Template talk:Infobox country

message: population_census_rank currently uses List of countries and dependencies by population for the ranking, but the problem with this list is that it's very inconsistent in the sourcing and years of population values. Some entries use census data, others use estimates or projections, and they often come from different years, which might make the rankings inaccurate. Furthermore, a case could be made that this is a instance of WP:OR, since it's similar to the situation at Wikipedia talk:No original research/Archive 64#RfC on clarification of WP:CALC for costliest tornadoes.
I propose that we switch over to using List of countries by population (United Nations) instead, since the data and rankings comes from a centralised source and it compares countries based on estimates from the same years. Of course, this isn't going to be a "census_rank" anymore, but since many entires in the currently used List of countries and dependencies by population aren't based on census data anyway, there's no loss in that regard. Liu1126 (talk) 21:05, 24 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Which list to use for population_census_rank 

message: Hello, I've noticed that the "Ethnic groups" field in the Infobox of the Namibia page might be better represented as "Nationality". The Namibian government does not record ethnicity or racial statistics, and I believe "Nationality" would be a more accurate representation of the population. This change would align the Namibia page with other country pages like France, which uses the "Nationality" field. I would appreciate if an administrator or template editor could make this change. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by EnfesDino (talk • contribs) 13:36, 11 April 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: Not done: This edit would need to be made to Namibia, not Template:Infobox country. According to that page's protection level you should be able to edit the page yourself, however I would highly recommend discussing this on Talk:Namibia first as ethnicity and nationality are potentially controvertial topics. --Ahecht (TALKPAGE) 17:47, 11 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edit request 11 April 2024 

message: I think the should list all of the ISO 3166-1 codes in the infobox, in addition to the alpha-2 code (e.g.  for Iran).
 ISO 3166-1 codes
Type of code	Example (Iran)	Example (Algeria)
Alpha-2     	              	
Alpha-3     	              	
Numeric     	              	
 –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 10:09, 25 April 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: Not seeing any reason to include that level of detail. Nikkimaria (talk) 04:11, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

text: I have mixed feelings. It appeals to the data nerd in me. But the value of the alpha-2 codes is that they're familiar due to their use for top-level domains. Where are the alpha-3 codes used, that the general reader would likely encounter them? I momentarily answered my own question with "the Olympics", but realized that these aren't the codes they use. That might make them more confusing than useful, as when a spectator who's seen DEU here expects Germany to be coded as DEU in competition and doesn't know what GER is. Would they be as useful as international vehicle registration codes? Largoplazo (talk) 12:07, 26 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  ISO 3166 

message: While I think this template is fine in its expressed use cases, it's also often used for periods of military occupation, e.g. Soviet occupation of Manchuria, for which I feel it is inadequate for the purpose. My best attempt to create a scope for a new infobox type that was neither too bloated nor too specific to use was "political period", basically. Much demographic information we're used to reflexively having like  could be deemphasized, and additional parameters could be available like —the edit wars this will specifically cause are worth bearing for a coherent presentation, I think. Remsense诉 06:34, 4 May 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: This infobox is designed to represent a geopolitical entity, and its fields are tailored with that scope. (The current spin-off to international organization is done by switching quite a few fields out, but there are enough shared fields that it is workable.) It is not appropriate or that useful for a period of time, and its use in Soviet occupation of Manchuria seems an example of misuse. It can be used for an occupying body, eg. Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, but the historical period article Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945) does not use it. I can't think of any infobox template that is used for historical periods, they usually have sidebars linking to other periods of history instead. CMD (talk) 04:48, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: IME there are quite a few historical-period articles using this template, although I would agree it's not well suited to that. Nikkimaria (talk) 04:50, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

text: Do you feel a new template would be worthwhile, or would it cause undue complication or bloat? Remsense诉 05:00, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: If there was a new template, it should have a very different feel to reduce confusion. An experience I remembered prompted by Nikkimaria's comment, Green Ukraine used to use Infobox country in its lead, and this raised questions about the topic of the article despite the text being quite clear. (I moved the infobox down to an article section.) CMD (talk) 06:06, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: I could not agree more. I think I'll try experimenting with a design. Remsense诉 06:07, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Derivation/split proposal: Infobox political period 

message: AFAICR, there used to be national preferred a date format included in Template_talk:Infobox_country in the past (i.e. dd/mm/yyyy or mm/dd/yyyy or yyyy-mm-dd. In any event, I feel that this would be a valuable addition to the infobox.
Enquire (talk) 22:21, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: Unsure as to what value that adds. It's not something we're likely to discuss in the article so it doesn't belong in the infobox unless it meets some kind of specific exception. Plus some countries, such as Canada, don't have a single preferred one and happily intermix multiple formats. And ultimately I don't see how it helps a reader understand the country. Canterbury Tail talk 01:10, 29 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Date standard