Standard Classification of Countries and Areas of Interest (SCCAI) 2009

Introduction to the classification

The Standard Classification of Countries and Areas of Interest (SCCAI) 2009 was developed to increase coherence on the list of countries used within Statistics Canada and to be more consistent with government of Canada norms. This list of countries and areas includes those countries or areas for which statistical data are compiled. To satisfy the broadest possible range of applications, all entities in that list are mutually exclusive. For instance, the component parts of China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and the remainder of China are considered as separate entities and each has its own codes. This list of countries and areas of interest forms the base level of the classification and applies to both economic and social statistics.

There are 247 countries or areas in the SCCAI 2009 including the 246 countries or areas found in the international standard ISO 3166-1:2006, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions, plus Kosovo, which was recognized as a country by Canada in 2008. The names of countries or areas refer to their short form used and not necessarily to their official name. They are based on the official short names used in the ISO standard and were modified both to reflect Canadian norms as well as to follow specific naming rules adopted for the Canadian list. The modifications to reflect Canadian norms were done based on consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as well as examining responses to the 2006 Census of Population question for the place of birth variable. The specific naming rules adopted for the Canadian list are:

1. Use of short form of country names wherever practicable and/or to avoid confusion;
2. Use of commas for sorting in alphabetical order; and
3. Use of long form of country names to avoid confusion.

These changes to the names have resulted in differences between SCCAI 2009 and ISO 3166-1:2006.

Historical revisions of countries and areas of interest

The material on current and historical countries and areas of interest is presented here to help users who compile longitudinal data on countries and areas of interest to assign those data to the right current or formerly used country names and codes. A start and end date are provided to define the period of validity of country names and codes; however there is no end date when the country names or codes are still current. This list which compiles changes to country names and codes since 1970 is based on information gathered from the following sources:

• current and previous editions of the standard ISO 3166-1, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes;
• ISO 3166-3 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 3: Code for formerly used names of countries;
• Newsletters related to ISO 3166-1 and ISO 3166-3; and
• current and previous editions of the United Nations Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use.

Relation to previous standard

This is a revision of the previous standard List of Countries, Dependencies and Other Areas of Interest. The current standard, like the previous standard, is also based on the International Standard for country codes ISO 3166-1:2006^{Footnote 1}, but the current standard has been modified for consistency with Canadian norms. This standard includes a classification variant Countries and Areas of Interest for Social Statistics – SCCAI 2009 that provides standard groupings of countries and associated codes for publication purposes. New usage notes are included with the standard.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

This standard is compatible with the list of countries or areas included in the International Standard for country codes ISO 3166-1 except for the recognition of Kosovo. The coding structure follows the ISO coding structure with countries having three-digit numeric codes, two-character alpha codes, and three-character alpha codes. New codes were assigned to Kosovo based on an ISO clause which places codes at the disposal of users who need to add further names of countries or areas of interest to their list.

The 246 countries and areas in the ISO 3166-1:2006 standard includes 236 of the 237 countries or areas for which statistical data are compiled by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Secretariat^{Footnote 2}. The entity Channel Islands which regroups Guernsey and Jersey is an intermediate level not retained in ISO or SCCAI.