Country Codes
The two- and three-letter codes are used on documents; the three-digit numeric code is used in customs and statistics — the three systems are unrelated.
All three code systems work: alpha-2 (CN), alpha-3 (CHN), numeric (156), or just a prefix (e.g. 15). Chinese and English names, capitals, currency codes and dialling codes all work; full-width characters are converted automatically.
| Chinese name | English name | A2 | A3 | Numeric | Currency | Dial | Region | Capital |
|---|
Notes for customs and documents
- The numeric code needs its leading zeros
- The customs and statistics code is ISO 3166-1 numeric, which is zero-padded: Afghanistan is 004, China 156, Hong Kong 344. Dropping a leading zero makes it a different value in most systems.
- The three systems are not interchangeable
- The alphabetic code (CN) and the numeric code (156) are separate standards — use the one the receiving system asks for. Do not mix them.
- Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, China
- This page writes them as 中国香港 / 中国澳门 / 中国台湾, matching the underlying data file. No alternative wording is offered.
- A currency is not a country
- Many countries share a currency (all 20 euro-area members are EUR), so the currency column is the legal tender only — the settlement currency comes from your contract.