ISO 3166-2
The information on ISO 3166-2:2007 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part 2: Country subdivision code we give on this page is grouped under five headings:
- Content and structure of ISO 3166-2
- Sample entry from ISO 3166-2
- Relationship with other coding systems
- Development of ISO 3166-2
- Updates on ISO 3166-2
Content and structure of ISO 3166-2
ISO 3166-2 contains a complete breakdown into a relevant level of administrative subdivisions of all countries listed in ISO 3166-1. The code elements used consist of the alpha-2 code element from ISO 3166-1 followed by a separator and a further string of up to three alphanumeric characters e. g.
DK-025 for the Danish county Roskilde
IT-MI for the Italian province of Milano
MG-T for the Antananarivo province in Madagascar
It needs to be noted that the characters after the separator are only unique within the subdivision list of one particular country. They can be (and in fact sometimes are) reused in the list of subdivision names of other countries e. g. ID-RI (Riau province of Indonesia) and NG-RI (Rivers province in Nigeria). So only a complete code element i. e. with the alpha-2 country code in front guarantees uniqueness.
The part of the code element given after the separator has usually been obtained from national sources and stems from coding systems already in use in the country concerned. For example: The subdivision code elements of France in ISO 3166-2 are the ones used on the car licence plates. Here FR-75 represents the Metropolitan Department Paris. The use of such well-known national systems in ISO 3166-2 certainly facilitates the acceptance of the International Standard.
The names of the subdivisions are given in more than one language if the country has more than one official language (and the alternative language versions were available to ISO). In Uzbekistan for example there are the official languages Uzbek (uz) and Russian (ru) and so the subdivision names are also listed in these two languages. The romanization systems that were used for converting the country subdivision list from a non-roman script to roman script (e. g. in the case of Uzbekistan from Cyrillic) are also given. The abbreviations and language codes (ISO 639) used in the header preceeding the subdivision list of each country are explained in annexes to the standard.
Sample entry from ISO 3166-2
Here you see the entry for Canada from ISO 3166-2. The abbreviations used in the headers of the entries are explained in an annex to ISO 3166-2.
CA - CANADA
10 provinces (en) / provinces (fr)
3 territories (en) / territoires (fr)
List source: Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB), 1997-03-18; IGN 1989; Canadian Postal Guide; E-mail on Nunavut from Standards Council of Canada (SCC), 1999-09-02; update 2001; update 2002
Code source: Canadian Postal Guide
| Provinces | en | fr |
|---|---|---|
| CA-AB | Alberta | - |
| CA-BC | British Columbia | Colombie-Britannique |
| CA-MB | Manitoba | - |
| CA-NB | New Brunswick | Nouveau-Brunswick |
| CA-NL | Newfoundland and Labrador | Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador |
| CA-NS | Nova Scotia | Nouvelle-Écosse |
| CA-ON | Ontario | - |
| CA-PE | Prince Edward Island | Île-du-Prince-Édouard |
| CA-QC | Quebec | Québec |
| CA-SK | Saskatchewan | - |
| Territories | en | fr |
|---|---|---|
| CA-NT | Northwest Territories | Territoires du Nord-Ouest |
| CA-NU | Nunavut | - |
| CA-YT | Yukon Territory | Territoire du Yukon |
Relationship with other coding systems
The subdivision standard provides an important link between ISO 3166-1 and UN/LOCODE, the United Nations Code for Ports and other Locations, developed and maintained by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE).
Whereas ISO 3166-1 codes country names, UN/LOCODE provides code elements for more than 32 000 names of ports, airports, rail and road terminals, postal exchange offices, border crossing points and other locations used in trade and transport. All code elements in UN/LOCODE start with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code element for the country in which the place concerned is located. In some countries there are several places with the same name. In such cases the relevant ISO 3166-2 subdivision code is essential to distinguish between them.
All three code systems taken together enable users to consistently code geographical information all the way down from the country level, over the subdivision level to the level of single locations used in trade and transport (see the short list below).
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code: DE (Germany)
ISO 3166-2 subdivision code: DE-BW (Federal state of Baden-Württemberg)
UN/LOCODE location code: DESTR (City of Stuttgart)
Development of ISO 3166-2
The demand for a universally applicable coded representation of the names of principal administrative divisions of the countries included in ISO 3166-1 was apparent when the country code came into use after its publication in 1974.
Serious work on the subdivision project started in the 1980s. However, partly due to the large amount of work involved in determining the correct (and ever-changing) lists of subdivisions of more than 230 countries contained in ISO 3166-1 and partly due to the appearance of a large number of new countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s a complete country subdivision list became available only in 1997 when the draft International Standard was first put to the vote and was subsequently adopted.
ISO published the International Standard ISO 3166-2 in 1998.
Updates on ISO 3166-2
ISO 3166-2 Newsletters are amendments to ISO 3166-2 published by the ISO 3166/MA. They give comprehensive information on all changes to the country subdivision code list. ISO 3166-2 Newsletters are not published at regular intervals but only when needed, i.e. when the standard is changed by the ISO 3166/MA.