ARCHIVE: Updated list of Countries as of 2008 (English)

Extracted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries

Abkhazia
Afghanistan
Akrotiri and Dhekelia
Åland
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra
Angola
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Ascension Island
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas, The
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Christmas Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Colombia
Comoros
Congo (República)
Congo (República Democrática)
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Falkland Islands
Faroe Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
French Polynesia
Gabon
Gambia, The
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Gibraltar
Greece
Greenland
Grenada
Guam
Guatemala
Guernsey
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Isle of Man
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jersey
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Korea, North
Korea, South
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mayotte
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Montserrat
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar (Burma)
Nagorno-Karabakh
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
Netherlands Antilles
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Niue
Norfolk Island
Northern Cyprus
Northern Mariana Islands
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestine
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Pitcairn Islands
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Helena
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
São Tomé and Príncipe São
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
Somaliland
South Africa
South Ossetia
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Svalbard
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tokelau
Tonga
Transnistria
Trinidad and Tobago
Tristan da Cunha
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States of America
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vatican City
Venezuela
Vietnam
Virgin Islands, British
Virgin Islands, United States
Wallis and Futuna
Western Sahara
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Another Wiki List

The list of countries should be comprised from a different page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states

The latter one includes sovereign states that are recognized by majority of UN-member countries, hence - international community.

Be advised that the list posted here includes territories that no sovereign state has recognized or has diplomatic relationships with and hence the matter of their statehood is a subject of much controversy.

Also, such list should include up-to-date ISO2 codes for each country, that would be used as keys.

An ISO List

Authoritative country list (with country codes) is ISO 3166

ISO 3166 is a standard containing both country names and dual-letter country codes and updated by ISO as Maintaining Authority, according to their statement found here: http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes.htm . The country list is available for free downoad in several formats in English and French.

Given the user's inclination of using country codes when typing in a hurry, it makes sense to have Drupal understand that, for example, UK is the same as United Kingdom. I currently experiment entering country codes as synonims in a country and region taxonomy but am not sure how well this will work and may miss some important features being new to Drupal. Any thoughts on how to improve country code handling are welcome.

Another "food for thought" issue is the handling of regional country groupings. A country can belong to several such groupings and some of them relate to each other (e.g., EU have signed an EPA agreement with EFTA; AFTA is a free trade area founded by the countries - members of the ASEAN bloc).

Everybody's advise on optimal set-up of country and region taxonomies in Drupal is welcome