One of the most powerful features of Twitter is the ability to insert hashtags — words or abbreviations preceded by the hash symbol: # (also called a “pound sign” or “number sign”). Hashtags are a form of shorthand, which is important when you’re trying to communicate within Twitter’s 140-character limit. Hashtags can also be used to search the twitterverse. Try searching for tweets with the hashtag #solar. The vast majority of messages returned will be related to solar power. That’s because twitter users interested in solar power have, over time, learned that by adding the hashtag #solar, their messages are more likely to be read by others with the same interest.
Because Twitter is now used around the world, hashtags for countries have become popular. During the 2010 World Cup, Twitter used an algorithm that allowed fans to insert their country’s flag into a tweet by adding a country abbreviation with the # symbol. Not every country was represented in the World Cup, and the country abbreviations themselves weren’t intuitive — not surprising when the same country is called something different in each language.
Having a standardized abbreviation for every country is important to disaster relief workers — and to victims and their families and friends. Often, a mobile phone may be the only way to communicate with the outside world in a disaster. (See Tweak the Tweet’s work producing a new hashtag syntax to aid in disasters.)
Regardless of how it’s used, for emergencies, business, journalism or for sports, a globally recognized hashtag for each country makes Twitter more efficient and helpful.
The United Nations (Statistics Division) is switching from the old two-letter abbreviations to the three-letter standard called ISO Alpha 3, devised by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Twitter users should follow that lead. Below are the ISO country names — with hash marks already added for your copy-and-paste convenience.
Bookmarking this page will allow you to find out quickly what country is being discussed in a tweet about #MDV going carbon neutral. Or what country to avoid (#GUM) if you have a particular phobia about brown tree snakes.
Happy Tweeting. @thephoenixsun.
Country & Area Hashtags for Twitter
[Last updated: 5 February 2015]
| Afghanistan |
#AFG |
| Åland Islands |
#ALA |
| Albania |
#ALB |
| Algeria |
#DZA |
| American Samoa |
#ASM |
| Andorra |
#AND |
| Angola |
#AGO |
| Anguilla |
#AIA |
| Antigua and Barbuda |
#ATG |
| Argentina |
#ARG |
| Armenia |
#ARM |
| Aruba |
#ABW |
| Australia |
#AUS |
| Austria |
#AUT |
| Azerbaijan |
#AZE |
| Bahamas |
#BHS |
| Bahrain |
#BHR |
| Bangladesh |
#BGD |
| Barbados |
#BRB |
| Belarus |
#BLR |
| Belgium |
#BEL |
| Belize |
#BLZ |
| Benin |
#BEN |
| Bermuda |
#BMU |
| Bhutan |
#BTN |
| Bolivia |
#BOL |
|
Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba
|
#BES |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina |
#BIH |
| Botswana |
#BWA |
| Brazil |
#BRA |
| British Virgin Islands |
#VGB |
| Brunei |
#BRN |
| Bulgaria |
#BGR |
| Burkina Faso |
#BFA |
| Burundi |
#BDI |
| Cabo Verde |
#CPV |
| Cambodia |
#KHM |
| Cameroon |
#CMR |
| Canada |
#CAN |
| Cayman Islands |
#CYM |
| Central African Republic |
#CAF |
| Chad |
#TCD |
| Chile |
#CHL |
| China |
#CHN |
| China, Hong Kong |
#HKG |
| China, Macao |
#MAC |
| Colombia |
#COL |
| Comoros |
#COM |
| Congo |
#COG |
| Cook Islands |
#COK |
| Costa Rica |
#CRI |
| Côte d’Ivoire |
#CIV |
| Croatia |
#HRV |
| Cuba |
#CUB |
|
Curaçao
|
#CUW |
| Cyprus |
#CYP |
| Czech Republic |
#CZE |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo |
#COD |
|
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
|
#PRK |
| Denmark |
#DNK |
| Djibouti |
#DJI |
| Dominica |
#DMA |
| Dominican Republic |
#DOM |
| Ecuador |
#ECU |
| Egypt |
#EGY |
| El Salvador |
#SLV |
| Equatorial Guinea |
#GNQ |
| Eritrea |
#ERI |
| Estonia |
#EST |
| Ethiopia |
#ETH |
| Faeroe Islands |
#FRO |
| Falkland Islands (Malvinas) |
#FLK |
| Fiji |
#FJI |
| Finland |
#FIN |
| France |
#FRA |
| French Guiana |
#GUF |
| French Polynesia |
#PYF |
| Gabon |
#GAB |
| Gambia |
#GMB |
| Georgia |
#GEO |
| Germany |
#DEU |
| Ghana |
#GHA |
| Gibraltar |
#GIB |
| Greece |
#GRC |
| Greenland |
#GRL |
| Grenada |
#GRD |
| Guadeloupe |
#GLP |
| Guam |
#GUM |
| Guatemala |
#GTM |
| Guernsey |
#GGY |
| Guinea |
#GIN |
| Guinea-Bissau |
#GNB |
| Guyana |
#GUY |
| Haiti |
#HTI |
| Holy See |
#VAT |
| Honduras |
#HND |
| Hungary |
#HUN |
| Iceland |
#ISL |
| India |
#IND |
| Indonesia |
#IDN |
| Iran (Islamic Republic of) |
#IRN |
| Iraq |
#IRQ |
| Ireland |
#IRL |
| Isle of Man |
#IMN |
| Israel |
#ISR |
| Italy |
#ITA |
| Jamaica |
#JAM |
| Japan |
#JPN |
| Jersey |
#JEY |
| Jordan |
#JOR |
| Kazakhstan |
#KAZ |
| Kenya |
#KEN |
| Kiribati |
#KIR |
| Kuwait |
#KWT |
| Kyrgyzstan |
#KGZ |
| Lao People’s Democratic Republic |
#LAO |
| Latvia |
#LVA |
| Lebanon |
#LBN |
| Lesotho |
#LSO |
| Liberia |
#LBR |
| Libya |
#LBY |
| Liechtenstein |
#LIE |
| Lithuania |
#LTU |
| Luxembourg |
#LUX |
| Madagascar |
#MDG |
| Malawi |
#MWI |
| Malaysia |
#MYS |
| Maldives |
#MDV |
| Mali |
#MLI |
| Malta |
#MLT |
| Marshall Islands |
#MHL |
| Martinique |
#MTQ |
| Mauritania |
#MRT |
| Mauritius |
#MUS |
| Mayotte |
#MYT |
| Mexico |
#MEX |
| Micronesia (Federated States of) |
#FSM |
| Monaco |
#MCO |
| Mongolia |
#MNG |
| Montenegro |
#MNE |
| Montserrat |
#MSR |
| Morocco |
#MAR |
| Mozambique |
#MOZ |
| Myanmar |
#MMR |
| Namibia |
#NAM |
| Nauru |
#NRU |
| Nepal |
#NPL |
| Netherlands |
#NLD |
| New Caledonia |
#NCL |
| New Zealand |
#NZL |
| Nicaragua |
#NIC |
| Niger |
#NER |
| Nigeria |
#NGA |
| Niue |
#NIU |
| Norfolk Island |
#NFK |
| Northern Mariana Islands |
#MNP |
| Norway |
#NOR |
| Oman |
#OMN |
| Pakistan |
#PAK |
| Palau |
#PLW |
| Panama |
#PAN |
| Papua New Guinea |
#PNG |
| Paraguay |
#PRY |
| Peru |
#PER |
| Philippines |
#PHL |
| Pitcairn |
#PCN |
| Poland |
#POL |
| Portugal |
#PRT |
| Puerto Rico |
#PRI |
| Qatar |
#QAT |
|
Republic of Korea
|
#KOR |
| Republic of Moldova |
#MDA |
| Réunion |
#REU |
| Romania |
#ROU |
| Russian Federation |
#RUS |
| Rwanda |
#RWA |
| Saint-Barthélemy |
#BLM |
| Saint Helena |
#SHN |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis |
#KNA |
| Saint Lucia |
#LCA |
| Saint Pierre and Miquelon |
#SPM |
| Saint Vincent & the Grenadines |
#VCT |
| Saint-Martin (French part) |
#MAF |
| Samoa |
#WSM |
| San Marino |
#SMR |
| Sao Tome and Principe |
#STP |
| Saudi Arabia |
#SAU |
| Senegal |
#SEN |
| Serbia |
#SRB |
| Seychelles |
#SYC |
| Sierra Leone |
#SLE |
| Singapore |
#SGP |
|
Sint Maarten (Dutch part)
|
#SXM |
| Slovakia |
#SVK |
| Slovenia |
#SVN |
| Solomon Islands |
#SLB |
| Somalia |
#SOM |
| South Africa |
#ZAF |
| South Sudan |
#SSD |
| Spain |
#ESP |
| Sri Lanka |
#LKA |
| State of Palestine |
#PSE |
| Sudan |
#SDN |
| Suriname |
#SUR |
|
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands
|
#SJM |
| Swaziland |
#SWZ |
| Sweden |
#SWE |
| Switzerland |
#CHE |
| Syrian Arab Republic |
#SYR |
| Taiwan |
#TWN |
| Tajikistan |
#TJK |
| Thailand |
#THA |
|
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
|
#MKD |
| Timor-Leste |
#TLS |
| Togo |
#TGO |
| Tokelau |
#TKL |
| Tonga |
#TON |
| Trinidad and Tobago |
#TTO |
| Tunisia |
#TUN |
| Turkey |
#TUR |
| Turkmenistan |
#TKM |
| Turks and Caicos Islands |
#TCA |
| Tuvalu |
#TUV |
| Uganda |
#UGA |
| Ukraine |
#UKR |
| United Arab Emirates |
#ARE |
|
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
|
#GBR |
United Republic of Tanzania
|
#TZA |
| United States of America |
#USA |
| United States Virgin Islands |
#VIR |
| Uruguay |
#URY |
| Uzbekistan |
#UZB |
| Vanuatu |
#VUT |
| Venezuela |
#VEN |
| Viet Nam |
#VNM |
| Wallis and Futuna Islands |
#WLF |
| Western Sahara |
#ESH |
| Yemen |
#YEM |
| Zambia |
#ZMB |
| Zimbabwe |
#ZWE |
Désolé, mais en France, on utilise #FR . Inutile d’ajouter un A, nous n’en voyons pas l’utilité.
::
L’ONU utilisent le code de trois lettres créé par l’International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Désolé pour mon mauvais français!
#MAR for Morocco is based on Maroc, the French name for that nation (which is largely French-speaking). Even Morocco’s internet TLD is .ma so it’s not too far off from how it’s been registered to begin with.
As for UAE, their internet TLD is .ae so perhaps they thought it best to keep it close to the same alphabetically? If you’re used to searching for AE (ISO 3166), you may not think to look for UAE.
The exact same thing goes for Saudi Arabia; TLD is .sa and ISO 3166 is the same, so they may have wanted to keep it similar. If, in a search, you type in SA, you’ll see SAU right there and find it easily.
It makes sense from an organisational point of view, for the sake of brevity.
United Arab Emirates, should be #UAE not #ARE, Saudi Arabia should be #KSA not #SAU and Morocco #MAR makes no sense. They should hide the whisky bottles at the UN.
Don’t blame the UN — the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) devised the abbreviations. They’re not all intuitive, but in some cases more obvious country codes are already widely-used internationally to refer to something else. There are political implications to the codes, as well. (For example, the UN doesn’t recognize Taiwan and so you won’t find that nation’s code on the UN site. “TWN” is used by the ISO.)
The most important part for twitter users is to have a single standard, an internationally recognized three-letter code for each country. That’s what this list is.
Turkey and Taiwan are both listed as #TUR
I would say this is actually the tag for Turkey.
No doubt Taiwan has been left out because the UN doesn’t recognise it.
I have sent a tweet to @thephoenixsun to see if there is an answer.
Cheers, Greg.
Thanks for the catch. The problem is fixed: #TUR is for Turkey and Taiwan is #TWN.
United Arab Emirates, should be #UAE not #ARE
Sorry, the ISO standard is #ARE.
I dont know why they are changing to the 3 letter code rather than the two letter code although most just add an extra letter to the end.
These are also used in the olympics to determine countries.
Dunno, but my guess is that the precision gained by going to a three-letter code outweighed the benefits of brevity.
Personally, I’m happy with the change. This way, three-letter hashtags are reserved for countries, while two-letter tags refer to states in the US. Using the old two-letter system, #AL could mean either Albania or Alabama.