions
United Nations Population Division - Regions, Developing, Developed
World Population Data here
List of Countries at wikipedia.org

Changes
See: ISO Updates, Country or area numerical codes added or changed at the UN and List of extinct countries, empires, etc. at wikipedia.org. .

• 2007 - Added Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin
• 2004 - Iraq and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) added to Olympic games
• July 2003 Name Yugoslavia (YU) replaced with SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO (CS)
  
• May 2002 The Alpha-2 and 3 codes for East Timor were changed from TP and TMP to (Timor-Leste) TS and TLS.
• 2002 Official English spellings of two country names were changed: Kazakstan to Kazakhstan, and Macau to Macao.
• 1999 Occupied Palestinian Territory split from Israel.
• 1997 Zaire changed to The Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• 1996 Short and full names of Vatican City changed from Vatican City State (Holy See) to Holy See (Vatican City State).
• 1993 Metropolitan France added and removed in 1997
• 1993 Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia
• 1993 Ethiopia split into Eritrea and Ethiopia
• 1993 Bosnia and Herzegovina, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia split from Yugoslavia.
• 1992 Croatia split from Yugoslavia
• 1992 Official English name of Micronesia changed to Federated States of Micronesia.
• 1991 Pacific Islands (Trust Territory) split into: Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Northern Mariana Islands and Palau.
• 1991 Soviet Union (USSR) broke into:
  Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
• 1990 East Germany (German Democratic Republic - GDR) and West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany- FRG) united as the Federal Republic of Germany.
• 1990 Democratic Yemen (YD) and Yemen Arab Republic (YE) merged into Republic Of Yemen (YE)
• 1990 Official English name of Kampuchea changed to Cambodia.
• 1989 BURMA (BU) was changed to MYANMAR (MM)
• 1986 United States Minor Outlying Islands formed by merging Johnston Atoll (codes JT, JTN), Midway Islands (MI, MID), United States Miscellaneous Pacific Islands (PU, PUS), and Wake Island (WK, WAK).
• 1986 Aruba seceded from the Netherland Antilles.
• 1985 Ivory Coast renamed Côte d'Ivoire.
• 1984 Upper Volta renamed Burkina Faso.
• 1980 Rhodesia, name for Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), granted independence by British.
• 1977 South Vietnam (codes VD, VDR, full name Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam) merged with North Vietnam (VN, VNM, full name Republic of Viet Nam) to form Vietnam.
• 1977 Bophuthatswana, north part of South Africa bordering Botswana, was granted independenced and was reincorporated into South Africa in 1994.
• 1974-75 Portugal grants independence to Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Timor and Angola.
• 1974 Tito, the Croat communist leader of Yugoslavia, created two autonomous provinces in Serbia (Kosovo and Vojvodina)
• 1972 Ceylon renamed Sri Lanka
• 1971 On British withdrawal in 1971, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Dubai, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and (in 1972) Ras Al Khaimah were combined to create the federation of the United Arab Emirates.
• 1971 East Pakistan seceded from Pakistan becoming Bangladesh.
• 1968 Spanish Guinea - became Equatorial Guinea.
• 1964 Northern Rhodesia - became Zambia.
• 1959 French Sudan became Mali
• 1958 United Arab Republic - A union formed by Egypt and Syria was dissolved in 1961.
• 1958-1960 French West Africa - dissolved into Mali, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Upper Volta, Niger, Guinea, Dahomey, and Togo.
• 1957 Gold Coast became independent from British as Ghana
• 1954 Netherlands Guiana - became Suriname
• 1949 Taiwan (English version of Chinese name) was called Formosa ("Beautiful Island" - named in 1517 by the Portuguese) on maps until it was changed to The Republic of China or Nationalist China when Chiang Kaishek and the Nationalist Chinese government were defeated by the Communists and moved from the mainland to Taiwan. Maps around 1950 label it as Nationalist China (Formosa), maps around 1960 just show it as Nationalist China, and starting around 1965 it is shown as Taiwan. ISO Name: TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA, Government of Taiwan Name: The Republic of China (Taiwan)
• 1949 French territory Indo-China - Became independent as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
• 1948 The UN partitions Palestine into a Jewish (Israel) and Arab (Palestine) State, based on a movement started by the British Balfour Declaration in 1917. The League of Nations ratified the declaration and in 1922 appointed Britain to rule in Palestine. Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon attack Israel in 1948. Israel defeats them and controlls about half the land the UN intended for the new Arab state.
• 1947 India won independence from British rule and was divided into India (mainly Hindu) and Pakistan (East & West) (Muslim), Kashmir, a region between India and West Pakistan could not decide which country they wanted to join. The border has been disputed ever since.
• 1938 Siam renamed Thailand.
• 1926 Saudi state renamed Saudi Arabia. It became independent of Britiain in 1927.
• 1922 Ireland (Southern part) becomes independent of United Kingdom of Great Britain.
• 1918 Soviet Union or USSR (Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, SSSR written in the Cyrillic alphabet as CCCP) formed after the Bolshevik Revolution. It was the successor state of the Russian Empire but was smaller as a result of the independence of Poland, Finland and the Baltic States.
• 1918 Following WW I Austria-Hungary was broken into:
  - Austria
  - Hungary
  - Czechoslovakia
  - Yugoslavia, called The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes until 1929.
  - Poland

See Also: Country Codes (Telephone, Internet, ...)
ISO, Windows and Macintosh name/code list at unicode.org, Microsoft MapPoint .NET CountryRegion Entity IDs The United Nations also publishes a 1-3 character country code for distinguishing vehicles in international traffic.
The ITU also has a 1-3 character code for member nations
US Patent Office Country Codes.
About ISO 3166 Country Codes at NISO - National Information Standards Organization