This decoding table provides the user of ISO 3166-1 with an easy access to the definition  of all 676 code elements available in the alpha-2 code of ISO’s country code standard.

The  content of this document is taken from two sources: The official code list of ISO 3166-1 and the list  of reserved ISO 3166-1 code elements which contains information on code allocations which are not officially  part of ISO 3166-1 (see “Reserved code elements”). The reserved code elements  have different statuses with regard to restrictions on use within ISO’s country code system. Some may  be used – others must not be used.

These statuses – and their approximate meanings  for the user of ISO 3166-1 – are described and colour-coded in Table 1. Tables 2 gives a colour coded,  clickable matrix of all ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code elements which is linked to Table 3 which gives the  definition of the code element.

For more detailed information please refer  to the section on “Reserved code elements” on our Website.

Contact the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency

The  ISO 3166/MA  should be contacted through its secretariat. Please use the following address:

ISO  3166 Maintenance Agency c/o International Organization for Standardization Case  postale 56 CH-1211 Genève 20

Telephone: +41 22 749 02 22 Telefax:  +41 22 749 01 55 E-mail: mbinfo@iso.org Web: www.iso.org/iso/country_codes