ISO 3166-2:SO

ISO 3166-2:SO is the part of the international ISO 3166-2 standard that provides alphabetic codes to identify the administrative divisions of Somalia. The ISO 3166-2 standard is part of the ISO 3166 taxonomy maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), whose first part (ISO 3166-1) assigns each country a two-letter code—Somalia's code is SO.

The code for each division consists of two parts separated by a hyphen: the first part is the country code (SO), and the second part is a two-letter code representing the region. For example, the format is SO-XX. These codes are used in statistics, computer systems, postal services, and international reports to reduce ambiguity in region names across different languages and scripts.

Origin of the divisions

Somalia's ISO division structure is based on the organization of the country's regions, which historically derive from the administrative divisions established in the early periods of the republic. Regions are typically named after the region itself or a significant geographic feature of the area, such as Banaadir, Awdal, Bari, Bay, Gedo, Hiiraan, Jubbada Dhexe, Jubbada Hoose, Mudug, Nugaal, Sanaag, Shabeellaha Dhexe, Shabeellaha Hoose, Sool, Togdheer, Woqooyi Galbeed, and Galguduud.

Updates and administration

The ISO 3166-2 list is maintained by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency. When a country changes its administrative divisions—for example, by creating a new region or changing a name—the country submits the information to the agency, which then publishes an update (newsletter or new version of the standard). Accordingly, codes may be modified, retired, or created subsequently.

Use

The ISO 3166-2:SO codes are used by international organizations, electronic commerce companies, mapping systems, and open data projects such as Wikidata. They also facilitate comparison of region-level statistics. However, the codes do not constitute a political decision regarding boundaries; they are purely a technical reference tool.