Country

Definition

A country is the current name, either short or official of a country, dependency or other area of particular geopolitical interest.

The term country is defined to include:

• independent countries recognised by the New Zealand Government;
• units which are recognised geographic areas;
• administrative subdivisions of the United Kingdom;
• overseas dependencies, external territories of independent countries.

Operational issues

A country, even if it comprises other discrete political entities such as states, is treated as a single unit for all classification purposes.

The collection and aggregation of data for economic and other statistics (such as international trade, migration and balance of payments statistics) require data to be coded to entities that do not equate directly to a single country or to countries at all. These categories are ships bunkering, passengers’ effects, destination unknown - EU, destination unknown - non-EU and ships stores. Examples of how these are used are as follows:

• ships stores – goods (consumables and parts) for use on ships and aircraft leaving NZ;
• passenger’s effects – goods sold ex licensed export warehouse (duty free store);
• ships bunkering – fuel/oil to be used on voyage by ships and aircraft leaving New Zealand.

In each case the goods have no true country of classification (where ships stores and bunkering are used en route, and passengers effects becomes the property of the individual).

The identification of country units in the classification, and the way in which they are grouped, does not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of Statistics New Zealand concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Explanatory notes

The list of country titles used in this standard is based upon the list in the “Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use” established by the United Nations.

The assignment of alpha codes to these titles is made by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and promulgated in the International Standard ISO 3166 “Codes for the Representation of Names of Countries and their Subdivisions”. The country titles and alpha codes identified in ISO 3166 then form the basis for the New Zealand Standard Classification of Countries two Character Alpha codes.

Countries are included in the classification once identified by ISO subject to official recognition by the New Zealand Government and/or policy directives from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The numeric codes are then assigned in the sequence of the New Zealand Standard Classification of Countries code sequence after consultation with the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The two character alpha codes are used for trade and balance of payments purposes and provide the link to the New Zealand Customs Tariff listing of countries.

Classification changes

Changes that have occurred in the classification between the previous version and this version of the standard are summarised as follows:

• The Australian states are no longer separately identified allowing Australia and its external territories to be consolidated in a single Minor Group. This was previously two minor groups.
• Europe has been split into two Major Groups: North–West Europe and Southern and Eastern Europe. This division has been undertaken on the grounds of a more rigorous application of the classification criteria, practicality and usefulness.
• The NZSCC 1995 Minor Group United Kingdom and Ireland has been split into two minor groups to allow for separate identification of the United Kingdom (at the minor group level). Ireland becomes a single country Minor Group.
• The new European countries created from the former Soviet republics Moldova, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine) have been included in the Major Group Southern and Eastern Europe. Russia has been included in Europe, although much of it is geographically in Asia, because it is functionally a European country. European Russia contains a majority of the population and contains the seat of political and economic power.
• The Major Group The Middle East and North Africa has been renamed North Africa and the Middle East as a result of discussion with the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the order of this Major Group.
• The new countries of Southeast Asia have been split into two minor groups: Mainland South–East Asia and Maritime South–East Asia because this is a region of growing economic interest.
• The two major groups Northern America and South America, Central America and the Caribbean have been combined to form a single Major Group: The Americas.
• Some minor changes to the names of countries have been made to conform to current naming conventions.

Classification updating

• If a country needs to be added to the classification, it will be allocated the next available four digit code, in the numerical sequence of codes, of the minor group to which it is being added.
• If a country ceases to exist as a separate entity, and it is consequently deleted from the classification, its code will not be re–allocated to another country as this will complicate the storage of time series data. If it is necessary to move a country from one minor group to another, it will be allocated the next available code of the minor group to which it is moved. Its previous code will not be re-allocated.