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Contents: Countries | Regions | Name changes and splits

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 TerritoryISO NameISO CodeContinent
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 LAOFAR 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 VCTCENTRAL 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 STPAFRICA
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


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last updated 24 Oct 2007