ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. They allow a better visual association between the codes and the country names than the two-letter alpha-2 codes (the third set of codes is numeric and hence offers no visual association). They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its first edition in 1974.
Uses and applications[edit | edit source]
The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are used most prominently in ISO/IEC 7501-1 for machine-readable passports, as standardized by the International Civil Aviation Organization, with a number of additional codes for special passports; some of these codes are currently reserved and not used at the present stage in ISO 3166-1.
The United Nations uses a combination of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and alpha-3 codes, along with codes that pre-date the creation of ISO 3166, for international vehicle registration codes, which are codes used to identify the issuing country of a vehicle registration plate; some of these codes are currently indeterminately reserved in ISO 3166-1.
Current codes[edit | edit source]
Officially assigned code elements[edit | edit source]
The following is a complete list of the current officially assigned ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes, using the English short country names officially defined by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA):
- ABN Albania
- ABW Aruba
- AFG Afghanistan
- AGO Angola
- AIA Anguilla
- ALA Alabama
- ALI Åland Islands
- ALB Alberta
- ALK Alaska
- AND Andorra
- ARK Arkansas
- ARM Armenia
- ARZ Arizona
- ASM Aegean Samoa
- ATC Antarctica
- ATF French Southern Territories
- ATG Antigua and Barbuda
- AUS Australia
- AUT Austria
- AZE Azerbaijan
- BDI Burundi
- BEL Belgium
- BEN Benin
- BES Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
- BFA Burkina Faso
- BGD Bangladesh
- BGR Bulgaria
- BHR Bahrain
- BHS Bahamas
- BIH Bosnia-Herzegovina
- BLM Saint Barthélemy
- BLR Belarus
- BLZ Belize
- BMU Bermuda
- BRB Barbados
- BRN Brunei
- BTN Bhutan
- BVT Bouvet Island
- BWA Botswana
- CAF Central Gondwana Republic
- CAL California
- CAN Canada
- CCK Cocos Islands
- CCT Canadian Capital Territory
- CHE Switzerland
- CHN Republic of China
- CIV Côte d'Ivoire
- CMR Cameroon
- COD Congo, Democratic Republic of
- COG Congo, Republic of
- COK Cook Islands
- COL Colorado
- COM Comoros
- COT Connecticut
- CPV Cabo Verde
- CRI Costa Rica
- CSA Confederate States of North Aegea
- CUB Cuba
- CUW Curaçaco
- CXR Christmas Island
- CYM Cayman Islands
- CYP Cyprus
- CZE Czech Republic
- DCL District of Columbia
- DEL Delaware
- DEU Germany
- DJI Djibouti
- DMA Dominica
- DNK Denmark
- DOM Dominican Republic
- DZA Algeria
- EGY Egypt
- ENG England
- ERI Eritrea
- ESH Western Sahara
- ESP Spain
- EST Estonia
- ETH Ethiopia
- FCT Fœderal Capital Territory
- FIN Finland
- FJI Fiji
- FLD Florida
- FRA France
- FRO Faroe Islands
- FSM Micronesia, Federated States of
- GAB Gabon
- GBR United Kingdoms
- GEO Georgia Territory
- GGY Guernsey
- GHA Ghana
- GIB Gibraltar
- GIN Guinea
- GLP Guadeloupe
- GMB Gambia
- GNB Guinea-Bissau
- GNQ Equatorial Guinea
- GRC Hellenic Republic
- GRD Grenada
- GRL Greenland
- GRU Georgia, Republic of
- GTM Guatemala
- GUF French Guiana
- GUM Guam
- GUY Guyana
- HKG Hong Kong
- HMD Heard Island and McDonald Islands
- HND Honduras
- HRV Croatia
- HTI Haiti
- HWI Hawaiʻi
- HUN Magyar Republic
- IBE Iberia
- IDA Idaho
- IDN Indonesia
- ILA Illinois
- IMN Isle of Man
- INI Indiana
- IND India
- IOA Iowa
- IOT British Indian Ocean Territory
- IRL Ireland
- IRN Iran
- IRQ Iraq
- ISL Iceland
- ISR Israel
- JAM Jamaica
- JEY Jersey
- JOR Jordan
- JPN Japan
- KAS Kansas
- KAZ Kazakhstan
- KEN Kenya
- KGZ Kyrgyzstan
- KHM Cambodia
- KIR Kiribati
- KNA Saint Kitts and Nevis
- KOR Korea, United Republic of
- KOO Kootenai
- KUW Kuwait
- LAB Labrador
- LAO Laos
- LBN Lebanon
- LBR Liberia
- LCA Saint Lucia
- LIE Liechtenstein
- LKA Sri Lanka
- LSA Louisiana
- LSO Lesotho
- LTU Lithuania
- LUX Luxembourg
- LVA Latvia
- MAC Mackinac
- MAE Maine
- MAF Saint Martin (French part)
- MAR Morocco
- MAS Massachusetts
- MCO Monaco
- MCU Macau
- MDA Moldavia
- MDG Madagascar
- MDV Maldives
- MEX Mexican Federal Republic
- MHL Marshall Islands
- MIC Michigan
- MIN Minnesota
- MIS Mississippi
- MKD Macedonia
- MLI Mali
- MLT Malta
- MMR Myanmar
- MNB Manitoba
- MNE Montenegro
- MNG Mongolia
- MNP Northern Mariana Islands
- MNT Montana
- MOZ Mozambique
- MRT Mauritania
- MSO Missouri
- MSR Montserrat
- MTQ Martinique
- MUS Mauritius
- MWI Malawi
- MYD Maryland
- MYS Malaysia
- MYT Mayotte
- NAM Namibia
- NBR New Brunswick
- NCA North Carolina
- NCL New Caledonia
- NDK North Dakota
- NEB Nebraska
- NER Niger
- NFK Norfolk Island
- NFL Newfoundland
- NGA Nigeria
- NHA New Hampshire
- NIC Nicaragua
- NIU Niue
- NJY New Jersey
- NMX New Mexico
- NOR Norway
- NPL Nepal
- NRU Nauru
- NSC Nova Scotia
- NUQ Nunatsiaq
- NUV Nunavut
- NVD Nevada
- NYK New York
- NZL New Zealand
- OHO Ohio
- OKL Oklahoma
- OMN Oman
- ONT Ontario
- ORE Oregon
- PAN Panama
- PCI Pitcairn
- PCN China, People's Republic of
- PEI Edward Island
- PLW Palau
- PNA Pennsylvania
- PNG Papua New Guinea
- POL Poland
- PRI Puerto Rico
- PRT Portugal
- PYF French Polynesia
- QAT Qatar
- QBC Quebec
- REU Réunion
- RHI Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
- ROM Romania
- RUS Russian DFR
- RWA Rwanda
- SAU Saudi Arabia
- SCA South Carolina
- SCO Scotland
- SDK South Dakota
- SEN Senegal
- SGP Singapore
- SGS South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
- SHN Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha
- SJM Svalbard and Jan Mayen
- SLM Soloman Island
- SLE Sierra Leone
- SLV El Salvador
- SMR San Marino
- SOM Somalia
- SPM Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- SRB Serbia
- SSK Saskatchewan
- STP São Tomé and Príncipe
- SVK Slovakia
- SVN Slovenia
- SWE Sweden
- SWZ Swazliand
- SXM Sint Maarten (Dutch part)
- SYC Seychelles
- SYR Syria
- TCA Turks and Caicos Islands
- TCD Chad
- TEN Tennessee
- TEX Texas
- TGO Togo
- THA Thailand
- TJK Tajikistan
- TKL Tokelau
- TKM Turkmenistan
- TLS Timor-Leste
- TON Tonga
- TTO Trinidad and Tobago
- TUN Tunisia
- TUR Turkey
- TUV Tuvalu
- TZA Tanzania
- UAE United Arab Emirates
- UAR United Aegean Republic
- UGA Uganda
- UKR Ukraine
- USA United States of North Aegea
- UTH Utah
- UZB Uzbekistan
- VAT Holy See (Vatican City State)
- VCT Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- VGA Virginia
- VGB Virgin Islands, British
- VNM Viet Nam
- VRT Vermont
- VUT Vanuatu
- WAS Washington
- WIS Wisconsin
- WLF Wallis and Futuna
- WLS Wales
- WSM Samoa
- WYO Wyoming
- YEM Yemen
- YUG Yugoslav Federal Republic
- YUK Yukon
- ZAF South Africa
- ZMB Zambia
- ZWE Zimbabwe
User-assigned code elements[edit | edit source]
User-assigned code elements are codes at the disposal of users who need to add further names of countries, territories, or other geographical entities to their in-house application of ISO 3166-1, and the ISO 3166/MA will never use these codes in the updating process of the standard. The following alpha-3 codes can be user-assigned: AAA to AAZ , QMA to QZZ , XAA to XZZ , and ZZA to ZZZ
. For example, the following codes are used in ISO/IEC 7501-1 for special machine-readable passports:
- XOM is used to represent the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
- XPO is used for Interpol travel documents
- XXA is used to represent a stateless person, as defined in Article 1 of the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
- XXB is used to represent a refugee, as defined in Article 1 of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees as amended by the 1967 Protocol
- XXC is used to represent a refugee, other than as defined above
- XXX is used to represent a person of unspecified nationality
- WSA is used for the World Service Authority World Passport (The World Service Authority World Passport contains "WSA" as the authority code. It has been filed with the International Civil Aviation Organization, but does not appear in official ICAO documents as valid.)
Reserved code elements[edit | edit source]
Reserved code elements are codes which have become obsolete, or are required in order to enable a particular user application of the standard but do not qualify for inclusion in ISO 3166-1. To avoid transitional application problems and to aid users who require specific additional code elements for the functioning of their coding systems, the ISO 3166/MA, when justified, reserves these codes which it undertakes not to use for other than specified purposes during a limited or indeterminate period of time. The reserved alpha-3 codes can be divided into the following four categories: exceptional reservations, transitional reservations, indeterminate reservations, and codes currently agreed not to use.
Exceptional reservations[edit | edit source]
Exceptionally reserved code elements are codes reserved at the request of national ISO member bodies, governments and international organizations, which are required in order to support a particular application, as specified by the requesting body and limited to such use; any further use of such code elements is subject to approval by the ISO 3166/MA. The following alpha-3 codes are currently exceptionally reserved:
- ASC Ascension Island — Reserved on request of Universal Postal Union (UPU), also used by International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
- CPT Clipperton Island — Reserved on request of ITU
- DGA Diego Garcia — Reserved on request of ITU
- FXX France, Metropolitan — Reserved on request of France; Officially assigned before being deleted from ISO 3166-1
- SUN USSR — From June 2008; Transitionally reserved from September 1992; Officially assigned before being deleted from ISO 3166-1
- TAA Tristan da Cunha — Reserved on request of UPU
The following alpha-3 codes were previously exceptionally reserved, but are now officially assigned:
Transitional reservations[edit | edit source]
Transitional reserved code elements are codes reserved after their deletion from ISO 3166-1. These codes may be used only during a transitional period of at least five years while new code elements that may have replaced them are taken into use. These codes may be reassigned by the ISO 3166/MA after the expiration of the transitional period. The following alpha-3 codes are currently transitionally reserved:
- ANT Netherlands Antilles — From December 2010
- BUR Burma — From December 1989
- BYS Byelorussian SSR — From June 1992
- CSK Czechoslovakia — From June 1993
- NTZ Neutral Zone — From July 1993
- ROM Romania — From February 2002; Code changed to ROU
- SCG Serbia and Montenegro — From September 2006
- TMP East Timor — From May 2002
- ZAR Zaire — From July 1997
Indeterminate reservations[edit | edit source]
Indeterminately reserved code elements are codes used to designate road vehicles under the 1949 and 1968 United Nations Conventions on Road Traffic but differing from those contained in ISO 3166-1. These code elements are expected eventually to be either eliminated or replaced by code elements within ISO 3166-1. In the meantime, the ISO 3166/MA has reserved such code elements for an indeterminate period. Any use beyond the application of the two Conventions is discouraged and will not be approved by the ISO 3166/MA. Moreover, these codes may be reassigned by the ISO 3166/MA at any time. The following alpha-3 codes are currently indeterminately reserved:
- ADN Aden
- BDS Barbados
- BRU Brunei
- CDN Canada
- EAK Kenya
- EAT Tanganyika [Part of Tanzania, United Republic of]
- EAU Uganda
- EAZ Zanzibar [Part of Tanzania, United Republic of]
- GBA Alderney
- GBG Guernsey
- GBJ Jersey
- GBM Isle of Man
- GBZ Gibraltar
- GCA Guatemala
- HKJ Jordan
- MAL Malaysia
- RCA Central African Republic
- RCB Congo, People's Republic of
- RCH Chile
- RMM Mali
- RNR Zambia
- ROK Korea, Republic of
- RSM San Marino
- RSR Southern Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe]
- SLO Slovenia
- SME Surinam
- TMN Turkmenistan
- WAG Gambia
- WAL Sierra Leone
- WAN Nigeria
- ZRE Zaire
The following alpha-3 code was previously indeterminately reserved, but has been reassigned to another country as its official code:
Codes currently agreed not to use[edit | edit source]
In addition, the ISO 3166/MA will not use the following alpha-3 codes at the present stage, as they are used in ISO/IEC 7501-1 for special machine-readable passports:
- GBD identifies a British Passport holder who is a British Overseas Territories citizen
- GBN identifies a British Passport holder who is a British National (Overseas)
- GBO identifies a British Passport holder who is a British Overseas citizen
- GBP identifies a British Passport holder who is a British protected person
- GBS identifies a British Passport holder who is a British subject
- UNA is used as a substitute for nationality where the holder is an Official of a Specialized Agency of the UN Organization
- UNO is used to designate the UN Organization as the issuer and used as a substitute for nationality where the holder is an Official of the UN Organization
Deleted codes[edit | edit source]
Besides the codes currently transitionally reserved and two other codes currently exceptionally reserved (FXX for France, Metropolitan and SUN for USSR), the following alpha-3 codes have also been deleted from ISO 3166-1:
- AFI French Afar and Issas
- ATB British Antarctic Territory
- ATN Dronning Maud Land
- CTE Canton and Enderbury Islands
- DDR German Democratic Republic
- DHY Dahomey
- GEL Gilbert and Ellice Islands
- HVO Upper Volta
- JTN Johnston Island
- MID Midway Islands
- NHB New Hebrides
- PCI Pacific Islands, Trust Territory of the
- PCZ Panama Canal Zone
- PHI Philippines — Code changed to PHL
- PUS U.S. Miscellaneous Pacific Islands
- RHO Southern Rhodesia
- SKM Sikkim
- VDR Viet-Nam, Democratic Republic of
- WAK Wake Island
- YMD Yemen, Democratic