ISO 3166-2

ISO 3166-2 is the second part of the ISO 3166 standard. It was created for coding the names of subdivisions of countries and dependent areas. The purpose of the standard is to establish a worldwide series of short abbreviations for places, for use on package labels, containers and such. Anywhere where a short alphanumeric code can serve to clearly indicate a location in a more convenient and less ambiguous form than the full place name. US readers may wish to consider them as the equivalent of worldwide zip codes. Within the Wikipedia, the codes from the country pages link to the pages for the locations they identify.

Table of contents

1 Number of entries
2 Format
3 Changes / Editions
4 Decoding / Encoding lists
5 Format matrix with links to codes
6 Related topics
7 External links

Decoding / Encoding lists

To find the ISO 3166-2 codes for each country see ISO 3166-1, a list of countries. If you are familiar with the two-letter country codes (similiar to internet country codes) you can also use the format matrix given below.

Both ways would lead to articles like ISO 3166-2:XX, where XX stands for the ISO 3166-1 code, e.g. ISO 3166-2:AU leads to the code list for Australia.

Format matrix with links to codes

length alpha numeric alpha-numeric
constant
1 char AR, BO, CR, EC, FJ, GM, KG, KI, KM, LS, LU, MG, NE, RW, SL, ST, TG, TM, VE GA, IS PA
constant
2 chars AE, AL, AM, AU, BI, BJ, BN, BR, BS, BW, BY, CA, CD, CF, CH, CL, CM, CV, CZ, DE, DJ, ER, ET, FI, GE, GH, GN, GT, GW, GY, HN, HT, HU, ID, IN, IT, IQ, JO, KW, LA, LB, LR, LT, LV, LY, MD, MU, MW, NA, NG, NI, NL, NP, OM, PK, PL, QA, SB, SH, SK, SN, SO, SR, SV, SY, SZ, TJ, TL, US, UY, UZ, WS, YE, YU, ZA, ZW BD, BG, BH, CI, CN, CU, CY, DO, DZ, EE, FR, GR, HR, IR, JM, JP, KR, LK, MM, MY, NO, PT, SA, SD, TN, TR, TZ, UA, UM, VN, ZM BT
constant
3 chars AO, AF, BA, BE, BF, CS, FM, GB, KP, KZ, MA, MD, MH, MX, NZ, PE, PG, PH, TT, TW DK, KE, SI, UG, VU
mixed
1,2 chars no system?: ES, GQ, IE, SE
1 for regions, 2 for capital: KG
1 for capital, 2 for departments: RO
IL KH TH
mixed
2,3 ?:BZ, EG, TD
2 for republics, 3 for cities, regions, districts: RU
2 for cities, 3 for rayons: AZ
2 for capital, 3 other: ISO 3166-2: MR, MV
mixed
1,3 MZ MN ML
mixed
1,2,3 CG, PY

length	alpha	numeric	alpha-numeric
constant 1 char	AR, BO, CR, EC, FJ, GM, KG, KI, KM, LS, LU, MG, NE, RW, SL, ST, TG, TM, VE	GA, IS	PA
constant 2 chars	AE, AL, AM, AU, BI, BJ, BN, BR, BS, BW, BY, CA, CD, CF, CH, CL, CM, CV, CZ, DE, DJ, ER, ET, FI, GE, GH, GN, GT, GW, GY, HN, HT, HU, ID, IN, IT, IQ, JO, KW, LA, LB, LR, LT, LV, LY, MD, MU, MW, NA, NG, NI, NL, NP, OM, PK, PL, QA, SB, SH, SK, SN, SO, SR, SV, SY, SZ, TJ, TL, US, UY, UZ, WS, YE, YU, ZA, ZW	BD, BG, BH, CI, CN, CU, CY, DO, DZ, EE, FR, GR, HR, IR, JM, JP, KR, LK, MM, MY, NO, PT, SA, SD, TN, TR, TZ, UA, UM, VN, ZM	BT
constant 3 chars	AO, AF, BA, BE, BF, CS, FM, GB, KP, KZ, MA, MD, MH, MX, NZ, PE, PG, PH, TT, TW	DK, KE, SI, UG, VU
mixed 1,2 chars	no system?: ES, GQ, IE, SE 1 for regions, 2 for capital: KG 1 for capital, 2 for departments: RO IL	KH	TH
mixed 2,3	?:BZ, EG, TD 2 for republics, 3 for cities, regions, districts: RU 2 for cities, 3 for rayons: AZ 2 for capital, 3 other: ISO 3166-2:		MR, MV
mixed 1,3	MZ	MN	ML
mixed 1,2,3			CG, PY