ISO 3166-2

ISO 3166-2 is the second part of the international standard for standardization ISO 3166, published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines the identification codes of the main subdivisions (for example, provinces or states) from all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. The official name of the standard is Codes for the Representation of Country Names and their Subdivisions - Part 2: Country Subdivision Code, which was first published in 1998.

The purpose of ISO 3166-2 is to establish an international standard for unique short alphanumeric codes, to represent the relevant administrative divisions and dependent territories of all countries, for use on package, container and other labels similar objects. A short alphanumeric code can serve to clearly indicate a location in a more convenient and less ambiguous way than the full place name.

Each complete ISO 3166-2 code consists of two parts, separated by a hyphen:

• The first part is the ISO 3166-1 alfa-2 code of each country
• The second part is a chain of up to three alphanumeric characters, which are usually obtained from national sources and the encoding systems that are already in use in the country concerned, but can also be developed by the ISO itself.

Each complete ISO 3166-2 code can be used to uniquely identify a country subdivision in a global context.

Currently, more than 4000 codes are defined in ISO 3166-2. For some countries, codes are defined for more than one level of subdivisions.

Current codes

The following table can be used to access the ISO 3166-2 codes for each country. The table contains the following data:

• Entry: ISO 3166-1 alfa-2 code assigned to each country or territory. Click to see the ISO 3166-2 codes of that territory.
• Country or Territory: Common name of the country or territory. In italics the official denomination of the country or territory according to ISO 3166.
• Subdivision codes assigned: Number and type of subdivisions with code assigned in ISO 3166-2. In italics the second-level divisions are indicated.

Notes

1. ↑ The territory assigned to the Antarctic by the UN is all the territory south of the 60th South parallel, including the territories claimed by other countries.
2. ↑ The Falkland Islands is known as Falkland Islands in the Anglo-Saxon World Falkland Islands in the rest of the world.
3. ↑ Myanmar was previously known as Burma
4. ↑ It includes territories of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
5. ↑ The French Antarctic part known as Tierra Adelia, within the ISO standard, is included in the Antarctic, being a territory not internationally recognized to any country.
6. ↑ Taiwan is included as a subdivision of China for its political status within the United Nations, since, although it is de facto as an independent jurisdiction, the United Nations does not recognize it as independent and considers Taiwan as part of China. In ISO 3166-1, Taiwan is listed as "Taiwan, Province of China".

Subdivisions included in ISO 3166-1

For the following countries, the number of their subdivisions in ISO 3166-2, most of them dependent territories, have also officially assigned their country code in ISO 3166-1:

Notes

1. ↑ Taiwan is included as a subdivision of China for its political status within the United Nations, since, although it is de facto as an independent jurisdiction, the United Nations does not recognize it as independent and considers Taiwan as part of China. In ISO 3166-1, Taiwan is listed as "Taiwan, Province of China".
2. ↑ In ISO 3166-1, three countries are listed as subdivisions of the Netherlands. However, the aforementioned Netherlands is a country alone with the other three countries, with these dependent territories. The four countries together constitute the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
3. ↑ a bc Collectively Bonaire, San Eustaquio and Saba Island have officially assigned their own country code in ISO 3166-1.
4. ↑ a b Collectively Svalbard and Jan Mayen have officially assigned their own country code in ISO 3166-1.

Format

The format of ISO 3166-2 codes is different for each country. Codes can be alphabetic, numeric, or alphanumeric, and can be of constant or variable length. The following is a table of the ISO 3166-2 codes for each country (for those who have defined them), grouped by their format:

Updates

ISO 3166/MA updates ISO 3166-2 when necessary, by announcing changes in its newsletters, and by releasing new editions that comprise a consolidation of the bulletin changes. Changes in ISO 3166-2 mainly consist of spelling corrections, addition and deletion of subdivisions, and modification of the administrative structure.