How to use this ISO country code lookup
This page is built for quick reference when you know a country name or part of it, or when you have a 2-letter or 3-letter code and want to confirm which country it belongs to. Everything runs locally in your browser: type, filter, and copy without waiting on a server.
- Start in the search box. The field is focused when the page loads so you can begin immediately. On a phone, tap the search field once if your browser does not auto-focus.
- Type any substring. Matches are case-insensitive. You can enter a full country name (“New Zealand”), a short fragment (“zeal”), a two-letter ISO code (“NZ”), or a three-letter ISO code (“NZL”). The table updates as you type.
- Read the counter. “Showing n of 249” tells you how many rows match. If you see zero results, shorten or correct your query (for example try a different spelling or the official ISO name).
- Copy a code. Click the Alpha-2 or Alpha-3 button for that country. The code is copied to your clipboard and the button briefly shows “Copied!” so you know it worked—paste into spreadsheets, forms, APIs, or shipping software.
- Scroll the list. The interactive table is in a scrollable panel so the search box stays easy to reach while you browse long lists of matches.
What are ISO 3166 country codes?
ISO 3166 is an international standard that defines short codes for countries, territories, and special areas of geographical interest. The part most developers and forms care about is ISO 3166-1, which includes:
- Alpha-2 codes — two Latin letters (for example
US,DE,IN). These are the familiar “2-letter country codes” used on many websites. - Alpha-3 codes — three Latin letters (for example
USA,DEU,IND). Sometimes called 3-letter country codes or ISO3 in datasets. - Numeric codes — three-digit codes defined in the same standard. This tool focuses on alpha-2 and alpha-3 because they are what people search for most often in day-to-day work.
Banks, e-commerce platforms, analytics products, and government systems often require one of these codes when you select a country. If your checklist is “roughly fifty countries in my head,” a searchable country code list saves time compared to scanning a static PDF or spreadsheet.
Alpha-2 vs alpha-3: which one do I need?
There is no universal rule—different products standardize on different columns. Use this table as a rule of thumb:
| Context | Most common code | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Country selectors in web forms, TLD-style shorthand, many REST APIs | Alpha-2 (FR, JP) | HTML value attributes, dropdowns |
| Statistical databases, some logistics formats, “ISO3” in CSV headers | Alpha-3 (FRA, JPN) | UN-style data, research exports |
| When the spec explicitly says “ISO 3166-1 alpha-2” or “alpha-3” | Follow the spec | Payment, compliance, or partner documentation |
If you are unsure, grab both from this page: each row lists the official name with both codes side by side.
Why a searchable list beats guessing abbreviations
Country codes are not always intuitive. The alpha-2 code for Greece is GR, not EL (a common confusion with the Euro area). The United Kingdom is GB at the ISO alpha-2 level, while “UK” is widely used informally but is not the ISO alpha-2 value. Japan is JP / JPN; “JA” is easy to misremember because it resembles language tags. A filterable ISO country list removes guesswork—type what you remember and let the table narrow down the answer.
Search tips for faster lookups
- Partial names work. “United” narrows to United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States Minor Outlying Islands, United States, and similar official names.
- Official ISO names. The table uses standard ISO country names (for example “Korea (the Republic of)” rather than the casual “South Korea”). Searching
koreastill finds both Korean entries. - Typical codes. For a quick sanity check: Germany
DE/DEU, FranceFR/FRA, BrazilBR/BRA, AustraliaAU/AUS, CanadaCA/CAN, IndiaIN/IND. - Codes as queries. Typing
usmatches bothUS(United States) and any country name containing the letters “us” (for example “Mauritius”). That is deliberate: substring search helps fuzzy human memory.
ISO 3166 country codes vs language codes
ISO 3166 identifies countries and territories. ISO 639 identifies languages (for example en for English, es for Spanish). Locale strings such as en-US combine a language code with a region code. If you need a country column, use ISO 3166 alpha-2 or alpha-3 from this tool—not a language code.
Data source and updates
The built-in table is a static snapshot aligned with the ISO 3166 alpha-2 and alpha-3 reference list as summarized at iban.com/country-codes. Country codes change rarely, but names and political listings can be updated by ISO maintenance agencies. For legally binding or compliance-critical work, always verify against the current ISO 3166 publication or your organization’s source of truth.