[OT] Europe vs. European Union (was: Re: Unicode Emoji 5.0 characters now final)

The UN "M49 Standard" (that's how they're styling it now; I guess we
should stop writing "M.49") assigns a code element for each "country or
area" and groups these into "geographical regions."

To find the "countries or areas" included within code element 150 for
"Europe," simply visit https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ ,
select Geographic Regions from the menu at the left, and expand the
entries for Europe and its four subregions. The lists are available in
six languages, including French.

To find the countries that make up the European Union at any given
moment, visit http://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries_fr (or
similar for other EU languages). As is well known, this list has changed
in the past and will change in the future.

The point is that UNSD's definition of Europe and the roster of the
European Union are different lists, and no attempt is made by either
organization to make these lists identical or to explain or justify
differences.
 

--
Doug Ewell | Thornton, CO, US | ewellic.org