# International Calling Code

Key: `geography.contact.calling_code`

International dialing code for a country (e.g., +1 for USA/Canada, +44 for UK, +33 for France). May include +, may not.

Page: <https://meridian.online/docs/projects/finetype/types/geography/contact/calling_code>

Samples: `+1`, `+44`, `+33`, `+81`, `1`

## Background

### Origin

Recommendation E.164 is published by the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T).[[1]](https://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?lang=e&id=T-REC-E.164-202602-I!!PDF-E&type=items) The version of E.164 in force is E.164 (02/26).[[2]](https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-E.164)

E.164 recommends that the national (significant) number be at most 15 – n digits, where n is the number of digits in the country code.[[1]](https://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?lang=e&id=T-REC-E.164-202602-I!!PDF-E&type=items) E.164 defines the country code for Global Services as a 3-digit country code.[[1]](https://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?lang=e&id=T-REC-E.164-202602-I!!PDF-E&type=items)

ITU-T Recommendation E.123 says the international prefix symbol should be + (plus) and should precede the country code in the international number.[[3]](https://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?lang=e&id=T-REC-E.123-200102-I!!PDF-E&type=items) E.123 explains that the plus sign reminds the subscriber to dial the international prefix, which differs from country to country.[[3]](https://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?lang=e&id=T-REC-E.123-200102-I!!PDF-E&type=items) E.123 also says the plus sign identifies the number following it as the international telephone number.[[3]](https://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?lang=e&id=T-REC-E.123-200102-I!!PDF-E&type=items)

### Use

The ITU publishes a List of ITU-T Recommendation E.164 assigned country codes, in numerical and alphabetical order.[[4]](https://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/ob-lists/icc/e164.pdf) The 2005 edition of the ITU list gives code 7 to both Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation.[[4]](https://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/ob-lists/icc/e164.pdf) The 2005 edition of the ITU list marks country code 0 as reserved.[[4]](https://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/ob-lists/icc/e164.pdf)

Wikipedia writes the members of the North American Numbering Plan as 1 followed by a three-digit area code, such as 1 (684) for American Samoa.[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_telephone_country_codes) GeoNames' countryInfo.txt gives American Samoa's phone code as +1-684.[[6]](https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/countryInfo.txt) GeoNames' countryInfo.txt gives the Dominican Republic's phone code as +1-809 and 1-829.[[6]](https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/countryInfo.txt) Before validating a calling-code column, look for these area-code variants and multi-value cells, and decide whether to keep the area code or reduce each value to the bare country code. (Meridian's view)

The 2005 edition of the ITU list shows Vatican City State under both 39 and 379.[[4]](https://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/ob-lists/icc/e164.pdf) GeoNames' countryInfo.txt gives Vatican's phone code as 379.[[6]](https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/countryInfo.txt)

In the libphonenumber README, a Swiss number parsed with region CH yields a country\_code of 41.[[7]](https://github.com/google/libphonenumber) The libphonenumber README shows the same Swiss number formatted in E.164 as +41446681800.[[7]](https://github.com/google/libphonenumber) Store calling codes as text, strip any leading plus before comparing, and keep the plus only for display. (Meridian's view)

## Sources

1. [Recommendation ITU-T E.164 (02/2026) The international public telecommunication numbering plan](https://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?lang=e&id=T-REC-E.164-202602-I!!PDF-E&type=items) — standard
2. [E.164 : The international public telecommunication numbering plan](https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-E.164) — catalogue entry
3. [ITU-T Rec. E.123 (02/2001) Notation for national and international telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and web addresses](https://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?lang=e&id=T-REC-E.123-200102-I!!PDF-E&type=items) — standard
4. [List of ITU-T Recommendation E.164 assigned country codes (Position on 1 May 2005)](https://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/ob-lists/icc/e164.pdf) — standard
5. [List of telephone country codes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_telephone_country_codes) — secondary source
6. [countryInfo.txt](https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/countryInfo.txt) — dataset
7. [GitHub - google/libphonenumber: Google's common Java, C++ and JavaScript library for parsing, formatting, and validating international phone numbers.](https://github.com/google/libphonenumber) — documentation