This online directory includes 196 jurisdictions generally considered to be independent governing entities. We have based our country listings on several factors, including the nature of the jurisdiction, the extent to which it operates as an independent governing entity, and whether major governments recognize the entity as an independent state. This directory includes some entities that are not recognized as nations by many countries (such as the Palestinian Authority), but does not include territories of listed countries (such as the British Virgin Islands or St. Barthelemy). Country names are in English. Not all of the jurisdictions may contain data, so if you perform a search and you don't find the country you are looking for, there was no data for that country in this directory.

Advanced Search includes "Branch" as a search criteria. This refers to the nine broad categories into which all government offices are placed: Head of State, Cabinet, Defense Forces, State Agencies, Legislature, Judiciary, Central Bank, United Nation Mission, and Foreign Diplomatic Missions. In instances where more than one category could be assigned (eg, a central bank could be listed under Central Bank or State Agency), our editors determine which category is the narrowest or most appropriate. Offices are not listed under more than one category.

Titles and Office Names generally are entered in English, and thus are translations of the original office name or or title.

Person names are entered using the following priorities: (1) If available, the home language name and spelling is used, (2) If not available, the name as spelled on the country's own publications, such as Web sites and printed publications, (3) If not available, the name as spelled by other countries and the news media.

CQ Press' online directories are updated daily, with changes being made directly to the database searched by subscribers. Major changes in government, such as changes in Heads of State or Cabinet Ministers are entered immediately after they are available. The updating of lower level staff occurs on a rotating schedule. Major countries are updated more frequently than smaller countries.

Our multilingual researchers update by: (a) contacting government officials and embassies, (b) translating and reviewing local language government directories, (c) translating and reviewing government websites, and (d) reviewing daily and periodic news reports from around the world.

We strive to be 100% accurate, but with the challenges of international research in dozens of languages involving many secretive governments, we unquestionably make mistakes. Also, CQ Press recently purchased these publications from another publisher. We are in the process of verifying and updating this information.

We request that you inform us of any specific or general errors you identify. We will make every effort to correct or update the information immediately. Email brogers@cqpress.com.

The information in this directory can be accessed in three ways:

1. Browsing up and down the government hiearchy. This approach is best when you do not have a specific name or office, or are interested in understanding how a country's government is organized for a particular purpose.
   
2. Using Quick Search to find an office or person. Quick Search is always available and allows you to search either (a) by both office and country in one search, or (b) by person name, but not limiting to a specific country. Quick Search is best when you know all or part of a person's name or an office name. (However, be aware that variations in name spelling and the translation of the office name may make identification difficult in some instances. See Name Spelling and Office Translations.)
   
3. Using Advanced Search to search the database by several criteria at once. Advanced Search is best when you want to narrow your search as much as possible, or when you are seeking to identify a number of contacts with a similar characteristics. The fields available in Advanced Search are: (a) World or Country Name, (b) Office Name, (c) Person's Name, (d) Title, (e) Branch, and (f) Publication.

To search by country, select "Country" in the "Where" field. A country drop-down box will appear allowing you to select among 196 jurisdictions.

At least one search field must be entered to conduct an advanced search. You may enter a search term or make a search selection in one search field, in every search field, or in any combination of search fields to create a search that will produce the results you are seeking.

These options allow you to narrow or broaden searches. For three search fields (Office Name, Person's Name and Title) you may search for character string matches that either "include" or "start with" the string entered. The default option is "includes," so that results will include any entry that contains the string anywhere in its name. For example, searching for a name that includes "rob" would return both "Robert" and "Nairobi". In this instance, selecting the "starts with" option would return only "Robert."

"Publication" refers to the print directory or directories to which you subscribe and for which this online directory is accessible.

Advanced searches may take anywhere from 2 to 15 seconds, depending on your internet connection, your computer, the number of criteria searched, the number of characters searched, and the use of "includes". To speed searches:

This directory is best viewed using Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.5 or newer or Netscape Navigator version 6.2 or newer.  

Older versions of Netscape Navigator will not permit use of drop-down boxes on certain search pages.  In addition, the visual appearance of the pages may be affected by using an older browser version. 

Click here to download the latest version of Internet Explorer.
Click here to download the latest version of Netscape Navigator.

Click here for international dialing instructions.

Following are the most frequent dialing errors:

• Using the wrong international access code. In the US, first dial 011.
• Adding a "0" to the front of the area code. In some countries, callers dialing from inside the country must add a "0" to the area code, but callers dialing from outside the country do not add the "0".
• The area code has changed. Countries are constantly modifying their area codes to accommodate growth. This directory may not have yet reflected that change. Check with your local phone company for new area codes.

Yes, in some countries such as Germany telephone numbers can be of differing lengths.

Yes. Advanced Search results can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet by clicking on the 'Export Results' link on the page.

Potential subscribers may request a trial subscription to this directory which allows nearly full access to its data and functions for a limited period of time, generally two weeks. To request a free trial, send an email with your full contact information and the title of the publication you wish to trial in the subject line to directorysales@cqpress.com. You will receive an email with your trial username and password. Once you receive that, you will login as if you were a subscriber using the username and password assigned. You can then access the site. If you receive an error message, you can email the same email address above to request help or you can call customer service at 1-866-427-7737, (internationally +00-1-202-729-1900). Check to make sure you have typed in the username and password correctly, using the right cases, and that you are on the correct product site. Also, if it has been more than two weeks since you received the email, the trial password has likely expired.