Keep this open when a screenshot of a missed call lands in your messages. It will not make you memorise sixty codes. It shows how the first digits are laid out, so you can place a call roughly before you decide what to do about it.
Zones: the first digit
| First digit | World zone | Examples | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North American plan | US, Canada, Jamaica, The Bahamas | Shared code, see +1 explained |
| 2 | Mostly Africa | Egypt 20, South Africa 27, Nigeria 234 | Also a few territories |
| 3 | Europe, part one | France 33, Spain 34, Italy 39 | Zones 3 and 4 together hold most of Europe |
| 4 | Europe, part two | United Kingdom 44, Germany 49 | Sweden 46, Poland 48 |
| 5 | South and Central America | Mexico 52, Brazil 55, Colombia 57 | Cuba is here too, at 53 |
| 6 | Southeast Asia and Oceania | Australia 61, Indonesia 62, Philippines 63 | Singapore 65, New Zealand 64 |
| 7 | Russia and Kazakhstan | Both use the single digit 7 | A one-digit code with two countries |
| 8 | East Asia and special services | Japan 81, South Korea 82, China 86 | Some codes are not tied to a country |
| 9 | West, Central and South Asia | India 91, Pakistan 92, Turkey 90 | Also 971 for the United Arab Emirates |
Codes that show up on US phones
| Code | Country | Code | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| +20 | Egypt | +61 | Australia |
| +27 | South Africa | +62 | Indonesia |
| +33 | France | +63 | Philippines |
| +34 | Spain | +65 | Singapore |
| +39 | Italy | +81 | Japan |
| +44 | United Kingdom | +82 | South Korea |
| +49 | Germany | +86 | China |
| +52 | Mexico | +91 | India |
| +55 | Brazil | +92 | Pakistan |
| +57 | Colombia | +234 | Nigeria |
| +351 | Portugal | +971 | United Arab Emirates |
| +353 | Ireland | +972 | Israel |
| +358 | Finland | +212 | Morocco |
A sample, not a full list. For anything missing, check the ITU or your carrier.
Read it left to right
| What you see | What it means | Next move |
|---|---|---|
| +1 and ten digits | A number in the North American plan, which may be Canada or a Caribbean country | Check the three-digit area code in the prefix reader |
| +7 | Russia or Kazakhstan | Leave unknown calls alone and wait for a message |
| + then two digits | A two-digit country code from the table above | Match it, then ignore the rest until you know the country |
| + then three digits | A smaller or later country | Look it up with the ITU or your carrier |
| +1 then 800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877 or 888 | A toll-free code with no home city | Free to the caller, but not a stamp of trust |
| +1 then 900 | A pay-per-call line that bills the caller | Never return an unexpected call, see 900 numbers |
| +1 then a Canadian or Caribbean code | Same plan, different country | Look it up before calling back, see Canada and the Caribbean |
| +44 (0) 20 | The zero in brackets is the domestic form | Do not dial it from outside the country |
| No plus, starts 0 | Probably a national number copied from a foreign website | Drop the zero and add the country code |
No valid country code is the start of another, so the first one to three digits identify the country without ambiguity. That is deliberate: it lets the network route a call before the rest of the number arrives, and it is why spaces and dashes are only for human readers.
Dialing recipes
| Destination | From a mobile | From a US landline |
|---|---|---|
| London, United Kingdom | +44 20 7946 0000 | 011 44 20 7946 0000 |
| Berlin, Germany | +49 30 1234 5678 | 011 49 30 1234 5678 |
| Toronto, Canada | +1 416 555 0100 | 1 416 555 0100 |
| Kingston, Jamaica | +1 876 555 0100 | 1 876 555 0100, billed as international on many plans |
The numbers are made up for the example. The pattern is what counts: country code, area code without its zero, then the line.
Look-alikes
| Piece | Job | Where it belongs |
|---|---|---|
| + | Stands in for the exit code of whatever network you are on | Mobile phones, in front of a country code |
| 011 | US and Canada exit code | Dialed from US landlines and office phones |
| 00 | Exit code in much of Europe and elsewhere | Dialed abroad in place of 011, see dialing out |
| 1 inside +1 | Country code of the North American plan | Right after the plus or the exit code |
| 1 dialed alone | Domestic long-distance prefix | Only inside the US and Canada, never before a plus |
| 0 at the start | Domestic trunk prefix in many countries | Dropped once a country code is in front |
| +1 1 212 and similar | A doubled country code, usually from adding a prefix to a number that already had one | Delete the extra one before saving or dialing |
| 011 saved inside a contact | A US-only habit baked into the number | Replace it with a plus so the contact works from any country |
| 212 versus +212 | The first is a New York City area code, the second is Morocco | The plus is the only difference |
Missed-call routine
- Read the digits after the plus and decide whether you recognise the zone.
- Match the code against a table you trust, such as the one above, your carrier's or the ITU's.
- If it is +1, check the three digits that follow, and remember that the country may be Canada or a Caribbean nation.
- Let the call go to voicemail. Do not call back until you know what the code means.
Rules of thumb
- A country code shows the numbering system, not the person's location. Mobile numbers travel, calls can be forwarded or sent over the internet, and caller ID can be faked.
- Treat a code you recognise as a clue next to the time of the call, what was asked and whether a message was left.
- Do not give out personal information to a caller who contacted you first, whatever code appears. The FTC's advice at consumer.ftc.gov says the same.
- Shorter codes were assigned first, to places with many telephones at the time. A three-digit code says when a country joined, not how large it is.
- Codes for satellite networks and global services exist and calls to them are expensive. If a code is not in a table you trust, look it up before calling back.
- Spaces, dashes and brackets in a printed number are for human readers. The network ignores them, so copy a number exactly as written and let the phone worry about the layout.
- To save any of these properly, use the plus form described in saving contacts in international format.
Sources
- International Telecommunication Union, which coordinates country calling codes.
- North American Numbering Plan Administration, for zone 1.
- FTC Consumer Advice, for guidance on unexpected calls.
Next in the bookDialing the US from abroad: messages and formats you can copy