Language & WorldHow it works

How country codes work and why Switzerland is CH.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 from 1974 gives every country two letters; 249 codes live in internet domains and IBANs. The codes often follow the local language, not English: CH for Confoederatio Helvetica, DE for Deutschland, ES for España, MA for Maroc. The UK is officially GB but uses the reserved UK online; the EU Commission writes EL, not GR, for Greece.

Useful: If a code seems illogical, say the country's name in its own language.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

CodesInternet Laender

Difficulty:

Related cards

Two countries need two border crossings to reach the sea.Around 44 countries have no coastline. Only two are doubly landlocked, surrounded entirely by other …
In some countries half the population is under 16.Median age splits a population into two equal halves. In Niger it is around 15 years; in Japan …
Why country comparisons in absolute numbers almost always mislead.A country with 1.4 billion people tops nearly every total: cars, emissions, accidents. That says …
The EU shares a land border with Brazil.French Guiana in South America is a full part of France and therefore of the EU, using the euro. …
The world's smallest state fits inside a city park.Vatican City covers 0.44 km², roughly 60 football pitches, entirely inside Rome. About 900 people …
How many countries are there? Depends who you ask.The United Nations has 193 member states plus two observers (Vatican City, Palestine). Kosovo is …
Switzerland has no capital city by law.Bern has been the "federal city" since 28 November 1848, seat of parliament and government. But the …
Only three countries never made the metric system mandatory.The USA, Liberia and Myanmar are the only states without a law requiring metric units. As early as …

Keep reading

This card belongs to the topic Language & World. Every card is short, cites a source and can be saved – due ones come back by themselves later.

About Doomlearn · Projects · Legal notice · Privacy · Terms