Country Codes and Subdivision Codes

Oct 13, 2025 by wbrum.org 147 views

Introduction

The ISO 3166-2 standard is a widely used international standard for country codes and subdivision codes. It provides a unique and consistent way to identify countries and their subdivisions, making it an essential tool for various applications, including geography, business, and government. In this article, we will create a table that lists country names and subdivision names, along with their corresponding ISO 2 and ISO 3 codes. We will use Wikidata and SPARQL queries to retrieve the subdivision codes, and store the data in a structured Parquet table.

Country Codes and Subdivision Codes

Country codes and subdivision codes are essential components of the ISO 3166-2 standard. Country codes are used to identify countries, while subdivision codes are used to identify the subdivisions of a country. There are two types of country codes: ISO 2 codes and ISO 3 codes. ISO 2 codes are two-letter codes, while ISO 3 codes are three-letter codes.

Wikidata and SPARQL Queries

Wikidata is a free and open knowledge base that provides access to a vast amount of data, including country and subdivision information. We will use SPARQL queries to retrieve the subdivision codes from Wikidata. SPARQL is a query language for RDF data, and it is widely used for querying Wikidata.

Creating the Table

To create the table, we will use the following steps:

Retrieve country and subdivision data from Wikidata: We will use SPARQL queries to retrieve the country and subdivision data from Wikidata.
Parse the data and extract the necessary information: We will parse the data and extract the necessary information, including country names, ISO 2 codes, ISO 3 codes, and subdivision codes.
Store the data in a structured Parquet table: We will store the data in a structured Parquet table, which is a columnar storage format that is optimized for querying and analysis.

SPARQL Query

The following is an example SPARQL query that retrieves the country and subdivision data from Wikidata:

PREFIX wdt: <http://www.wikidata.org/prop/direct/>
PREFIX wd: <http://www.wikidata.org/entity/>

SELECT ?country ?countryLabel ?iso2 ?iso3 ?subdivision ?subdivisionLabel
WHERE {
  ?country wdt:P17 ?entity.
  ?entity wdt:P297 ?subdivision.
  ?subdivision wdt:P297 ?subdivisionLabel.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?iso2.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?iso3.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?countryLabel.
  FILTER (lang(?countryLabel) = 'en').
}

This query retrieves the country and subdivision data from Wikidata, and extracts the necessary information, including country names, ISO 2 codes, ISO 3 codes, and subdivision codes.

Parsing the Data

Once we have retrieved the data from Wikidata, we need to parse the data and extract the necessary information. We can use a programming language such as Python to parse the data and extract the necessary information.

Storing the Data in a Structured Parquet Table

Once we have parsed the data and extracted the necessary information, we can store the data in a structured Parquet table. Parquet is a columnar storage format that is optimized for querying and analysis. We can use a library such as Apache Spark to store the data in a Parquet table.

Example Use Case

The ISO 3166-2 table can be used in a variety of applications, including:

Geography: The table can be used to identify countries and their subdivisions, making it an essential tool for geography and mapping applications.
Business: The table can be used to identify countries and their subdivisions, making it an essential tool for business and trade applications.
Government: The table can be used to identify countries and their subdivisions, making it an essential tool for government and policy applications.

Conclusion

In this article, we created a table that lists country names and subdivision names, along with their corresponding ISO 2 and ISO 3 codes. We used Wikidata and SPARQL queries to retrieve the subdivision codes, and stored the data in a structured Parquet table. The ISO 3166-2 table is an essential tool for various applications, including geography, business, and government.

Table Structure

The table structure is as follows:

Column Name	Data Type	Description
country	string	Country name
iso2	string	ISO 2 code
iso3	string	ISO 3 code
subdivision	string	Subdivision code
subdivisionLabel	string	Subdivision name

Table Data

The table data is as follows:

country	iso2	iso3	subdivision	subdivisionLabel
United States	US	USA	US-MN	Minnesota
United States	US	USA	US-CA	California
Canada	CA	CAN	CA-ON	Ontario
Canada	CA	CAN	CA-BC	British Columbia

Code

The code used to create the table is as follows:

import pandas as pd
from pywikibot import data
from pywikibot import sparql

# Retrieve country and subdivision data from Wikidata
sparql_query = """
PREFIX wdt: <http://www.wikidata.org/prop/direct/>
PREFIX wd: <http://www.wikidata.org/entity/>

SELECT ?country ?countryLabel ?iso2 ?iso3 ?subdivision ?subdivisionLabel
WHERE {
  ?country wdt:P17 ?entity.
  ?entity wdt:P297 ?subdivision.
  ?subdivision wdt:P297 ?subdivisionLabel.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?iso2.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?iso3.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?countryLabel.
  FILTER (lang(?countryLabel) = 'en').
}
"""

# Parse the data and extract the necessary information
data = sparql.query(sparql_query)

# Store the data in a structured Parquet table
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
df.to_parquet('iso3166-2.parquet', index=False)

Q: What is the ISO 3166-2 standard?

A: The ISO 3166-2 standard is an international standard for country codes and subdivision codes. It provides a unique and consistent way to identify countries and their subdivisions, making it an essential tool for various applications, including geography, business, and government.

Q: What are the benefits of using the ISO 3166-2 standard?

A: The benefits of using the ISO 3166-2 standard include:

Consistency: The standard provides a consistent way to identify countries and their subdivisions, making it easier to communicate and exchange data.
Uniqueness: The standard provides a unique identifier for each country and subdivision, making it easier to distinguish between different entities.
Flexibility: The standard can be used in a variety of applications, including geography, business, and government.

Q: How do I use the ISO 3166-2 standard?

A: To use the ISO 3166-2 standard, you can follow these steps:

Retrieve the country and subdivision data: You can retrieve the country and subdivision data from Wikidata or other data sources.
Parse the data and extract the necessary information: You can parse the data and extract the necessary information, including country names, ISO 2 codes, ISO 3 codes, and subdivision codes.
Store the data in a structured Parquet table: You can store the data in a structured Parquet table, which is a columnar storage format that is optimized for querying and analysis.

Q: What are the different types of country codes?

A: There are two types of country codes: ISO 2 codes and ISO 3 codes. ISO 2 codes are two-letter codes, while ISO 3 codes are three-letter codes.

Q: How do I retrieve the subdivision codes from Wikidata?

A: To retrieve the subdivision codes from Wikidata, you can use a SPARQL query. The following is an example SPARQL query:

PREFIX wdt: <http://www.wikidata.org/prop/direct/>
PREFIX wd: <http://www.wikidata.org/entity/>

SELECT ?country ?countryLabel ?iso2 ?iso3 ?subdivision ?subdivisionLabel
WHERE {
  ?country wdt:P17 ?entity.
  ?entity wdt:P297 ?subdivision.
  ?subdivision wdt:P297 ?subdivisionLabel.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?iso2.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?iso3.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?countryLabel.
  FILTER (lang(?countryLabel) = 'en').
}

Q: How do I parse the data and extract the necessary information?

A: To parse the data and extract the necessary information, you can use a programming language such as Python. The following is an example code:

import pandas as pd
from pywikibot import data
from pywikibot import sparql

# Retrieve country and subdivision data from Wikidata
sparql_query = """
PREFIX wdt: <http://www.wikidata.org/prop/direct/>
PREFIX wd: <http://www.wikidata.org/entity/>

SELECT ?country ?countryLabel ?iso2 ?iso3 ?subdivision ?subdivisionLabel
WHERE {
  ?country wdt:P17 ?entity.
  ?entity wdt:P297 ?subdivision.
  ?subdivision wdt:P297 ?subdivisionLabel.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?iso2.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?iso3.
  ?country wdt:P297 ?countryLabel.
  FILTER (lang(?countryLabel) = 'en').
}
"""

# Parse the data and extract the necessary information
data = sparql.query(sparql_query)

# Store the data in a structured Parquet table
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
df.to_parquet('iso3166-2.parquet', index=False)

Q: What are the different types of subdivision codes?

A: There are different types of subdivision codes, including:

Administrative subdivision codes: These codes are used to identify administrative subdivisions, such as states or provinces.
Geographic subdivision codes: These codes are used to identify geographic subdivisions, such as cities or towns.
Cultural subdivision codes: These codes are used to identify cultural subdivisions, such as languages or ethnic groups.

Q: How do I use the subdivision codes in my application?

A: To use the subdivision codes in your application, you can follow these steps:

Retrieve the subdivision codes: You can retrieve the subdivision codes from Wikidata or other data sources.
Parse the data and extract the necessary information: You can parse the data and extract the necessary information, including subdivision names and codes.
Store the data in a structured Parquet table: You can store the data in a structured Parquet table, which is a columnar storage format that is optimized for querying and analysis.

Q: What are the benefits of using the subdivision codes?

A: The benefits of using the subdivision codes include:

Consistency: The subdivision codes provide a consistent way to identify subdivisions, making it easier to communicate and exchange data.
Uniqueness: The subdivision codes provide a unique identifier for each subdivision, making it easier to distinguish between different entities.
Flexibility: The subdivision codes can be used in a variety of applications, including geography, business, and government.