international country code numbers

[y0rgos]

Who, when and under which aspect has decided the designation of the international country code numbers?
Why does the USA have number ++1, Russia ++7 (notorious 007 !), Egypt (!) the next one ++20, etc ?
The line up does n´t seem to follow any of the most basic criteria as alphabetical order, population, modernity or technology, as Greece has number 30, Germany 49 and China 86.
How many diferent exit country codes are there? 00, 11, ...?

[craft1948]

Well countries do change their names...........and just 'cos we spell some one way in English doesn't mean that's the accepted spelling internationally...

[ABerrant]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_call_prefix

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_calling_codes

[VHG]

A search in Google for "international dialing codes wiki" would have given you the answer in seconds.

I had no idea of the answer but found it straight away.

Seems the world is divided into "zones", each zone starts with a different number, 1 is USA, 2 is Africa etc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_calling_code

Numbers starting 8 (80, 81, 86, 870 etc) are all in East Asia (zone 8), which is why China is 86.

Number starting 3 and 4 are Europe (zones 3 and 4) and so on

[jno]

Monaco has its own... Canada doesn't. Odd.

[Mr Veritas]

I don't know HOW they decide the codes,but it is the International Telecommunication Union,the United Nations of Telephonic Communications that does.
This:~
http://www.itu.int/en/pages/default.aspx
is their website,if you trawl through it you may find an answer,and lots more besides!
Have Fun.

[ABerrant]

Canada not having its "own" code is a throwback to the 1940s when direct dialling (instead of calling an international operator) with coverage of the whole of North America was first envisaged. Originally Mexico and Cuba were a part of the system, thus Vancouver could dial direct to Dallas, Mexico City and Havana. Cuba, understandably, was no longer part of the system by the 1960s and International Direct Dialling did not arrive until three decades after inception so I can appreciate Canada applying the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy (and 1 is a nice number to have), whereas the comparatively few subscribers in Mexico facilitated a more simple break away.

Monaco split from France (code-wise) in 1996.

[y0rgos]

Thanks for the links, but I still wonder about the 007 for Russia, the "leading" position for Greece (oo30) in Europe and the unexplainable lack of numbers like 21.
Special thanks to Mr Veritas, this HOW is what I can´t find out
I'm rather interested in the background of the assignation, somehow thinking there must have been a day x when a certain council decided the country codes.

[elisafrag]

Well if you want to look further details about list of country codes and area codes for specific countries you look over here https://www.countrycodeguide.com