What is a country calling code?
A country calling code is the prefix that routes an international call to a country, like +1 or +44. Learn how they work and validate a number free.
A country calling code (or dialing code) is the numeric prefix that identifies a country in an international phone number — +1 for the US and Canada, +44 for the UK, +380 for Ukraine. It is the first part of an E.164 number after the plus sign.
How codes route calls
When you dial internationally, the calling code tells the network which country to hand the call to; the rest is the national number. Codes are 1–3 digits, assigned by the ITU. Some codes cover multiple countries (+1 spans the North American Numbering Plan), so the code alone does not always pinpoint one country.
Codes in E.164
In the canonical E.164 format, the calling code immediately follows the +. Getting it right is essential when normalizing numbers for SMS and verification APIs — a validator detects the code and region for you.
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