Each code consists of two parts, separated by a hyphen. The first part is GB, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the United Kingdom. The second part is three letters, which is the British StandardBS 6879 three-letter code of the subdivision.
Though GB is the United Kingdom's ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code, UK is exceptionally reserved for the United Kingdom on the request of the country. Its main usage is the .uk internet ccTLD and, on 28 September 2021, UK replaced GB as the official country code on car registration plates.[2]
Current codes
Subdivision names are listed as in the ISO 3166-2 standard published by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA).
BS 6879 gives alternative name forms in Welsh (cy) for some of the Welsh unitary authorities (together with alternative code elements). Since this part of ISO 3166 does not allow for duplicate coding of identical subdivisions, such alternative names in Welsh and code elements are shown for information purposes only in square brackets after the English name of the subdivision.[1]
Wales was changed from being described as a principality to being described as a country in the December 2011 update to the standard. England and Scotland were maintained as country and Northern Ireland was maintained as province.[3]
The following changes to the entry have been announced in newsletters by the ISO 3166/MA since the first publication of ISO 3166-2 in 1998. ISO stopped issuing newsletters in 2013.
The following changes to the entry are listed on ISO's online catalogue, the Online Browsing Platform:[1]
Effective date of change
Short description of change (en)
2022-11-29
Deletion of two-tier county GB-NTH; Addition of unitary authority GB-NNH, GB-WNH; Change of category name from two-tier county to unitary authority for GB-BKM; Update List Source
2022-03-03
Correction of parent subdivision of GB-PEM
2021-11-25
Addition of subdivision categories country and province in eng & fra; Modification of remark part 2; Addition of country GB-ENG, GB-WLS, GB-SCT; Addition of province GB-NIR; Addition of parent subdivisions
2020-11-24
Deletion of GB-BMH, GB-POL; Addition of GB-BCP; Correction of spelling for GB-BFS, GB-DRS, GB-DUR, GB-MUL, GB-RCT, GB-SCB; Modification of remark, part 2; Update List Source
2019-11-22
Change of subdivision name of GB-ABC, GB-DRS; Modification of remark part 2; Update List Source
2015-11-27
Deletion of Northern Ireland district council areas GB-ANT, GB-ARD, GB-ARM, GB-BLA, GB-BLY, GB-BNB, GB-CKF, GB-CSR, GB-CLR, GB-CKT, GB-CGV, GB-DRY, GB-DOW, GB-DGN, GB-FER, GB-LRN, GB-LMV, GB-LSB, GB-MFT, GB-MYL, GB-NYM, GB-NTA, GB-NDN, GB-OMH, GB-STB; change of subdivision category from district council area to district GB-BFS; addition of Northern Ireland districts GB-ANN, GB-AND, GB-ABC, GB-CCG, GB-DRS, GB-FMO, GB-LBC, GB-MEA, GB-MUL, GB-NMD; update List Source
2014-12-18
Alignment of the English and French short names upper and lower case with UNTERM; update of the remarks in French
2014-10-30
Re-add GB-IOS
2011-12-13
NL II-2 correction for administrative name changes.
2010-06-30
Update and reorganization of the subdivision data and update of the list source
