Talk:List of ISO 3166 country codes

Country names in ISO 3166

This list does not seem to reflect the country names actually used in the ISO standard. For example, the standard list Taiwan as "Taiwan, Province of China" and Macedonia as "Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of)", but those names are not reflected here. Anomie⚔ 11:14, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

I have removed the first column entitled "Common country name" and replaced it with a column entitled "ISO 3166 Country name". Thanks,  Buaidh  talk contribs 04:04, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

That seems to have addressed the issue. Thanks. Anomie⚔ 20:25, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

I shall remove the disputed tag.  Buaidh  talk contribs 02:53, 25 September 2018 (UTC)

I've made the ISO 3166 country name column match the actual ISO 3166 data (specifically "Short name lower case"). DRMcCreedy (talk) 21:56, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

ISO 3166 actually has up to three country names: short name (all upper-case), short name lower case (title case), and full name. For better NPOV, I advise always using full names from ISO website. Disputed terms like the "Falkland Islands" without "(Malvinas)" and the "Republic of China" and referencing the USA CIA World Factbook should better be done in the list of sovereign states.--Jusjih (talk) 04:02, 3 February 2020 (UTC)

Are you proposing changing the "Official state name" column to be "ISO 3166 full name"? If so, the "ISO 3166 Country name" column is probably a waste of space. I'm not sure the change is useful considering the reader will encounter Falkland Islands (without Malvinas) and Republic of China as soon as they click on the links for those countries. DRMcCreedy (talk) 05:00, 3 February 2020 (UTC)

Your theory of waste of space is due to some countries and areas like Ireland lacking separate full names, so https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:code:3166:IE has blank full name. Then dropping the "Official state name" column and flags seems easier for better NPOV as the list of sovereign states already have the same information outside ISO 3166. We may still code [[Falkland Islands|Falkland Islands (Malvinas)]], [[North Korea|Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of)]], [[South Korea|Korea (the Republic of)]], and [[Taiwan]], [[Taiwan, China|Province of China]] to display ISO 3166 names and link to common names while promoting even better NPOV.--Jusjih (talk) 00:57, 4 February 2020 (UTC)

Same objection I noted at Talk:ISO_3166-1 alpha-2#Common name column: I don't think NPOV trumps usability. DRMcCreedy (talk) 02:11, 4 February 2020 (UTC)

I now prefer a compromise to normally keep the status quo for the "Official state name" column. Adding footnotes like which countries and areas lack full names in ISO 3166-1, like https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:code:3166:UM with "Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Navassa Island , Palmyra Atoll, Wake Island" as the territory name while no full name, may be much more flexible to reduce the impact of big changes. Yet should we use "The" or "the" in that column? ISO uses "the" for so many full names.--Jusjih (talk) 04:35, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

I'm confused... exactly what is your proposal? The "Official state name" column isn't based on ISO 3166-1, it's from the (now seemingly defunct) World Factbook. Are you saying you want a footnote in that column noting which rows don't have an ISO 3166-1 full name? That seems to conflate the two name columns. I'm not sure what problem this solves. DRMcCreedy (talk) 17:53, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

Then keep the status quo while The World Factbook still functions with "conventional long form: formerly Islamic Republic of Afghanistan" (no "the") and ISO still considers the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as the full name.--Jusjih (talk) 02:12, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

I support changing the source and contents of the "Official state name" column to https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/country-name (for all countries, not just Afghanistan). It seems like the latest version of the archived source. DRMcCreedy (talk) 03:30, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

I do not understand the "new name" Türkiye for Turkey. This page is supposed to report the list of English language names, not the local language names. Why should Türkiye be an exception? BasinField (talk) 20:05, 27 December 2022 (UTC)

This page is about the ISO 3166 standard. It uses "Türkiye" because that's what ISO 3166 uses for the English name. See https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:code:3166:TR for details. I think you want either List of sovereign states or List of sovereign states instead. DRMcCreedy (talk) 20:23, 27 December 2022 (UTC)

This particular page is a bit confusing, since the "official state name" column doesn't actually draw from the standard. Personally I'm not sure why we even have this separate from ISO 3166-1, which does limit itself to the standard. Anomie⚔ 14:28, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

Canary Islands (IC)

Is Canary Islands (IC) missing from this list or is there a reason why it's not there? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.195.255.242 (talk) 15:51, 6 August 2020 (UTC)

IC is not an assigned ISO 3166 code, it is an exceptionally reserved code. See https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:code:3166:IC for the code, and https://www.iso.org/glossary-for-iso-3166.html for the definition of exceptionally reserved codes. Love —LiliCharlie (talk) 16:09, 6 August 2020 (UTC)

Links of sovereignty Norway are red links

The sovereignty Norway mentioned at Bouvet Island and Svalbard/Jan Mayen use #NOR6 as reference while the Kingdom Norway has NOR5 as id. It seems to me one or the others need to be corrected, but I have no idea how to do this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.171.77.91 (talk) 11:53, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Fixed. Thanks for writing up the problem. DRMcCreedy (talk) 16:31, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Kosovo

Why is Kosovo completely missing from this list? 158.169.150.18 (talk) 12:59, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

Because there's no ISO 3166-1 country code for Kosovo. It's likely that there's no ISO 3166-1 code because Serbia does not officially recognize Kosovo as a sovereign state. You'd have to contact ISO for a definitive answer. ISO 3166 treats it as part of Serbia, giving it an ISO 3166-2 code of RS-KM: Kosovo-Metohija. Keep in mind that this article is about the ISO 3166 Standard, not about geopolitical reality. DRMcCreedy (talk) 15:02, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

More likely it's because of the lack of recognition by the United Nations than lack of recognition directly by Serbia, as described at ISO 3166-1#Criteria for inclusion. Although Serbia may have a part in that lack of UN recognition. Anomie⚔ 21:10, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

North Makedonia

I was looking for the country code and did not find it under "N" in the list. Why is this country hidden under "M". It's very confusing when you have an alphabetical list for all but one / some countries. 2001:67C:2564:A317:555B:F926:C0:77E6 (talk) 08:44, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

I agree. Comparing North Macedonia to other countries like "South xxx" I think it should sort as "North" not "Macedonia". I've fixed the table sort order. DRMcCreedy (talk) 16:57, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

Why is the ‘official state name’ not the version the ISO accords the state concerned?

Why is the ‘official state name’ not the version the ISO accords the state concerned? This isn’t an article about U.S. foreign policy. Why is the name described as official by an agency of 1 government (the U.S. CIA) used in the table as the ‘official name’? If I make this change to use the ISO official name, will others here revert it? If so, why? Frenchmalawi (talk) 01:16, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

The first column is already the official ISO name. I'm not sure why the US World Factbook name was picked for the second column. My guess is there needed to be cited name and that was as good as any. My concern is that if there's not source for the second column it would be changed constantly with no "right" value. I can envision endless edit wars over Ivory Coast vs Côte d'Ivoire just off the top of my head. DRMcCreedy (talk) 02:53, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

I wonder whether anyone has actually gone through the whole column and verified the second column against the source. At a quick glance, for example, the World Factbook source doesn't list "Republic of China" for "Taiwan" (nor does it seem to have back in 2018). I'm still not sure why we even have this list separate from ISO 3166-1. Anomie⚔ 04:26, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

I may have verified that column many years ago but I don't remember. The Factbook is available at https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/country-name/ and you're right, it doesn't use "Republic of China". I'm guessing that whoever created that table column wanted more leeway in names than just the ISO 3166 short name. DRMcCreedy (talk) 16:30, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

Official state names should be based on how each country or area officially names itself. I checked them against both ISO and CIA sites that should be prima facie but not conclusive sources. Countries and areas lacking full or long names are blank per ISO and none per CIA, so end footnotes may explain any disagreements.--Jusjih (talk) 15:23, 13 September 2024 (UTC)

Your 1st statement says it all! That means comparing ISO and CIA data is useless. This list would only have some added value if each and every entity name has a reference to an official document of that entity where the official name is mentioned as such. But I even wonder if all entities are consistent enough in their usage to be reliable and conclusive. A list with inconclusive sources and a seemingly endless list of notes makes no sense. It's getting ridiculous, really. The list as it is now is also not entirely correct, has missing links and shows data that is available in or via ISO 3166-1. I agree with Anomie that it is better for it not to exist. The proliferation of lists and lists of list is already enormous and impairs reliability as they are not all updated when necessary. BeerBuildsBetterBodies (talk) 15:52, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

Comparing ISO and CIA data is useful due to ISO_3166-1#Naming_and_disputes. See also Talk:ISO_3166-1#Independence?.--Jusjih (talk) 21:59, 14 September 2024 (UTC)