# Review of Content Standard

**Countries, Dependencies, Areas of Special Sovereignty, and Their
Principal Administrative Divisions**

**(FIPS PUB 10-4)**

# July, 2005

1.  This review is intended to assess the potential utility of content
    standards for use and potentially for inclusion in an ISO
    11179-based metadata registry. The review is directed primarily
    toward the utility of the standard itself, rather than to matching
    the standard with specific agency programs. The review covers issues
    such as the subject area, currency, quality, authority, and
    acceptance of the standards. These are factors that need to be taken
    into account no matter what the programmatic application of the
    standard may be.

**1. Summary**

Provides a list of the basic geopolitical entities in the world,
together with the principal administrative divisions that comprise each
entity. Each basic geopolitical entity is represented by a
two-character, alphabetic country code. Each principal administrative
division is identified by a four-character code consisting of the
two-character country code followed by a two-character administrative
division code. These codes are intended for use in activities associated
with the mission of the Department of State and in National defense
programs. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is now
maintaining this standard.

## 2. Identification of Standard {#identification-of-standard .unnumbered}

### 2.1. Title

Federal Information Processing Standard 10-4 (FIPS PUB 10-4), Countries,
Dependencies, Areas of Special Sovereignty, and Their Principal
Administrative Divisions

### 2.2. Acronym

FIPS PUB 10-4

### 2.3. Web page(s), Identifier, or Contact Information:

### 2.3.1 Web page(s)

<http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/by-num.htm>

NOTE: Change notices for FIPS 10-4 are issued by the National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and are available on NGA\'s GEOnet
Names Server (GNS)
at: <http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips_files.html>

### 2.3.2 Identifier

FIPS PUB 10-4

### 2.3.3 Contact Information

RANDALL E. FLYNN

Geographer

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

geonames@nga.mil

### 2.4 Authority

**2.4.1 Creator**

National Institute of Standards and Technology

**2.4.2. Acceptance as authoritative**

Accepted as authoritative as updated (2004).

### 2.5 Publisher

Formerly, copies of this publication were available for sale by the
National Technical Information Service (NTIS), U.S. Department of
Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.

### 2.6 Language(s)

English

### The designatory terms of divisions in non-English-speaking areas are presented in English translation followed by their indigenous forms, where these are available. For example, in Norway, fylke is the indigenous term for an administrative division and province is the English equivalent for that term. In the entry for Norway, this information is presented below the country code as province/fylke.  3. Content description

### 3.1 Subject area of content and area of application

This Standard provides a list of the basic geopolitical entities in the
world, together with the principal administrative divisions that
comprise each entity. Each basic geopolitical entity that was listed in
FIPS PUB 10-3, Countries, Dependencies, and Areas of Special
Sovereignty, as updated, is included; it is represented by the same
two-character, alphabetic \`\`country code.\'\' Each principal
administrative division is identified by a four-character code
consisting of the two-character \`\`country code\'\' followed by a
two-character \"administrative division code.\'\'\
\
This Standard may be applied either in the two-character format, in
which only a basic entity is identified, or in the four-character format
that identifies both a basic entity and one of its principal divisions.
This Standard incorporates already issued technical changes and
supersedes FIPS PUB 10-3 in its entirety. This version, however, differs
from FIPS 10-3 in that it does not include diacritics or scope notes.
Conventional names and formerly approved names for administrative
divisions have also been discontinued, and Table 2, Appendix A, and
Appendix B have been eliminated.\
\
**3.2 Kind of content**

This Standard provides a list of the basic geopolitical entities in the
world, together with the principal administrative divisions that
comprise each entity. As in FIPS 10-3, each basic geopolitical entity is
represented by a two-character, alphabetic country code, and each
principal administrative division is identified by a four-character code
consisting of the two-character country code followed by a
two-character, primarily numeric, administrative division code.\
\
This Standard may be applied either in the two-character format, in
which only a basic entity is identified, or in the four-character format
that identifies a basic entity and one of its principal administrative
divisions. If a complete basic entity is to be represented in the
four-character format, blanks are to be used for its administrative
division code. FIPS PUB 10-3 is superseded in its entirety by this
Standard.\
\
Basic geopolitical entities assigned country codes include the following
categories: (a) independent states; (b) dependent areas; (c) areas of
quasi-independence, non-contiguous territories, possessions without
populations, areas with special sovereignty associations, areas without
sovereignty; (d) political regimes not recognized by the United States;
and (e) outlying areas of the United States. The list of basic entities
provides complete coverage of the land areas of the world without
overlap or duplication.\
\
For purposes of this standard, a principal administrative division is
defined as an administrative area directly subordinate to the pertinent
governing authority. Even though all principal administrative divisions
within an entity may not be of equal rank, this Standard considers them
as \`\`principal.\'\'\
\
Geographic names in current use that are listed in this Standard are
approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN), the
authority established under Public Law 80-242 to provide for uniformity
in geographic nomenclature and orthography throughout the Federal
Government. Names in this Standard approved by the Board include current
names of countries, dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and
their principal administrative divisions.\
\
The basic geopolitical entities and their divisions are named, where
they are sequenced in alphabetic order by basic entity. A typical entry
consists of the two-character, alphabetic country code of each basic
entity; the entity name; the designatory term or terms for
administrative divisions of that entity; and the names and complete
four-character codes of all the principal divisions that comprise the
entity.\
\
The two-character administrative division code is alphanumeric, although
it is purely numeric in most cases. An alphanumeric code is used to
distinguish administrative divisions such as in New Zealand where there
are more than 99.\
\
The designatory terms of divisions in non-English-speaking areas are
presented in English translation followed by their indigenous forms,
where these are available. For example, in Norway, fylke is the
indigenous term for an administrative division and province is the
English equivalent for that term. In the entry for Norway, this
information is presented below the country code as province/fylke.\
\
Some countries have more than one class of administrative division, for
example, province and territory. Asterisks are used to distinguish
members of different classes. In the case of province and territory,
these designatory terms would be presented below the country code as:

> province
>
> \*territory.

Then, each name of a territory listed would be followed by an asterisk,
while each name of a province would be left unmarked. To distinguish
third and fourth designatory terms, two and three asterisks are used,
respectively.\
\
For entities in which a script other than the Roman is locally used,
BGN-approved Romanization systems indicate Roman script equivalents for
names. Conventional names are enclosed in parentheses and formerly
approved names are enclosed in square brackets.

### 3.3 Audience(s)

The purposes of data element standardization are to eliminate
unnecessary duplications and incompatibilities in the collection,
processing, and dissemination of data, and to maximize the usefulness of
data resources. The use of data referenced to a standard set of
representations or codes reduces collection costs by allowing previously
collected data to be applied to new uses, and provides a potential for
benefit derived from those additional applications. Standardization also
reduces conversion costs for interchange of data between databases, and
reduces costs of data element maintenance by the implementation of a
centrally, maintained standard to replace separately maintained
elements.

**\
**This Standard is intended for applications involving the interchange
of international data. Applications limited primarily to domestic data,
i.e., concerning the United States and its outlying areas, should use
FIPS PUB 5-2, Codes for the Identification of the States, the District
of Columbia and the Outlying Areas of the United States, and Associated
Areas.\
\
**3.4 Related Standards**

Federal Information Processing Standard 6-4 (FIPS 6-4), Counties and
Equivalent Entities of the United States, Its Possessions, and
Associated Areas, 1990.

Federal Information Processing Standard 5-2 (FIPS PUB 5-2), Codes for
the Identification of the States, the District of Columbia and the
Outlying Areas of the United States, and Associated Areas, 1987.

### 3.5 Standards Dependencies

This standard contains codes that also appear in ISO 3166-2. See the
Cmap "Geographic Standards."

**3.6 Content Quality**

The content is accurate.

### 4. Currency of Content

### 4.1 Date

2004 October 01

### 4.2 Versions, Updates

  -------------- ------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------
  Change Notice  Change       PDF With Diacritics \*                                             PDF Without Diacritics \*                                            Text Without Diacritics
  Number         Notice Date                                                                                                                                          

  1              1998-12-01   [4-01-d.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-01-d.pdf)   [4-01-nd.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-01-nd.pdf)   Not Available

  2              1999-03-01   [4-02-d.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-02-d.pdf)   [4-02-nd.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-02-nd.pdf)   Not Available

  3              1999-05-17   [4-03-d.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-03-d.pdf)   [4-03-nd.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-03-nd.pdf)   Not Available

  4              2000-02-25   [4-04-d.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-04-d.pdf)   [4-04-nd.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-04-nd.pdf)   [4-04-nd.txt](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-04-nd.txt)

  5              2000-08-10   [4-05-d.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-05-d.pdf)   [4-05-nd.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-05-nd.pdf)   [4-05-nd.txt](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-05-nd.txt)

  6              2001-01-28   [4-06-d.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-06-d.pdf)   [4-06-nd.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-06-nd.pdf)   [4-06-nd.txt](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-06-nd.txt)

  7              2002-01-10   [4-07-d.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-07-d.pdf)   [4-07-nd.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-07-nd.pdf)   [4-07-nd.txt](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-07-nd.txt)

  8              2002-06-28   [4-08-d.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-08-d.pdf)   [4-08-nd.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-08-nd.pdf)   [4-08-nd.txt](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-08-nd.txt)

  9              2004-10-01   [4-09-d.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-09-d.pdf)   [4-09-nd.pdf](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-09-nd.pdf)   [4-09-nd.txt](http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/fips/4-09-nd.txt)
  -------------- ------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------

\* Must have [Adobe](http://www.adobe.com/) Acrobat Reader to view.

### 

### 4.3 Currency

The standard is current.

Maintenance authority for FIPS 10 was transferred from the Department of
State to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NIGA) in 1997.
NGA\'s goal is to update the standard with quarterly change notices
deriving from results of quarterly US BGN Foreign Names Committee (FNC)
meetings. The specific FNC meeting at which a change was approved is
noted parenthetically following each country name. Digital copies of
change notices (with and without diacritical marks) will be posted on
NGA\'s GEOnet Names Server (accessible at
<http://www.nga.mil/gns/html/index.html>).

Names of political entities derived from official meeting records of the
Foreign Names Committee of the US Board on Geographic Names (US BGN).

Source:

Executive Secretary for Foreign Names

US Board on Geographic Names

c/o National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

4600 Sangamore Road D-56

Bethesda, Maryland 20816-5003.

**5. Acceptance**

This data element and representation standard is made available for the
interchange of information among Federal departments and independent
agencies. It is intended for use in activities associated with the
mission of the Department of State and national defense programs. It may
also be used for Federal interchanges of information with the
non-Federal sector including industry, State, local, and other
Governments, and the public at large.

### 6. Content details

### 6.1 Size statistics (estimated)

The standard consists of a formatted text file of 46 lines.

### 6.2 Format / Schemas(s)

The text file is available in html; the updates are available in text
and PDF formats.

### 6.3 Media / Download

See Section 6.2.

### 6.4 Licensing Issues

There are no licensing issues.

### 6.5 Documentation

Although the site claims that: "Copies of this publication are available
for sale by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), U.S.
Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161. When ordering, please
refer to Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 10-4
(FIPSPUB10-4) and title," no listing on the NTIS site was found.