Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes developed to represent countries and dependent areas for use in data processing and communication. In this article, we will briefly describe why the codes are used and list the codes for all the countries of the world.

What are country codes used for?

The data reported in the Intrastat returns, which is a statistical system for collecting and processing data to monitor trade in goods between the EU Member States, includes, among other things, information on the country of destination, dispatch and origin. Two-digit alphabetic country codes are used to record these. The country of destination refers to the last Member State to which the goods are to be delivered in the relevant transaction. In most cases, the consignment is directly addressed to this State. The indication of the State of the destination shall be entered in the dispatch note. Whereas the information on the State of dispatch and the State of origin shall be entered in the statement of receipt. The State of dispatch is the Member State from which the goods are directly dispatched to the place of destination. And the State of origin, when the goods are received in the country of destination, is the State in which the goods were produced, processed, extracted, grown, etc. If the goods have been processed in different countries, the country of origin is the country in which the goods have acquired their final form.

The difference between the Alpha 2 code and the Alpha 3 code

Two- and three-letter country codes are embedded in ISO 3166. While two-character country codes are more commonly used, three-character codes have their merits. In fact, two-letter country codes can be confusing – just consider how many countries start with the letter M, for example.

List of country codes

Below you will find the Alpha 2 and Alpha 3 codes for all countries in the world. If you want to make your search easier, I recommend using the keyboard shortcut CTRL+F (for Windows) or Command+F (for Mac).