ISO 3166-3

Key takeaways

ISO 3166-3 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect ISO 3166-3 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of ISO 3166-3 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

ISO 3166-3 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and defines codes for country names which have been deleted from ISO 3166-1 since its first publication in 1974. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 3: Code for formerly used names of countries. It was first published in 1999. Each former country name in ISO 3166-3 is assigned a four-letter alphabetic code. The first two letters are the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the former country, while the last two letters are allocated according to the following rules:

If the country changed its name, the new ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code is used (e.g., Burma changed its name to Myanmar, whose new alpha-2 code is MM), or the special code AA is used if its alpha-2 code was not changed (e.g., Byelorussian SSR changed its name to Belarus, which has kept the same alpha-2 code). If the country merged into an existing country, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of this country is used (e.g., the German Democratic Republic merged into Germany, whose alpha-2 code is DE). If the country was divided into several parts, the special code HH is used to indicate that there is no single successor country (e.g., Czechoslovakia was divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia), with the exception of Serbia and Montenegro, for which XX is used to avoid duplicate use of the same ISO 3166-3 code, as the alpha-2 code CS had twice been deleted from ISO 3166-1, the first time due to the split of Czechoslovakia and the second time due to the split of Serbia and Montenegro. Besides the former country name and its ISO 3166-3 code, each entry in ISO 3166-3 also contains its former ISO 3166-1 codes, its period of validity, and the new country names and ISO 3166-1 codes used after its deletion from ISO 3166-1. After a country is deleted from ISO 3166-1, its alpha-2 and alpha-3 codes will be transitionally reserved for a transitional period of at least fifty years. After the expiration of the transitional period, these codes are free to be reassigned. If a country changes its name without any territorial change, its ISO 3166-1 numeric code remains the same. For example, when Burma was renamed Myanmar without territorial change in 1989, its alphabetic codes were changed, but its numeric code 104 has remained the same. Currently, a few ccTLDs using deleted alpha-2 codes are still active or being phased out. However, alpha-2 codes which were deleted before the popularization of the Domain Name System in the late 1980s and early 1990s were never used for the Internet's country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). Likewise, ISO 3166-2, the ISO standard for country subdivision codes which was first published in 1998, postdated the deletion of many alpha-2 codes.

Current codes The following is a list of current ISO 3166-3 codes, with the following columns:

Former country name – English short country name officially used by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA) Former codes – ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, alpha-3, and numeric codes Period of validity – Years when codes were officially assigned ISO 3166-3 code – Four-letter code assigned for former country name New country names and codes – Successor countries and their ISO 3166-1 codes Click on the button in the header to sort by ISO 3166-3 code.

Notes

Changes The ISO 3166/MA updates ISO 3166-3 when necessary. The updating of ISO 3166-3 is totally dependent on the updating of ISO 3166-1. ISO used to announce changes in newsletters which updated the currently valid standard, and releasing new editions which comprise a consolidation of newsletter changes. As of July 2013, changes are published in the online catalogue of ISO only and no newsletters are published anymore. Past newsletters remain available on the ISO website.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with ISO 3166-3

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what ISO 3166-3 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to ISO 3166-3 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about ISO 3166-3 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of ISO 3166-3

In research: ISO 3166-3 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses ISO 3166-3 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: ISO 3166-3 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics ISO 3166, Lists of former countries, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for ISO 3166-3 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study ISO 3166-3 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what ISO 3166-3 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain ISO 3166-3 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is ISO 3166-3 in simple terms?

ISO 3166-3 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and defines codes for country names which have been deleted from ISO 3166-1 since its first publication in 1974. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of na…

Why does ISO 3166-3 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study ISO 3166-3?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on ISO 3166-3.