[thelist] official list of countries (that people live in)

Luther, Ron Ron.Luther at hp.com
Thu May 18 16:04:33 CDT 2006


Sarah Adams asked:


>>I'm looking for an "official" list of countries to use in a web app. I
found this list:
>>some of these lists include countries that no one actually lives in
(besides penguins). 


Hi Sarah,

I'm partial to the ISO list:
http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/02iso-3166-code-lists
/list-en1.html

I'm not sure of your intent and I don't know if it includes "Penguin
Island" [1] or not.  ;-)

But the ISO list does seem to be fairly widely used in business these
days.

My understanding is that there are some small islands that are
overlooked, (of potential 
importance if you were looking for a 'perfect' mailing address drop-down
control), but 
that the residents (and their postal folks) know how to game the system
to get their 
packages delivered properly anyway.


HTH,

RonL.


[1] Delightful old book by Anatole France.  I prefer my old 'first
illustrated' 
edition, but if you'd prefer to read on-line this seems like it may be
complete:
http://eserver.org/fiction/penguin-island.txt



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