International area codes directory
Phone codes and dialing reference for 136 countries. Find area codes, country codes, and number formats.
What an area code is, and when you still need one
An area code identifies a city or a region inside a country's numbering plan. It sits between the country code and the subscriber number, and in most countries it is written with a leading trunk digit — usually 0 — when the number is dialled domestically.
That trunk digit is the single most important thing on this page. It belongs to domestic dialling and must be dropped when calling from abroad. London's code is written 020 inside the United Kingdom and dialled as 20 from anywhere else; the same rule holds in almost every country that uses a trunk prefix at all.
Area codes are also shrinking in relevance for a reason worth knowing: mobile numbers do not have them. A mobile number carries an operator prefix instead, which identifies a network rather than a place, and in most countries you dial the whole thing wherever you are. If the number you have starts with a mobile prefix, there is no area code to look up.
Reading the tables here
| Area code | As written locally, including the trunk prefix where the country uses one. |
|---|---|
| Full dial string | What to actually press from abroad, with the exit code, the country code and the trunk prefix already removed. This is the column to copy. |
| Mobile prefixes | Leading digits the country reserves for mobile numbers. Still reliable after a number has been ported between operators, because mobile and fixed blocks are separate ranges and numbers do not move between them. |
| Landline prefixes | The equivalent for fixed lines. A number matching neither is usually a special or premium range. |
| Format example | One correctly formatted real number for the country. Its length is a valid length for that country — though several countries run two or three lengths side by side, so a number a digit longer is not automatically wrong. |
Why an area code cannot tell you who is calling
A geographic code tells you where a line was assigned, and increasingly little else. Number portability lets a subscriber keep a number when they move operator, and in several countries when they move city; a virtual number can be issued in one city and answered in another country entirely.
What has not changed is the mobile/fixed boundary. A number cannot move from a mobile block into a geographic one, which is why prefix ranges still answer is this a mobile reliably even where they no longer answer which operator.
The North American Numbering Plan is the case where neither works. In the United States and Canada an area code says nothing about line type at all — the same 212 range carries both — and only a network lookup distinguishes them. That is a property of the plan rather than a gap in the data.
Codes change, and what to do when one does
Numbering plans are revised. Cities are split when they run out of numbers, codes are lengthened, and occasionally a whole country renumbers — the United Kingdom has done it three times, and India consolidated hundreds of short codes into longer ones.
When a code changes, the old one usually keeps working for a transition period with a recorded announcement, then stops. A number that connected last year and now returns an unobtainable tone is very often a plan change rather than a disconnected line.
The data here comes from published national numbering plans. If a code on this site is out of date we would rather hear about it than not — write to us and the page is corrected in place.
Number ranges that are not area codes
- Mobile ranges. Not geographic and not area codes, even though they sit in the same position in the number. They identify a network rather than a place, and in most countries they cost more to reach than a fixed line.
- Premium-rate ranges. Numbers where the terminating operator charges a service fee on top of the call, sometimes a very large one. They are excluded from published country rates by every provider in the industry, and a call to one from an internet calling app is usually refused outright rather than billed.
- Freephone ranges. Free from inside the country and generally unreachable from outside it, because the number's cost model depends on a domestic network absorbing the charge. This surprises people trying to reach a bank or an airline from abroad; those organisations almost always publish a separate geographic number for international callers.
- Short codes. Three-, four- or five-digit numbers for domestic services. They exist only inside the country's own network and have no international form at all.
- Satellite ranges. Country codes such as +881 and +882 belong to satellite networks rather than to any country. They are priced by the satellite operator, and the figures are an order of magnitude above ordinary international rates.
Bottom line
An area code identifies a place inside a country's plan and is written with a leading trunk digit domestically. Drop that digit when calling from abroad — keeping it is the most common reason an international call fails.
Mobile numbers have no area code; they carry an operator prefix instead. Where a number starts with one of a country's mobile ranges there is nothing to look up, and in most countries that call costs more than the same call to a landline.
Frequently asked questions
What is an area code?
The part of a phone number that identifies a city or region within a country's numbering plan. It sits between the country code and the subscriber number, and in most countries it is written with a leading trunk digit — usually 0 — when the number is dialled domestically.
Do I include the area code when calling from abroad?
Yes, but without its trunk prefix. London's code is written 020 inside the United Kingdom and dialled as 20 from anywhere else. The full dial string column in every table here has the trunk digit already removed, so it can be copied as-is.
Do mobile numbers have area codes?
No. A mobile number carries an operator prefix instead, which identifies a network rather than a place, and in most countries you dial the whole number wherever you are. If the number you have starts with one of a country's mobile ranges, there is no area code to look up.
Can an area code tell me where someone is?
Less and less. Number portability lets a subscriber keep a number when they change operator and, in several countries, when they move city, and virtual numbers can be issued in one city and answered in another country. What still holds is the mobile-versus-fixed distinction, because numbers cannot move between those blocks.
Why did a number that used to work stop working?
Very often a numbering plan change rather than a disconnected line. Cities are split when they run out of numbers and codes are lengthened; the old code typically keeps working for a transition period with a recorded announcement, then stops.
Where does this area code data come from?
Published national numbering plans. Codes are revised occasionally, so if something here is out of date we would rather hear about it — write to us and the page is corrected in place.
