Spatial Information and Geocoding

Country Codes (ISO-3)

In the EM-DAT Public Table, the ISO column indicates a 3-letter (alpha-3) code representing a specific country, e.g., “BEL” for Belgium. This code is presented according to the international standard ISO-3166 determined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Due to historical changes in the countries’ denomination or boundaries, you may find country codes that are not found in the current ISO 3166 alpha-3 country codes. These extensions are listed in the table below.

Country codes are particularly useful to link the EM-DAT tabular data to a spatial layer using a Geographic Information System (GIS), spatial database, or geoprocessing programming library.

United Nations M49 Standard Country or Area Codes

The UN M49, also known as the Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use (Series M, No. 49), is a set of area codes formulated by the United Nations for data analytics. This standard is curated and upheld by the United Nations Statistics Division. The UN M49 alpha-3 codes largely overlaps with the ISO-3166 alpha-3 norm.

Since September 2023, the EM-DAT Public Table refers to the Country, Region, and Subregion names as found in the UN M49 standard. Codes used for the EM-DAT extensions to the ISO alpha-3 codes and UNM49 are listed in the table below.

ISO/ UN M49 Extensions

GAUL 2015 Administrative Units

Between 2014 and 2025, EM-DAT has relied on the Global Administrative Unit Layers (GAUL 2015) implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to indicate in the Admin Units column, which region is affected by the disaster, up to the Admin-2 level (e.g., districts). The mapping of EM-DAT disaster events at this higher level of geographical precision has only been completed for non-biological natural-hazard data since 2000.

The human and economic impact variables at the country level (Admin-0) are not disaggregated between regions at the Admin-1 or Admin-2 level. Hence, only the occurrence is available at a more precise administrative level, and the impact variables remain representative of the country level.

EM-DAT provides loss statistics at the country level, which corresponds to GAUL Admin-0 level. In addition, the EM-DAT Public Table mentions in the Admin Units column which region is affected by the disaster up to the Admin-2 level (e.g., districts). The mapping of EM-DAT disaster events at this higher level of geographical precision has only been completed for data since 2000.

The geometries for GAUL 2015 are available as a Geopackage file.

GADM 4.1 Administrative Units

The GADM Database of Global Administrative Areas was selected to replace GAUL 2015 geocoded administrative units, from 2026 onwards. As for GAUL 2015 Administrative Units, geocoding remains limited to non-biological natural-hazard data since 2000. The primary geocoding workflow remains manual. GADM 4.1 geocoded units are assigned manually by database managers, using existing geocoding services, based on the Location column (see Public Table). However, as of January 2026, most GADM administrative units in EM-DAT for the 2000-2025 period are the result of a migration from the GAUL 2015 Administrative Units, and this migration is hereby documented to reflect potential precision losses inherent in the process.

GAUL 2015 to GADM 4.1 Migration

The complete procedure followed two steps:

1. The generation of a translation layer from GAUL to GADM. Based on geoprocessing, GAUL and GADM geometries were compared using geometric and topological indicators. Several strategies and outcomes are considered in the translation layer.
2. The optimal translation selection workflow. Among candidate GAUL-to-GADM translation options, the workflow follows a decision tree based on indicators associated with the transition layer, ultimately selecting GADM units.

Translation Methods and Strategies

Candidate translation options are identified using four methods, listed below in order of priority. The companion table provides an additional summary, including the labels that could be found in the GADM Admin Unit column (see Public Table) to identify the matching method.

1. One-to-one matching using overlap indices, i.e., the Jaccard Index (JI). Labels jaccard1 and jaccard2 refer to units that have been matched using this method, either at the Admin. Level 1 or 2.

2. One-to-many matching using a selection strategy to reconstruct a composite GADM administrative footprint matching the original GAUL one with a list of GADM units. The quality of the composite “puzzle” footprint is also evaluated using the Jaccard Index (JI). The approach can be applied at the same administrative level (puzzle1_1 or puzzle2_2) or between GAUL admin-1 and GADM admin-2 (puzzle1_2). *

3. One-to-one matching using the discrete Hausdorff distance as an alternative indicator, primarily focused on the spatial proximity of points defined in nearby geometries. A buffer distance is used to identify nearby geometries. In contrast, JI is focused on overlap ratios. The routine is either applied at the admin-1 ( bufhaus1) or admin-2 level (bufhaus2).

4. An upward fallback strategy, which consists of identifying a GADM unit containing the GAUL original one. The parent2_1 workflow selects a jaccard1 match for the GAUL parent unit when applicable. The within2_1 workflow identifies the upward GADM admin-1 unit based on the area ratio of the contained GAUL admin-2 unit.

* While we do not provide a jaccard1_2 label, a puzzle1_2 method resulting in one admin unit being identified is conceptually and methodologically equivalent.

As of January, around 90% of the GAUL 2015 footprints have been matched to corresponding GADM 4.1 footprints, satisfying quality thresholds. The remaining 10% will be geocoded progressively, using the manual workflow.

See also: External Resources/Augmented EM-DAT Data