scope:

This Standard provides basic two-letter alphabetic codes (ISO alpha-2 country code), three-letter codes (ISO alpha-3 country code) for special purposes and three-digit numerical codes (ISO numeric-3 country codes) established by the Statistical Office of the United Nations. The codes represent the names of countries, dependencies and other areas of special interest for purposes of international exchange, without indicating expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. This Standard is intended for use in any application requiring the expression of entities in coded form.