A country code is a short alphanumeric identification code for countries and dependent areas, primarily used in data processing and communications
. There are several identification systems, with the term "country code" often referring to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and the telephone country code, which is embodied in the E.164 recommendation by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
. Other coding systems include the initial digits of International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN), government and CIA World Factbook list of FIPS country codes, and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics' World Area Codes (WAC)
