designates geopolitical dependency sovereign state identifier proper name ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code Mathias Brochhausen An identifier that consists of two letters, is part of the ISO 3166-1, and designates countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. Two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to designate countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2