Tutorial:Country codes and protocol order

Tutorial updated in October 2022.

Highlights

This page describes the rules for the abbreviations, codes and protocol order to use for countries.

These rules were taken from the Interinstitutional style guide and should be applied to all publications, namely Statistics Explained articles, statistical books and statistical working papers.

Please note that different rules apply to the reference database, especially concerning the codes for the EU aggregates. Some examples are provided in the table below; see also the complete code lists.

EU and euro area aggregates

Code	English	French	German	Comment	Code used in the reference database
EU	European Union	Union européenne	Europäische Union	data refers to the EU composition of the reference period	EU
EU-27	European Union (27 countries)	Union européenne (27 pays)	Europäische Union (27 Länder)	data refers to the EU composition with 27 Member States (from 1.2.2020)	EU27_2020
EU-28	European Union (28 countries)	Union européenne (28 pays)	Europäische Union (28 Länder)	data refers to the EU composition with 28 Member States (from 1.7.2013 to 31.1.2020)	EU28
EU-27_2007	European Union (27 countries)	Union européenne (27 pays)	Europäische Union (27 Länder)	data refers to the EU composition with 27 Member States (from 1.1.2007 to 30.6.2013)	EU27_2007
EA	euro area	zone euro	Euroraum	data refers to the euro area composition of the reference period	EA
EA-19	euro area (19 countries)	zone euro (19 pays)	Euroraum (19 Länder)	data refers to the euro area composition of 2015	EA19
EA-20	euro area (20 countries)	zone euro (20 pays)	Euroraum (20 Länder)	data refers to the euro area composition of 2023	EA20

If EU-27 and EA-20 aggregates are available, other EU aggregates should not be shown. However, if appropriate, moving compositions of the EU and EA aggregates can also be presented.

The following aggregates should in general never be used, unless there is very specific domain need for their usage: EU-15, EU-10, EU-12, EU-28. Aggregates referring to 'new' Member States (e.g. countries having joined in 2004 and/or 2007) must not be used: NMS-10, NMS-12, etc.

Codes, names and protocol order of European Union (EU) Member States

Code	Country language	English	French	German
BE	Belgique/België	Belgium	Belgique	Belgien
BG	Bulgarija	Bulgaria	Bulgarie	Bulgarien
CZ	Česko	Czechia	Tchéquie	Tschechien
DK	Danmark	Denmark	Danemark	Dänemark
DE	Deutschland	Germany	Allemagne	Deutschland
EE	Eesti	Estonia	Estonie	Estland
IE	Éire/Ireland	Ireland	Irlande	Irland
EL	Elláda	Greece	Grèce	Griechenland
ES	España	Spain	Espagne	Spanien
FR	France	France	France	Frankreich
HR	Hrvatska	Croatia	Croatie	Kroatien
IT	Italia	Italy	Italie	Italien
CY	Kýpros	Cyprus	Chypre	Zypern
LV	Latvija	Latvia	Lettonie	Lettland
LT	Lietuva	Lithuania	Lituanie	Litauen
LU	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	Luxemburg
HU	Magyarország	Hungary	Hongrie	Ungarn
MT	Malta	Malta	Malte	Malta
NL	Nederland	Netherlands	Pays-Bas	Niederlande
AT	Österreich	Austria	Autriche	Österreich
PL	Polska	Poland	Pologne	Polen
PT	Portugal	Portugal	Portugal	Portugal
RO	România	Romania	Roumanie	Rumänien
SI	Slovenija	Slovenia	Slovénie	Slowenien
SK	Slovensko	Slovakia	Slovaquie	Slowakei
FI	Suomi/Finland	Finland	Finlande	Finnland
SE	Sverige	Sweden	Suède	Schweden

The two-letter ISO code is used (ISO 3166 alpha-2) except for Greece for which the abbreviations EL has to be used.

For more information consult the Interinstitutional style guide.

Codes and names of EFTA countries

Code	Country language	English	French	German
IS	Ísland	Iceland	Islande	Island
LI	Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein
NO	Norge	Norway	Norvège	Norwegen
CH	Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera	Switzerland	Suisse	Schweiz

The two-letter ISO code is used (ISO 3166 alpha-2).

Codes and names of candidate countries

Code	Country language	English	French	German
BA	Bosna i Hercegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnie Herzégovine	Bosnien und Herzegowina
ME	Crna Gora	Montenegro	Monténégro	Montenegro
MD	Republica Moldova	Moldova	Moldavie	Moldau
MK	Северна Македонија	North Macedonia	Macédoine du Nord	Nordmazedonien
GE	საქართველო	Georgia	la Géorgie	Georgien
AL	Shqipëria	Albania	Albanie	Albanien
RS	Србија/Srbija	Serbia	Serbie	Serbien
TR	Türkiye	Türkiye	Turquie	Türkei
UA	Україна/Ukraina	Ukraine	Ukraine	die Ukraine

The two-letter ISO code is used (ISO 3166 alpha-2).

The Republic of North Macedonia (full name of the country) will be 'North Macedonia' (capital N, never "Northern") in statistical tables and graphs and in plain text. Nationality: Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia Official language: Macedonian language

Codes and names of potential candidate

Code	Country language	English
XK	Republika e Kosovës	Kosovo*

Kosovo should be accompanied by the following footnote: *This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

Please note also that, as the independence of Kosovo is not recognised by five EU Member States, it is recommended to use the term potential candidate rather than 'potential candidate country'

Protocol order of countries

In tables

Tables must always respect the protocol order of countries. The following protocol order is to be applied with an appropriate divider between each group (see example 1 below):

EU and EA aggregates;
EU Member States in alphabetical order of their official name (see list above)
EFTA countries in alphabetical order of their official name (IS, LI, NO, CH)
United Kingdom (UK)
Candidate countries in alphabetical order of their official name (see list above)
Potential candidates in alphabetical order of their official name
Other countries outside the EU (Japan, the United States for example)

Example 1

In country tables, all EU countries should be present. Other countries (EFTA, UK, candidate, potential candidate) should only be added if data are available. It is also advised to use the full country names instead of the country codes whenever possible.

In graphs

As for tables, it is advised to use the full country names instead of the country codes.

Graphs sorted by value

It is recommended in graphs to display the countries sorted by value in ascending or descending order. It is also recommended to group the countries as it is done in tables in the following order (see example 2):

EU and EA (if relevant) aggregates, followed by a blank space
Member States, followed by a blank space
EFTA countries, followed by a blank space
UK, followed by a blank space
Candidate countries, followed by a blank space
Potential candidates, followed by a blank space
Other countries

Example 2

Graphs not sorted by value

If, as an exception to the rule, the graphs are not sorted by value, the protocol order should be used (see example 3):

EU and EA (if relevant) aggregates, followed by a blank space
EU Member states, followed by a blank space,
EFTA countries, followed by a blank space
UK, followed by a blank space
Candidate countries, followed by a blank space
Potential candidates, followed by a blank space
Other countries.

Example 3

In country graphs, all available EU and EFTA countries should be present. Missing countries should be mentioned in a ‘Note’ under the chart e.g.: Note: xx not available / or not applicable’. Other countries (candidate, potential candidate, other) should only be added if relevant and if data are available.

It is also advised to use the full country names instead of the country codes whenever possible.

In text

Lists of country or region names in text should however not follow the protocol order, for reasons of user-friendliness: they should be in the alphabetical order of the language of the text (the same rule is also applied in tutorials and glossary pages, for instance in the many language versions of Glossary:European Union (EU)). Another option is to mention the countries by statistical order (ranking).