DESCRIPTION OF THE CODE
A. Country or area nomenclature and completeness
1. The names shown in this publication are those in use in the Statistical Office of the United Nations on 1 July 1975. Most geographic entities in the 1970 Code are included in the present publication; a few for which separate data are no longer being published have been deleted. Six new entities appear in the present publication, namely, Bangladesh (code 050), Bouvet Island (code 074), Dronning Maud Land (code 216), Heard and McDonald Islands (code 334), Papua New Guinea (code 598) and United States Miscellaneous Facific Islands (code 849).
B. Definitions of terms
2. In the annex, the final two items are "Areas not elsewhere specified" (code 896) and "Not specified" (code 898). The item "Areas not elsewhere specified" is used for the data of countries or areas not named in a given tabulation. The item "Not specified" is used for the data (or part of the data) of countries or areas named in a given tabulation where, for special reasons (e.g., confidentiality of the data, non-availability of the exact identity of the country), the allocation has not been made.
C. Numerical code
3. Each three-digit mumerical code (see annex below), designed for international use, uniquely identifies one country or area of the world.[1] Adoption of this basic code would represent an important step in the standardization of material for data processing and in information transmission. The three-digit code was established in 1970, based on the then English alphabetical order of the country names. In cases where the names have changed, the 1970 numerical code was retained in the present publication (e.g., Ceylon, code 144, has become Sri Lanka, code 144). For this reason, the numerical sequence now diverges from the alphabetical sequence in some cases. Intervals have been left in the numerical sequence to permit
- ↑ It should be noted that there are separate three-digit codes for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (code 810), the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (code 112) and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (code 804) despite the fact that the latter two are components of the former. This is because all three are States Members of the United Nations. In addition, there are eight three-digit codes that are being used in processing international trade statistics to represent the customs areas of the countries in question. Each such code ismarked with an asterisk (*). For details, see the note at the end of the annex.
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