- Author: Christoph Päper (christoph.paeper@crissov.de)
- Date submitted: 2017-06-18
- Latest revision: https://crissov.github.io/unicode-proposals/dependent-regions
Unicode emoji flags rely on ISO 3166. Contemporary sovereign countries (and some other geographical entities) are encoded in ISO 3166-1 and, for some of them, their administrative subdivisions in ISO 3166-2. Unicode Emoji (UTS#51) describes two separate methods to encode flags Emoji Flag Sequences and Flag Emoji Tag Sequences: The first uses Regional Indicator Symbol Letters A through Z (U+1F1E6..1F1FF) for code elements from Part 1 of ISO 3166, the second so far uses Tag Latin Small Letters A through Z (U+E0061..E007A) and U+E007F with the Waving Black Flag U+1F3F4 as a common base. Only the former are of interest here.
For each region code in ISO 3166-1, a parameter named independent is specified. Either CLDR or UTS#51 should explicitly make support optional for those listed as independent=no, just like is already done for "deprecated" codes. This is especially relevant for emoji input methods that are used to select a single flag out of hundreds. I am proposing to keep the independent states as idStatus="regular" and split off the rest as territories with the new status "dependent".
Currently, UTS#51 just warns that some region sequences for territories may not have an official flag of their own. It might be wise to add territories and subdivisions in sub-menus like skin colors or genders in some implementations, but this UX detail is probably out of scope of this specification.
- The valid region sequences are specified by Unicode region subtags as defined in [CLDR], with
idStatus="regular","deprecated", or the"macroregion". However, for macroregions, only UN and EU are valid.- Deprecated region sequences should not be generated, but may be supported for backward compatibility.
- Macroregion region sequences generally do not have official flags, with the exception of the UN and EU.
Some region sequences represent countries (as recognized by the United Nations, for example); others represent territories that are associated with a country. Such territories may have flags of their own, or may use the flag of the country with which they are associated. Depictions of images for flags may be subject to constraints by the administration of that region.
Caveats:
- Although a pair of REGIONAL INDICATOR symbols is referred to as an
emoji_flag_sequence, it really represents a specific region, not a specific flag for that region. The actual flag displayed for the pair may be different on different platforms, for example for territories which do not have an official flag. The displayed flag may change over time as regions change their flags and platforms update their software.- For some territories (especially those without separate official flags), the displayed flag may be the same as the flag for the country with which they are associated. For more about cases where characters have the same appearance, see UTR #36: Unicode Security Considerations [UTR36].
For additional information see the sub-section on Regional Indicator Symbols in Section 22.10 Enclosed and Square of [Unicode].
<supplementalData>
<version number="$Revision$"/>
<idValidity>
<id type="region" idStatus="regular">
<!-- 256 items -->
AC~G AI AL~M AO AQ~U AW~X AZ BA~B BD~J BL~O BQ~T BV~W BY~Z CA CC~D CF~I CK~P CR CU~Z DE DG DJ~K DM DO DZ EA EC EE EG~H ER~T FI~K FM FO FR GA~B GD~I GL~N GP~U GW GY HK HM~N HR HT~U IC~E IL~O IQ~T JE JM JO~P KE KG~I KM~N KP KR KW KY~Z LA~C LI LK LR~V LY MA MC~H MK~Z NA NC NE~G NI NL NO~P NR NU NZ OM PA PE~H PK~N PR~T PW PY QA RE RO RS RU RW SA~E SG~O SR~T SV SX~Z TA TC~D TF~H TJ~O TR TT TV~W TZ UA UG UM US UY~Z VA VC VE VG VI VN VU WF WS XK YE YT ZA ZM ZW
</id>
<id type="region" idStatus="macroregion">
<!-- 34 items -->
001~3 005 009 011 013~5 017~9 021 029 030 034~5 039 053~4 057 061 142~3 145 150~1 154~5 419 EU EZ QO UN
</id>
<id type="region" idStatus="deprecated">
<!-- 12 items -->
AN BU CS DD FX NT QU SU TP YD YU ZR
</id>
<id type="region" idStatus="private_use">
<!-- 38 items -->
AA QM~N QP~T QV~Z XA~J XL~Z
</id>
<id type="region" idStatus="unknown">
<!-- 1 item -->
ZZ
</id>
</idValidity>
</supplementalData>-
Full list (as Markdown or as tab-separated values)
English Alpha-2 Alpha-3 Numeric Anguilla AI AIA 660 Antarctica AQ ATA 010 American Samoa AS ASM 016 Aruba AW ABW 533 Åland Islands AX ALA 248 Saint Barthélemy BL BLM 652 Bermuda BM BMU 060 Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba BQ BES 535 Bouvet Island BV BVT 074 Cocos (Keeling) Islands CC CCK 166 Cook Islands CK COK 184 Curaçao CW CUW 531 Christmas Island CX CXR 162 Western Sahara EH ESH 732 Falkland Islands (Malvinas) FK FLK 238 Faroe Islands FO FRO 234 French Guiana GF GUF 254 Guernsey GG GGY 831 Greenland GL GRL 304 Guadeloupe GP GLP 312 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands GS SGS 239 Guam GU GUM 316 Hong Kong HK HKG 344 Heard Island and McDonald Islands HM HMD 334 Isle of Man IM IMN 833 British Indian Ocean Territory IO IOT 086 Jersey JE JEY 832 Saint Martin MF MAF 663 Macao MO MAC 446 Northern Mariana Islands MP MNP 580 Martinique MQ MTQ 474 Montserrat MS MSR 500 New Caledonia NC NCL 540 Norfolk Island NF NFK 574 Niue NU NIU 570 French Polynesia PF PYF 258 Saint Pierre and Miquelon PM SPM 666 Pitcairn PN PCN 612 Puerto Rico PR PRI 630 Palestine PS PSE 275 Réunion RE REU 638 Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha SH SHN 654 Svalbard and Jan Mayen SJ SJM 744 Sint Maarten SX SXM 534 Turks and Caicos Islands TC TCA 796 French Southern Territories TF ATF 260 Tokelau TK TKL 772 Taiwan TW TWN 158 United States Minor Outlying Islands UM UMI 581 British Virgin Islands VG VGB 092 US Virgin Islands VI VIR 850 Wallis and Futuna WF WLF 876 Mayotte YT MYT 175
CLDR currently has 256 regular codes, but ISO has only 249 “officially assigned codes”. That’s because Unicode adds 6 codes that are exceptionally reserved by ISO 3166/MA and 1 private-use code (XK). The former group can safely be considered dependent as well.
| English | Alpha-2 | Alpha-3 | Numeric |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ascension Island | AC | — | — |
| Clipperton Island | CP | — | — |
| Diego Garcia | DG | — | — |
| Ceuta, Melilla | EA | — | — |
| Canary Islands | IC | — | — |
| Tristan da Cunha | TA | — | — |
| Kosovo | XK | — | — |
Replace <id type="region" idStatus="regular">...</id> by an equivalent of the following XML code:
<id type="region" idStatus="dependent">
<!-- 53 items -->
<!-- (AC) AI AQ AS AW AX BL BM BQ BV CC CK (CP) CW CX (DG) (EA) EH FK FO GF GG GL GP GS GU HK HM (IC) IM IO JE MF MO MP MQ MS NC NF NU PF PM PN PR PS RE SH SJ SX (TA) TC TF TK TW UM VG VI WF (XK) YT -->
AC AI AQ AS AW AX BL~M BQ BV CC CK CP CW CX DG EA EH FK FO GF~G GL GP GS GU HK HM IC IM IO JE MF MO~Q MS NC NF NU PF PM~N PR~S RE SH SJ SX TA TC TF TK TW UM VG VI WF XK YT
</id>
<id type="region" idStatus="regular">
<!-- 196 items -->
<!-- AD AE AF AG AL AM AO AR AT AU AZ BA BB BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BN BO BR BS BT BW BY BZ CA CD CF CG CH CI CL CM CN CO CR CU CV CY CZ DE DJ DK DM DO DZ EC EE EG ER ES ET FI FJ FM FR GA GB GD GE GH GI GM GN GQ GR GT GW GY HN HR HT HU ID IE IL IN IQ IR IS IT JM JO JP KE KG KH KI KM KN KP KR KW KY KZ LA LB LC LI LK LR LS LT LU LV LY MA MC MD ME MG MH MK ML MM MN MR MT MU MV MW MX MY MZ NA NE NG NI NL NO NP NR NZ OM PA PE PG PH PK PL PT PW PY QA RO RS RU RW SA SB SC SD SE SG SI SK SL SM SN SO SR SS ST SV SY SZ TD TG TH TJ TL TM TN TO TR TT TV TZ UA UG US UY UZ VA VC VE VN VU WS YE ZA ZM ZW -->
AD~G AL~M AO AR AT~U AZ BA~B BD~J BN~O BR~T BW BY~Z CA CD CF~I CL~O CR CU~V CY~Z DE DJ~K DM DO DZ EC EE EG ER~T FI FJ FM FR GA~B GD~E GH~I GM~N GQ~R GT GW GY HN HR HT~U ID IE IL IN IQ~T JM JO JP KE KG~I KM~N KP KR KW KY~Z LA~C LI LK LR~V LY MA MC~E MG~H MK~N MR MT~Z NA NE NG NI NL NO~P NR NZ OM PA PE PG~H PK~L PT PW PY QA RO RS RU RW SA~E SG SI SK~O SR~T SV SY~Z TD TG~H TJ TL~O TR TT TV TZ UA UG US UY~Z VA VC VE VN VU WS YE ZA ZM ZW
</id>
- The valid
regionemoji flag sequences are specified by Unicode region subtags as defined in [CLDR], withidStatus="regular","deprecated","dependent","unknown", or"macroregion". However, for macroregions, only UN and EU are valid.- Deprecated
regionand dependent emoji flag sequences should not be generated, but may be supported for backward compatibility.- Macroregion
regionemoji flag sequences generally do not have official flags, with the exception of the UN and EU.- The unknown emoji flag sequence should not be displayed with the same glyph as an invalid or unsupported emoji flag sequence or flag emoji tag sequence.
Some regionMostregularemoji flag sequences represent countries (as recognized by the United Nations, for example);othersmostdependentemoji flag sequences represent territories that are associated with a country. Such territories may have flags of their own, or may use the flag of the country with which they are associated. (…)