The regional indicator symbols are a set of 26 alphabetic Unicode characters (Aโ€“Z) intended to be used to encode ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 two-letter country codes in a way that allows optional special treatment.

These were defined by as part of the Unicode 6.0 support for emoji, as an alternative to encoding separate characters for each country flag. Although they can be displayed as Roman letters, it is intended that implementations may choose to display them in other ways, such as by using national flags.[1][2] The Unicode FAQ indicates that this mechanism should be used and that symbols for national flags will not be directly encoded.[3]

They are encoded in the range U+1F1E6 ๐Ÿ‡ฆ REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER A to U+1F1FF ๐Ÿ‡ฟ REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER Z within the Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement block in the Supplementary Multilingual Plane.[4]

Emoji flag sequences

A pair of regional indicator symbols is referred to as an emoji flag sequence (although it represents a specific region, not a specific flag for that region).[6]

Out of the 676 possible pairs of regional indicator symbols (26 ร— 26), only 270 are considered valid Unicode region codes. These are a subset of the region sequences in the Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR):[6][7][8]

  • All 256 regular region sequences in the CLDR
    • 249 officially assigned ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes
    • 6 exceptional reservations (Ascension Island, Clipperton Island, Diego Garcia, Ceuta and Melilla, Canary Islands, and Tristan da Cunha)
    • 1 user-assigned temporary country code (Kosovo)
  • Two of the 35 macroregion sequences in the CLDR (EU and UN)
  • All 12 deprecated region sequences in the CLDR (strongly discouragedโ€”intended for backward compatibility only)
List of current emoji flag sequences
flag code region[9] possible rendering
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡จACAscension Island
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ชAEUnited Arab Emirates
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ซAFAfghanistan
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฌAGAntigua & Barbuda
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฎAIAnguilla
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฑALAlbania
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฒAMArmenia
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ดAOAngola
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ถAQAntarctica
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ทARArgentina
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ธASAmerican Samoa
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡นATAustria
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บAUAustralia
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ผAWAruba
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฝAXร…land Islands
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟAZAzerbaijan
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฆBABosnia & Herzegovina
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡งBBBarbados
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฉBDBangladesh
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ชBEBelgium
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ซBFBurkina Faso
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฌBGBulgaria
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ญBHBahrain
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฎBIBurundi
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฏBJBenin
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฑBLSt. Barthรฉlemy
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฒBMBermuda
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ณBNBrunei
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ดBOBolivia
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ถBQCaribbean Netherlands
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ทBRBrazil
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ธBSBahamas
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡นBTBhutan
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ปBVBouvet Island
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ผBWBotswana
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡พBYBelarus
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฟBZBelize
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆCACanada
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡จCCCocos (Keeling) Islands
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฉCDCongo - Kinshasa
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ซCFCentral African Republic
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฌCGCongo - Brazzaville
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญCHSwitzerland
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฎCICรดte d'Ivoire
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฐCKCook Islands
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฑCLChile
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฒCMCameroon
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณCNChina
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ดCOColombia
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ตCPClipperton Island
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ทCRCosta Rica
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡บCUCuba
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ปCVCape Verde
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ผCWCuraรงao
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฝCXChristmas Island
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡พCYCyprus
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟCZCzechia
๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ชDEGermany
๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฌDGDiego Garcia
๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฏDJDjibouti
๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐDKDenmark
๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฒDMDominica
๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ดDODominican Republic
๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฟDZAlgeria
๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฆEACeuta & Melilla
๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡จECEcuador
๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ชEEEstonia
๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฌEGEgypt
๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ญEHWestern Sahara
๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ทEREritrea
๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธESSpain
๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡นETEthiopia
๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บEUEuropean Union
๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎFIFinland
๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฏFJFiji
๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฐFKFalkland Islands
๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฒFMMicronesia
๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ดFOFaroe Islands
๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ทFRFrance
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ฆGAGabon
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งGBUnited Kingdom
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ฉGDGrenada
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ชGEGeorgia
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ซGFFrench Guiana
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ฌGGGuernsey
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ญGHGhana
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ฎGIGibraltar
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ฑGLGreenland
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ฒGMGambia
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ณGNGuinea
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ตGPGuadeloupe
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ถGQEquatorial Guinea
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ทGRGreece
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ธGSSouth Georgia & South Sandwich Islands
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡นGTGuatemala
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡บGUGuam
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ผGWGuinea-Bissau
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡พGYGuyana
๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ฐHKHong Kong SAR China
๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ฒHMHeard & McDonald Islands
๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ณHNHonduras
๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ทHRCroatia
๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡นHTHaiti
๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡บHUHungary
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡จICCanary Islands
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉIDIndonesia
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ชIEIreland
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑILIsrael
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฒIMIsle of Man
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณINIndia
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ดIOBritish Indian Ocean Territory
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถIQIraq
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ทIRIran
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ธISIceland
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นITItaly
๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ชJEJersey
๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ฒJMJamaica
๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ดJOJordan
๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ตJPJapan
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ชKEKenya
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ฌKGKyrgyzstan
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ญKHCambodia
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ฎKIKiribati
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ฒKMComoros
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ณKNSt. Kitts & Nevis
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ตKPNorth Korea
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ทKRSouth Korea
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ผKWKuwait
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡พKYCayman Islands
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ฟKZKazakhstan
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ฆLALaos
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡งLBLebanon
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡จLCSt. Lucia
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ฎLILiechtenstein
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ฐLKSri Lanka
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ทLRLiberia
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ธLSLesotho
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡นLTLithuania
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡บLULuxembourg
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ปLVLatvia
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡พLYLibya
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฆMAMorocco
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡จMCMonaco
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉMDMoldova
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ชMEMontenegro
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ซMFSt. Martin
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฌMGMadagascar
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ญMHMarshall Islands
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฐMKNorth Macedonia
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฑMLMali
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฒMMMyanmar (Burma)
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ณMNMongolia
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ดMOMacao SAR China
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ตMPNorthern Mariana Islands
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ถMQMartinique
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ทMRMauritania
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ธMSMontserrat
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡นMTMalta
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡บMUMauritius
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ปMVMaldives
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ผMWMalawi
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝMXMexico
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡พMYMalaysia
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฟMZMozambique
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฆNANamibia
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡จNCNew Caledonia
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ชNENiger
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ซNFNorfolk Island
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฌNGNigeria
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฎNINicaragua
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑNLNetherlands
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ดNONorway
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ตNPNepal
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ทNRNauru
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡บNUNiue
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟNZNew Zealand
๐Ÿ‡ด๐Ÿ‡ฒOMOman
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฆPAPanama
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ชPEPeru
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ซPFFrench Polynesia
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฌPGPapua New Guinea
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญPHPhilippines
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฐPKPakistan
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑPLPoland
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฒPMSt. Pierre & Miquelon
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ณPNPitcairn Islands
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ทPRPuerto Rico
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธPSPalestinian Territories
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡นPTPortugal
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ผPWPalau
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡พPYParaguay
๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆQAQatar
๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ชRERรฉunion
๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ดRORomania
๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ธRSSerbia
๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บRURussia
๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ผRWRwanda
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฆSASaudi Arabia
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡งSBSolomon Islands
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡จSCSeychelles
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฉSDSudan
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ชSESweden
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌSGSingapore
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ญSHSt. Helena
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฎSISlovenia
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฏSJSvalbard & Jan Mayen
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฐSKSlovakia
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฑSLSierra Leone
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฒSMSan Marino
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ณSNSenegal
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ดSOSomalia
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ทSRSuriname
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ธSSSouth Sudan
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡นSTSรฃo Tomรฉ & Prรญncipe
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ปSVEl Salvador
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฝSXSint Maarten
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พSYSyria
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฟSZEswatini
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฆTATristan da Cunha
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡จTCTurks & Caicos Islands
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฉTDChad
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ซTFFrench Southern Territories
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฌTGTogo
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ญTHThailand
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฏTJTajikistan
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฐTKTokelau
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฑTLTimor-Leste
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฒTMTurkmenistan
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ณTNTunisia
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ดTOTonga
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ทTRTรผrkiye
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡นTTTrinidad & Tobago
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ปTVTuvalu
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ผTWTaiwan
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฟTZTanzania
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆUAUkraine
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฌUGUganda
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒUMU.S. Outlying Islands
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ณUNUnited Nations
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUSUnited States
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡พUYUruguay
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฟUZUzbekistan
๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ฆVAVatican City
๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡จVCSt. Vincent & Grenadines
๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ชVEVenezuela
๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ฌVGBritish Virgin Islands
๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ฎVIU.S. Virgin Islands
๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ณVNVietnam
๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡บVUVanuatu
๐Ÿ‡ผ๐Ÿ‡ซWFWallis & Futuna
๐Ÿ‡ผ๐Ÿ‡ธWSSamoa
๐Ÿ‡ฝ๐Ÿ‡ฐXKKosovo
๐Ÿ‡พ๐Ÿ‡ชYEYemen
๐Ÿ‡พ๐Ÿ‡นYTMayotte
๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆZASouth Africa
๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฒZMZambia
๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ผZWZimbabwe

List of deprecated sequences
deprecatedreplacement[10][11]
coderegionflagcoderegionpossible rendering
ANNetherlands Antilles๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ผCWCuraรงao
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฝSXSint Maarten
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ถBQCaribbean Netherlands
BUBurma๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฒMMMyanmar (Burma)
CSSerbia and Montenegro๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ธRSSerbia
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ชMEMontenegro
DDGerman Democratic Republic๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ชDEGermany
FXMetropolitan France๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ทFRFrance
NTNeutral Zone๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฆSASaudi Arabia
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถIQIraq
QUEuropean Union๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บEUEuropean Union
SUUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บRURussia
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฒAMArmenia
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟAZAzerbaijan
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡พBYBelarus
๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ชEEEstonia
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ชGEGeorgia
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ฟKZKazakhstan
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ฌKGKyrgyzstan
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ปLVLatvia
๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡นLTLithuania
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉMDMoldova
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฏTJTajikistan
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฒTMTurkmenistan
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆUAUkraine
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฟUZUzbekistan
TPEast Timor๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฑTLTimor-Leste
YDDemocratic Yemen๐Ÿ‡พ๐Ÿ‡ชYEYemen
YUYugoslavia๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ธRSSerbia
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ชMEMontenegro
ZRZaire๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฉCDCongo - Kinshasa

A separate mechanism (emoji tag sequences) is used for regional flags, such as England ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ, Scotland ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ, Wales ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ, Texas ๐Ÿด๓ ต๓ ณ๓ ด๓ ธ๓ ฟ or California ๐Ÿด๓ ต๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ก๓ ฟ[12] It uses U+1F3F4 ๐Ÿด WAVING BLACK FLAG and formatting tag characters instead of regional indicator symbols. It is based on ISO 3166-2 regions with hyphen removed and lowercase, e.g. GB-ENG โ†’ gbeng, terminating with U+E007F CANCEL TAG. Flag of England is therefore represented by a sequence U+1F3F4, U+E0067, U+E0062, U+E0065, U+E006E, U+E0067, U+E007F. In the tenth revision the Unicode consortium was considering U+1F3F3 ๐Ÿณ WAVING WHITE FLAG instead,[13] but from eleventh onwards it is black.[14] Some vendors choose to include custom zero-width joiner sequences that only show up on their platform, such as WhatsApp and their Refugee Nation Flag ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŸงโ€โฌ›๏ธโ€๐ŸŸง.[15]

Unicode block

Regional indicator symbols subset of Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement[1]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
...(U+1F100โ€“U+1F1E5 omitted)
U+1F1Ex   ๐Ÿ‡ฆ     ๐Ÿ‡ง     ๐Ÿ‡จ     ๐Ÿ‡ฉ     ๐Ÿ‡ช     ๐Ÿ‡ซ     ๐Ÿ‡ฌ     ๐Ÿ‡ญ     ๐Ÿ‡ฎ     ๐Ÿ‡ฏ  
U+1F1Fx   ๐Ÿ‡ฐ     ๐Ÿ‡ฑ     ๐Ÿ‡ฒ     ๐Ÿ‡ณ     ๐Ÿ‡ด     ๐Ÿ‡ต     ๐Ÿ‡ถ     ๐Ÿ‡ท     ๐Ÿ‡ธ     ๐Ÿ‡น     ๐Ÿ‡บ     ๐Ÿ‡ป     ๐Ÿ‡ผ     ๐Ÿ‡ฝ     ๐Ÿ‡พ     ๐Ÿ‡ฟ  
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1

Background

In 2007 a draft proposal was presented to the Unicode Technical Committee to encode emoji symbols, specifically those in widespread use on mobile phones by Japanese telecommunications companies DoCoMo, KDDI, and SoftBank.[16] The proposed symbols included ten national flags:[17] China (๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ), Germany (๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช), Spain (๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ), France (๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท), the UK (๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง), Italy (๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น), Japan (๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต), South Korea (๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท), Russia (๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ), and the United States (๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ). Encoding these flags but not other countries' flags was considered, by some, as prejudicial.[18] One rejected solution was to encode the ten flags but call them "EMOJI COMPATIBILITY SYMBOL-n" and represent them visually in the Standard as "EC n" instead of showing the flags they represent.[19] Another rejected solution would have allocated 676 codepoints (26ร—26) for each possible two letter combination of Aโ€“Z. They would represent political entities based on ISO 3166 such as "JP" for Japan or Internet ccTLDs (country code top-level domains) such as "EU" for the European Union.[20]

The accepted solution was to add 26 characters for letters used for the representation of regional indicators, which used in pairs would represent the ten national flags and possible future extensions.[2] Per the Unicode Standard "the main purpose of such [regional indicator symbol] pairs is to provide unambiguous roundtrip mappings to certain characters used in the emoji core sets"[21] specifically the ten national flags:[22] ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ, ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช, ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ, ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท, ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง, ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น, ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต, ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท, ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ, and ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ.

See also

References

  1. โ†‘ Andrew West. "What's new in Unicode 6.0". Babelstone. Archived from the original on 2014-04-06. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  2. 1 2 Michael Everson and Ken Whistler. "N3727: Proposal to encode Regional Indicator Symbols in the UCS" (PDF). Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 and UTC. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  3. โ†‘ "Unicode FAQ: Emoji and Dingbats". The Unicode Consortium. 2009-10-28. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  4. โ†‘ "Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement, Range 1F100 - 1F1FF, The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0" (PDF). Unicode Consortium. 2010. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  5. โ†‘ "Flags". emojipedia.com. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  6. 1 2 UTR #51: Unicode Emoji, Annex B: Valid Emoji Flag Sequences, Unicode Consortium web, 2023-09-05
  7. โ†‘ "UTR #35: Unicode Locale Data Markup Language (LDML), Validity Data". Unicode Consortium.
  8. โ†‘ "CLDR v38 Region Validity Data". Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR). 2020-10-28.
  9. โ†‘ "UCD: Emoji Sequence Data for UTR #51". Unicode Consortium. 2023-06-05.
  10. โ†‘ "UTR #35: Unicode Locale Data Markup Language (LDML), Supplemental Metadata". Unicode Consortium.
  11. โ†‘ "CLDR v38 Supplemental Metadata". Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR). 2020-10-28.
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Further reading

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