Without country codes and exit codes, we’d need to come up with a different system saudi arabia mobile phone numbers database for telling providers where calls should be routed. The current format, with the + followed by the country code, seems to work sufficiently well. This way, people only have to find the country code they need to call their intended destination, rather than remember a combination of codes. International Country Codes and World Zones To provide a bit more background about country codes, this international phone number system was first introduced by the International Telecoms Union (ITU) in the 1960s, with the ITU consisting of representatives of every country's network provider.

Country dialling codes are part of the Telephone Numbering Plan, and were originally allocated by roughly splitting the world into 9 zones. So each world zone received its own number prefix, with some countries receiving three or two digit codes to offset longer domestic numbers. Zone 1 (+1) is assigned to North American Numbering Plan (NANP) members: Eg. United States (+1) and Canada (+1). Zone 2 (+2) is assigned to Africa and additional neighbouring regions: Eg.