Country Codes History 6 June 1997 David Leibold (aa070@freenet.toronto.on.ca) This is an attempt to trace the development of ITU's (formerly CCITT's) country codes assignments. Information was gleaned from vintage ITU/CCITT "Books" (i.e. the Recommendations which are the international telecommunications standards), and whatever else was available. There will be numerous details to be filled in (dates of changes, introductions, circumstances etc). Additional, corrected or updated information to this end would be welcome. Document History... 10 December 1995 - inaugural edition 6 June 1996 - updates courtesy Geoff Capp, Ray Chow, Mark Cuccia, Gary Novosielski, Dik Winter - a few more details as they were found 6 June 1997 - corrections from Geoffrey Dyer - changes due to ex-USSR and Czech/Slovak developments with data adapted from an ex-USSR profile (those details courtesy Toby Nixon, ITU, Stentor (Canada), CRTC (Canada), Telecom Digest (including information collected for the country code listings). - Marc Zirnheld - detail on new Monaco country code. --------- Format... --------- This file is ordered first by time (when country codes were established, changed, deleted, etc) then within each particular time by country code. The initial list of 1964 is shown; only the changes are listed therafter. ------- 1 9 6 0 ------- The 1960 CCITT Red Book featured a list of country codes for Europe that was the precursor for the international telephone country code assignments. Whether this was ever available for subscriber use is unknown; this could have been intended for operator dialing rather than customer dialing. That list went as follows (* represents a code that remains in use in today's country code plan): 00 to 19 - special codes - special routings, semi-automatic services, direct routes between countries, situations where digits of a destination number are not analysed, etc. 20 - Poland 21 - Algeria (Fr.) [* today is 213] 22 - Belgium 23 - Austria 24 - (unassigned) 25 - Finland 26 - Arabia 27 - Cyprus 28 - Bulgaria 29 - Gibraltar 30 - Greece * 31 - Egypt (U.A. Rep.) 32 - (unassigned) 33 - France * 34 - Israel 35 - Hungary 36 - Turkey 37 - Lebanon 38 - Norway 39 - Italy * 40 - Libya 41 - Jordan 42 - Portugal 43 - Malta 44 - Great Britain * 45 - (unassigned) 46 - Sweden * 47 - Rumania 48 - Morocco 49 - Germany * [presumably West Germany at that time] 50 - Spain 51 - (unassigned) 52 - Ireland 53 - (unassigned) 54 - Syria (U.A. Rep.) 55 - Netherlands 56 - (unassigned) 57 - Czechoslovakia 58 - (unassigned) 59 - Albania 60 - Luxembourg 61 - Denmark 62 - Tunisia 63 - Yugoslavia 64 - Iceland 65 - (unassigned) 66 - Switzerland 67 - (unassigned) 68, 69 - USSR 70 to 79 - European Republics / USSR 80 to 89 - spare codes 90 to 99 - intercontinental traffic Note from Dik Winter regarding 60-Luxembourg: "At least this country code has been used in the Netherlands (but at the same time the country code used for Belgium was 32). That must have been in the early sixties indeed. I do not have parts of a phone book showing it, I have only parts of Amsterdam phone books and when direct dialling from Amsterdam to Luxembourg was allowed much later the country code was changed to 352 as it is now, but I have noted it down from another Dutch phone book (presumably that of the province of Zeeland)." ------- 1 9 6 4 ------- The 1964 CCITT Blue Book listed the initial country codes list for international dialing, arranging the codes according to their world zones. These corresponded to the initial digit of the one- to three-digit country codes; Europe got two zones (3 & 4) due to a high number of countries requiring two-digit country codes. The initial listing was referred to as Recommendation E.29. That initial country code list was as follows (country codes not listed were spare at the time): World Zone 1 (North America - country code 1 - note some of the nations that were to be included, but were since assigned World Zone 5 country codes): Bahamas, Bermuda, British Honduras, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, French Antilles, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, USA, US Virgin Islands. World Zone 2 (Africa): 20 - United Arab Republic 21 - Maghreb (integrated numbering plan): Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia 220 - Gambia 221 - Senegal 222 - Mauritania 223 - Mali 224 - Guinea 225 - Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) 226 - Upper Volta 227 - Niger 228 - Togolese Republic 229 - Dahomey 231 - Liberia 232 - Sierra Leone 233 - Ghana 234 - Nigeria 235 - Chad 236 - Central African Republic 237 - Cameroon 238 - Cape Verde Island 239 - St Thomas & Prince 241 - Gabon 242 - Congo (Brazzaville) 243 - Congo (Leopoldville) 244 - Angola 245 - Portuguese Guinea 249 - Sudan 250 - Rwanda 251 - Ethiopia 252 - Somalia 253 - French Somaliland 254 - Kenya 255 - Tanzania 256 - Uganda 257 - Burundi 258 - Mozambique 260 - Northern Rhodesia 261 - Malagasy Republic 262 - Reunion 263 - Southern Rhodesia 264 - Territory of SW Africa 265 - Malawi 266 - Basutoland 267 - Bechuanaland 268 - Swaziland 269 - Comores 27 - South Africa World Zone 3 & 4 (Europe): 30 - Greece 31 - Netherlands 32 - Belgium 33 - France 34 - Spain 350 - Gibraltar 351 - Portugal 352 - Luxembourg 353 - Ireland 354 - Iceland 356 - Malta 357 - Cyprus 36 - Turkey 37 - [Note: not assigned until 1966] 38 - Yugoslavia 39 - Italy 401 - Finland 402 - Hungary 403 - Bulgaria 404 - Romania 405 - Albania 41 - Switzerland 42 - Czechoslovakia 43 - Austria 44 - Great Britain 45 - Denmark 46 - Sweden 47 - Norway 48 - Poland 49 - Germany (West) World Zone 5 (South America): (50, 51, 52 - unassigned in 1964) 53 - Cuba 54 - Argentina 55 - Brazil 56 - Chile 57 - Colombia 58 - Venezuela 591 - Bolivia 592 - British Guiana 593 - Ecuador 594 - French Guiana 595 - Paraguay 596 - Peru 597 - Surinam (Netherlands) 598 - Uruguay Zone 6 (Oceania, Australia, etc): 60 - Malaysia 61 - Australia 62 - Indonesia 63 - Philippines 64 - New Zealand 65 - (unassigned in 1964 - Singapore was part of Malaysia) 66 - Thailand 672 - Portuguese Timor 675 - Papua New Guinea 676 - Tonga 677 - British Solomon Isles 678 - New Hebrides 679 - Fiji 682 - Guam 683 - Western Samoa 684 - American Samoa 685 - Cook Islands 687 - New Caledonia 688 - Niue 689 - French Polynesia 69 - (unassigned in 1964) World Zone 7 - USSR (only country code 7) World Zone 8 - Eastern Asia 80 - (unassigned in 1964) 81 - Japan 82 - Korea 83 - (unassigned in 1964) 84 - Vietnam 852 - Hong Kong 853 - Macao 855 - Cambodia 856 - Laos 86 - China 87 - (unassigned in 1964) 88 - (unassigned in 1964) 89 - (unassigned in 1964) World Zone 9 (Western Asia, Middle East): 90 - (unassigned in 1964) 91 - India 92 - Pakistan 93 - Afghanistan 94 - Ceylon 95 - Burma 961 - Lebanon 962 - Jordan 963 - Syria 964 - Iraq 965 - Kuwait 966 - Saudi Arabia 967 - Yemen 969 - Aden 972 - Israel 975 - Hadramut 977 - Nepal 98 - Iran ------- 1 9 6 8 ------- Changes in the 1968 CCITT White Book... the list was then titled Recommendation E.161 / Q.11. Changes listed in order of country code: 1 - Antigua (territory added) - Barbados (territory added) - British Virgin Islands (territory added) - Cayman Islands (territory added) - Dominica (territory added) - Grenada (territory added) - Montserrat (territory added) - St Kitts (territory added) - St Lucia (territory added) - St Pierre & Miquelon (territory added) - St Vincent (territory added) x Guatemala (CHANGED to country code 500) x Mexico (CHANGED to country code 52) x Netherlands Antilles (CHANGED to country code 599) 240 - Equitorial Guinea (NEW) 243 - Congo (Dem. Rep. of the) (Name change) 259 - Zanzibar (NEW) 260 - Zambia (Name Change) 263 - Rhodesia (Name Change) 266 - Lesotho (Name Change) 267 - Botswana (Name Change) 269 - Comoro Islands (Name Change) 355 - Albania (NEW - changed from 405) 358 - Finland (NEW - changed from 401) 359 - Bulgaria (NEW - changed from 403) 36 x Turkey (CHANGED to 90) 36 - Hungary (NEW - changed from 402) 37 - East Germany (added - announced in ITU Notification #980 of 10 March 1966) 40 - Romania (NEW - changed from 404) 500 - Guatemala (NEW - changed from 1) 52 - Mexico (NEW - changed from 1) 599 - Netherlands Antilles (NEW - changed from 1) 65 - Singapore (NEW - became independent of Malaysia 60 code) 681 - Wallis and Futuna (NEW) 686 - Gilbert & Ellice Islands (NEW) 90 - Turkey (NEW - changed from 36) 968 - Sultanate of Muscat & Oman (NEW) 969 - Southern Yemen (Name Change) 971 - Trucial States (NEW) 973 - Bahrain (NEW) 974 - Qatar (NEW) 976 - Mongolia (NEW) [Notes: ITU Notifications 992, 995 and 998 of 1967 announced the new country codes 968 (Muscat & Oman), 971 (Trucial States), 974 (Qatar); ITU Notification #984 of 10 July 1966 announced 973 (Bahrain). No official reasons were found for the many country changes between 1964 and 1968 information.] ------- 1 9 7 2 ------- Changes in the 1972 Green Book for E.161/Q.11: World Zone 1: 1 x British Honduras (CHANGED to 501) x Costa Rica (CHANGED to 506) x El Salvador (CHANGED to 503) x Honduras (CHANGED to 504) x Nicaragua (CHANGED to 505) x Panama (CHANGED to 507) 21 x "Maghreb" integrated numbering plan divided into separate country code assignments that follows ... 210 - Morocco 211 - Morocco 212 - Morocco [only this country code used today for Morocco] 213 - Algeria [only this country code used today for Algeria] 214 - Algeria 215 - Algeria 216 - Tunisia [only this country code used today for Tunisia] 217 - Tunisia 218 - Libya [only this country code used today for Libya] 219 - Libya 243 - Zaire (Name Change) 253 - Afars Alssas (Fr. Terr) (Name Change) 500 x (CHANGED to 502) 501 - British Honduras (NEW - was in 1) 502 - Guatemala (NEW - changed from 500) 503 - El Salvador (NEW - was in 1) 504 - Honduras (NEW - was in 1) 505 - Nicaragua (NEW - was in 1) 506 - Costa Rica (NEW - was in 1) 507 - Panama (NEW - was in 1) 51 - Peru (NEW - changed from 596) 596 x Peru (CHANGED to 51) 671 - Guam (NEW - changed from 682) 682 x Guam (CHANGED to 671) ------- 1 9 7 6 ------- >From 1976 Orange Book: 248 - Seychelles (NEW) 509 - Haiti (NEW) 590 - Guadeloupe (NEW) 596 - Martinique (NEW - originally assigned to Peru) 673 - Brunei (NEW) 674 - Nauru (NEW) 87x - (NEW - reserved for mobile/maritime assignments) 880 - Bangladesh (NEW) 978 - Dubai (UAE) (NEW) 979 - Abu Dhabi (UAE) (NEW) ------- 1 9 8 0 ------- >From Yellow Book 1980: 253 - Djibouti (Name Change) 672 x (Portugues Timor DELETED - presumably merged into +62) 682 - Cook Islands (NEW - originally assigned to Guam) 683 x Western Samoa (CHANGED to 685) 683 - Niue (NEW - changed from 688) 685 x Cook Islands (CHANGED to 682) 685 - Western Samoa (NEW - changed from 683) 686 - Gilbert Is. (Ellice withdrew from the single British colony of Gilbert & Ellice in 1975 - see also +688) 688 x Niue (CHANGED to 683) 688 - Tuvalu (NEW - Ellice Is. withdrew from Gilbert & Ellice in 1975, then became independent Tuvalu 1 Oct 1978 - see also +686) 960 - Maldives (NEW) 978 x (Dubai DELETED - presumably merged into +971) 979 x (Abu Dhabi DELETED - presumably merged into +971) [Notes: Few reasons were found for shuffling the 6xx series country codes. Regarding deletions of 978 (Dubai) and 979 (Abu Dhabi), these probably became part of 971 (UAE, originally listed as "Trucial States"). Note from Dik Winter regarding Dubai and Abu Dhabi: "I have information from a British phone book of 1982, at that time the UK still used 978 and 979 for Dubai and Abu Dhabi. And given the area codes at that time (according to that information) integration would have been impossible. Integration within 971 came later together with area code changes."] ------- 1 9 8 4 ------- >From 1984 book: 1 x St Pierre & Miquelon (CHANGED to 508) 246 - Diego Garcia (NEW) 298 - Faroe Islands (Denmark) (NEW) 299 - Greenland (Denmark) (NEW) 500 - Falkland Islands (NEW - originally assigned to Guatemala) 508 - St Pierre and Miquelon (NEW - was in 1) 670 - Marianna Islands, including Saipan (NEW) 672 - Australian Territories (NEW - originally assigned to Portuguese Timor) 680 - Palau (NEW) 690 - Tokelau (NEW) 691 - Federated States of Micronesia (NEW) 692 - Marshall Islands (NEW) 850 - North Korea (NEW - South Korea retains 82) ------------------- A f t e r 1 9 8 4 ------------------- The following country codes were added, changed, had country names changes, or were otherwise noteworthy since 1984. Dates were included if they were available. Currently, country codes are presently assigned under Recommendation E.164 (formerly E.163, in turn E.161/Q.11, in turn E.29). Note that some changes listed here took effect before the 1984 lists. This may be due to various factors such as UN recognition of nations, official country name changes, the process of updating the Recommendation, or perhaps overlooking a change listed in a CCITT book prior to 1984. 226 - Burkina Faso (Name Change on 4 Aug 1984) 229 - Benin (Name Change from Dahomey upon 1975 independence from France) 230 - Mauritius (NEW - year of introduction unknown - this has appeared in the late 1970s) 239 - Sao Tome & Principe (Name Change or use of domestic language form) 245 - Guinea-Bissau (Name Change as of 1974 independence) 247 - Ascension (NEW - year of introduction unknown - ca. 1984-87) 259 - Zanzibar (although assigned in 1968, routing via Tanzania country code 255 had been in effect for many years, and may still be in effect) 261 - Madagascar (Name Change from Malagasy Rep.) 263 - Zimbabwe (Name Change from Rhodesia as of 18 Apr 1980) 264 - Namibia (Name Change from Territory of SW Africa as of 21 Mar 1990) 269 - Comoros & Mayotte (Name Change - Geoff Capp noted that Mayotte is part of the Comoro island group. Mayotte alone chose to remain French when the other islands chose independence 1974-75. Mayotte was the first of the islands to become direct-dialable, and took +269. For Canada, at least, the other Comoros were assigned a 0XX Mark code until they became diallable in the late 1980s/early 1990s.) 290 - St Helena (NEW - year of introduction unknown - late 1980s) 291 - Eritrea (NEW - seceded from Ethiopia in 1993) 295 - San Marino (NEW then CHANGED - was assigned, but became 378) 296 - Trinidad/Tobago (apparently assigned then removed) 297 - Aruba (NEW - became autonomous of Netherlands Antilles as of 1 Jan 1986 - dates of country code assignment and implementation are unknown) 37 - East Germany (DELETED - with German reunification, numbers are under country code 49 now as of mid-1991) 370 - Lithuania (NEW - split from 7 announced Jan. 1993) 371 - Latvia (NEW - split from 7 announced Jan. 1993) 372 - Estonia (NEW - split from 7 announced Jan. 1993) 373 - Moldova (NEW - split from 7 announced Jan. 1993) 374 - Armenia (NEW - announced Jan. 1995, in effect 1 May 1995; this was split from country code 7) 375 - Belarus (NEW - announced Jan. 1995, in effect 16 Apr 1995; this was split from country code 7) 376 - Andorra (Principality of) (NEW - in effect Dec. 1994; formerly reached via France (33)) 377 - Monaco (Principality of) (NEW - in effect by 21 June 1996; formerly reached via France (33)) 378 - San Marino (NEW - split from Italy 39; formerly assigned 295) 379 - Vatican City (NEW - implementation dates/details unknown; formerly reached via Italy (39)) 38 - Yugoslavia (DELETED - 1 Oct 1993, due to Yugoslav break-up) 380 - Ukraine (NEW - announced Jan. 1995; in effect 16 Apr 1995; this was split from country code 7) 381 - Serbia and Montenegro (former Yugoslav areas) (NEW - formed from old Yugoslav country code 38 - in effect 1 Oct. 1993) 385 - Croatia (NEW - split from old Yugoslav country code 38 - in effect 1 Oct. 1993) 386 - Slovenia (NEW - split from old Yugoslav country code 38 - in effect 1 Oct. 1993) 387 - Bosnia (NEW - split from old Yugoslav country code 38 - in effect 1 Oct. 1993) 389 - Macedonia (NEW - split from old Yugoslav country code 38 - in effect 1 Oct. 1993) 41 - Liechtenstein (probably always was part of Switzerland system (country code 41). Liechtenstein posts and ports were handled by Austria until 1921.) 42 - (Czech & Slovak Republics now separate - country code remains for now) 501 - Belize (Name Change - was British Honduras until ca. 1972) 592 - Guyana (Name Change - was British Guiana until 1966 independence) 678 - Vanuatu (Name Change - was New Hebrides until 30 July 1980 indep.) 686 - Kiribati (Name Change - was Gilbert Is. until 1979; not listed as such in ITU list until 1984 book) 800 - International "freephone" services (NEW - as of 1995; service is becoming active internationally as of 1997) 870 - Inmarsat "SNAC" service (NEW - as of 1995; no word on when this service will become active) 871 - Inmarsat Atlantic East (NEW - originally assigned to all of Atlantic) 872 - Inmarsat Pacific (NEW) 873 - Inmarsat Indian (NEW) 874 - Inmarsat Atlantic West (NEW - formed from split of 871 Atlantic) 878 - Reserved for national mobile purposes (NEW) 879 - Reserved for national mobile purposes (NEW) 886 - Taiwan (Mainland China has reserved +86-6 for access to Taiwan; however Taiwan given +886 for access, while +86 routes to mainland) 94 - Sri Lanka (Name Change - was Ceylon until 22 May 1972) 95 - (Current regime refers to itself as Myanmar; some nations only recognise it as Burma.) 967 - Yemen Arab Republic (Name Change?) 968 - Oman (Name Change - shortened from Muscat & Oman as of July 1970) 969 - Yemen Democratic Republic (DELETED? With Yemen unification, 967 would be the single country code; this territory was formerly called Aden. The Aden capital was found to have country code 967 ca. 1991) 971 - United Arab Emirates (Name Change - Trucial States merged 2 Dec 1971 to become U.A.E.) 975 - Bhutan (NEW - was assigned to Hadramut which joined South Yemen) 994 - Azerbaijan (NEW - split from former USSR (country code 7)) 995 - Georgia (NEW - split from former USSR (country code 7)) 996 - Kyrgyz Republic (NEW - split from former USSR (country code 7)) Note from Ray Chow regarding 975-Bhutan (formerly Hadramut): "Hadramut (or Qu'aiti State in Hadhramaut as printed on its stamps) was a state which later joined Aden to form South Yemen (the "People's Democratic Republic of Yemen"). Bhutan is a small country between India and Tibet (east of Nepal and Sikkim). Evidently it got country code 975 some time after Hadramut became part of South Yemen." Note from Ray Chow regarding former USSR territories (7, 3xx, 9xx): "It's interesting that of the three Caucasus republics that split from code 7, only Armenia got a "European" (3xx) code. Georgia and Azerbaijan are also in Europe (at least according to my maps), but telephonically are in Asia. For that matter, I see from your list that Turkey, a small part of which is in Europe, started with a European code and ended up with an Asian one." Bob Goudreau's response to above: "Actually, according to the geography texts and maps I've seen (e.g., the recent _National_Geographic_ map of Europe), the usual definition of the boundary between Europe and Asia in the Caucasus is the ridge-line of the northernmost range of mountains. Thus, almost all of this area is geographically part of Asia. Georgia and Azerbaijan have small bits that lie in Europe (as, surprisingly, does Kazakstan (note new post-Soviet spelling)), but Armenia lies entirely in Asia. It is thus ironic that it is the only one of the three that received a European country code." ------ 1996-7 ------ 388 - European Telephony Numbering Space (expected to be officially assigned, if not already - in use by January 1999) 42 x Czechoslovakia (DELETED - 28 February 1997; split to 420, 421 reflecting the now-separate Czech and Slovak Republics) 420 - Czech Republic (NEW - split from 42 on 28 February 1997) 421 - Slovak Republic (NEW - split from 42 on 28 February 1997) 878 - Universal Personal Telecommunications (NEW - replaces code that was reserved for national mobile purposes) 881 - Global Mobile Satellite System (NEW - uncertain which specific GMSS project this refers to - Iridium?) 888 - reported unavailable for assignment - reason not widely known although it is speculated that this reflects recent use of 888 for toll-free services in North America 992 - Tajikistan (NEW - split from former USSR (country code 7). Assigned 1996-7?) 993 - Turkmenistan (NEW - split from former USSR (country code 7), generally in service by 3 Jan 1997). 998 - Uzbekistan (NEW - split from former USSR (country code 7), Assigned 1996?) ------------------------------------- F u t u r e D e v e l o p m e n t s ------------------------------------- There were reports in the fall of 1995 that country code +388 was sought by European interests for European-wide services. The ITU Study Group 2 had approved this assignment during a meeting in San Francisco in January 1996 (according to OFTEL Numbering Bulletin (UK)). As of 1997, European sources indicate that the European Telephony Numbering Space (+388) is planned to be in service by January 1999. Hong Kong will join China in 1997. When, or if, Hong Kong's telephone network will adopt China's country code of 86 is unknown at this time. Kazakstan is the only ex-USSR republic that does not have a known separate country code assignment at this writing. Russia will likely retain country code 7. [end of document]