Country code differences to look out for

Between COW and G&W lists

How many COW country names are in G&W country names?

## 
## FALSE  TRUE 
##    35   208

How many G&W country names are in COW country names?

## 
## FALSE  TRUE 
##    45   194

There is more apparent overlap when we focus on country codes:

Country codes in COW but not in G&W

cowcode	cow3c	country_name	start	end
679	YEM	Yemen	1990-05-22	2016-12-31
946	KIR	Kiribati	1999-09-14	2016-12-31
947	TUV	Tuvalu	2000-09-05	2016-12-31
955	TON	Tonga	1999-09-14	2016-12-31

Country codes in G&W but not in COW

gwcode	iso3c	country_name	start	end	microstate
89	UPC	United Provinces of Central America	1823-07-01	1839-12-31	FALSE
99	GCL	Great Colombia	1821-08-30	1830-09-22	FALSE
340	SER	Serbia	1878-07-13	1915-10-01	FALSE
340	SER	Serbia	2006-06-05	9999-12-31	FALSE
563	TRA	Transvaal	1852-01-01	1910-05-30	FALSE
564	OFS	Orange Free State	1854-03-28	1910-05-30	FALSE
711	TBT	Tibet	1913-01-01	1950-10-01	FALSE
815	VNM	Vietnam (Annam/Cochin China/Tonkin)	1816-01-01	1893-01-01	FALSE
396	ABK	Abkhazia	2008-08-26	9999-12-31	TRUE
397	SOT	South Ossetia	2008-08-26	9999-12-31	TRUE
971	NAU	Nauru	1968-12-31	9999-12-31	TRUE
972	TON	Tonga	1970-06-04	9999-12-31	TRUE
973	TUV	Tuvalu	1978-10-01	9999-12-31	TRUE

This is deceiving however. There are several country codes that refer to different countries in COW and G&W. Also, which code is retained for states after a split or merge is different in several cases.

• Germany after 1991 unification: COW uses 255, G&W continues 260
• Yemen: COW has 678 for Yemen from 1926 to 1990, then 679 after unification; G&W uses 678 throughout, but independence is earlier.
• Kiribati: 970 in G&W, 946 in COW
• Nauru: 971 in G&W, 970 in COW
• Tuvalu: 973 in G&W, 947 in COW
• Tonga: 972 in G&W, 955 in COW