Unicode Proposals

Proposals for new characters to encode and canonic character sequences to register

View the Project on GitHub Crissov/unicode-proposals

Emoji Flags for Dependent Regions

Unicode emoji flags rely on ISO 3166. Contemporary sovereign countries (and some other geographical entities) are encoded in ISO 3166-1 and, for some of them, their administrative subdivisions in ISO 3166-2. Unicode Emoji (UTS#51) describes two separate methods to encode flags Emoji Flag Sequences and Flag Emoji Tag Sequences: The first uses Regional Indicator Symbol Letters A through Z (U+1F1E6..1F1FF) for code elements from Part 1 of ISO 3166, the second so far uses Tag Latin Small Letters A through Z (U+E0061..E007A) and U+E007F with the Waving Black Flag U+1F3F4 as a common base. Only the former are of interest here.

For each region code in ISO 3166-1, a parameter named independent is specified. Either CLDR or UTS#51 should explicitly make support optional for those listed as independent=no, just like is already done for "deprecated" codes. This is especially relevant for emoji input methods that are used to select a single flag out of hundreds. I am proposing to keep the independent states as idStatus="regular" and split off the rest as territories with the new status "dependent".

Currently, UTS#51 just warns that some region sequences for territories may not have an official flag of their own. It might be wise to add territories and subdivisions in sub-menus like skin colors or genders in some implementations, but this UX detail is probably out of scope of this specification.

Current text in UTS#51 Annex B: Flags

  • The valid region sequences are specified by Unicode region subtags as defined in [CLDR], with idStatus="regular", "deprecated", or the "macroregion". However, for macroregions, only UN and EU are valid.
  • Deprecated region sequences should not be generated, but may be supported for backward compatibility.
  • Macroregion region sequences generally do not have official flags, with the exception of the UN and EU.

Some region sequences represent countries (as recognized by the United Nations, for example); others represent territories that are associated with a country. Such territories may have flags of their own, or may use the flag of the country with which they are associated. Depictions of images for flags may be subject to constraints by the administration of that region.

Caveats:

  • Although a pair of REGIONAL INDICATOR symbols is referred to as an emoji_flag_sequence, it really represents a specific region, not a specific flag for that region. The actual flag displayed for the pair may be different on different platforms, for example for territories which do not have an official flag. The displayed flag may change over time as regions change their flags and platforms update their software.
  • For some territories (especially those without separate official flags), the displayed flag may be the same as the flag for the country with which they are associated. For more about cases where characters have the same appearance, see UTR #36: Unicode Security Considerations [UTR36].

For additional information see the sub-section on Regional Indicator Symbols in Section 22.10 Enclosed and Square of [Unicode].

Current region.xml in CLDR

<supplementalData>
  <version number="$Revision$"/>
  <idValidity>
    <id type="region" idStatus="regular">
      <!--  256 items  -->
      AC~G AI AL~M AO AQ~U AW~X AZ BA~B BD~J BL~O BQ~T BV~W BY~Z CA CC~D CF~I CK~P CR CU~Z DE DG DJ~K DM DO DZ EA EC EE EG~H ER~T FI~K FM FO FR GA~B GD~I GL~N GP~U GW GY HK HM~N HR HT~U IC~E IL~O IQ~T JE JM JO~P KE KG~I KM~N KP KR KW KY~Z LA~C LI LK LR~V LY MA MC~H MK~Z NA NC NE~G NI NL NO~P NR NU NZ OM PA PE~H PK~N PR~T PW PY QA RE RO RS RU RW SA~E SG~O SR~T SV SX~Z TA TC~D TF~H TJ~O TR TT TV~W TZ UA UG UM US UY~Z VA VC VE VG VI VN VU WF WS XK YE YT ZA ZM ZW
    </id>
    <id type="region" idStatus="macroregion">
      <!--  34 items  -->
      001~3 005 009 011 013~5 017~9 021 029 030 034~5 039 053~4 057 061 142~3 145 150~1 154~5 419 EU EZ QO UN
    </id>
    <id type="region" idStatus="deprecated">
      <!--  12 items  -->
      AN BU CS DD FX NT QU SU TP YD YU ZR
    </id>
    <id type="region" idStatus="private_use">
      <!--  38 items  -->
      AA QM~N QP~T QV~Z XA~J XL~Z
    </id>
    <id type="region" idStatus="unknown">
      <!--  1 item  -->
      ZZ
    </id>
  </idValidity>
</supplementalData>

Dependent regions in ISO 3166-1

Differences between ISO and CLDR

CLDR currently has 256 regular codes, but ISO has only 249 “officially assigned codes”. That’s because Unicode adds 6 codes that are exceptionally reserved by ISO 3166/MA and 1 private-use code (XK). The former group can safely be considered dependent as well.

English Alpha-2 Alpha-3 Numeric
Ascension Island AC — —
Clipperton Island CP — —
Diego Garcia DG — —
Ceuta, Melilla EA — —
Canary Islands IC — —
Tristan da Cunha TA — —
Kosovo XK — —

Proposed changes to region.xml

Replace <id type="region" idStatus="regular">...</id> by an equivalent of the following XML code:

<id type="region" idStatus="dependent">
  <!--  53 items  -->
  <!-- (AC) AI AQ AS AW AX BL BM BQ BV CC CK (CP) CW CX (DG) (EA) EH FK FO GF GG GL GP GS GU HK HM (IC) IM IO JE MF MO MP MQ MS NC NF NU PF PM PN PR PS RE SH SJ SX (TA) TC TF TK TW UM VG VI WF (XK) YT -->
  AC AI AQ AS AW AX BL~M BQ BV CC CK CP CW CX DG EA EH FK FO GF~G GL GP GS GU HK HM IC IM IO JE MF MO~Q MS NC NF NU PF PM~N PR~S RE SH SJ SX TA TC TF TK TW UM VG VI WF XK YT
</id>
<id type="region" idStatus="regular">
  <!-- 196 items  -->
  <!-- AD AE AF AG AL AM AO AR AT AU AZ BA BB BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BN BO BR BS BT BW BY BZ CA CD CF CG CH CI CL CM CN CO CR CU CV CY CZ DE DJ DK DM DO DZ EC EE EG ER ES ET FI FJ FM FR GA GB GD GE GH GI GM GN GQ GR GT GW GY HN HR HT HU ID IE IL IN IQ IR IS IT JM JO JP KE KG KH KI KM KN KP KR KW KY KZ LA LB LC LI LK LR LS LT LU LV LY MA MC MD ME MG MH MK ML MM MN MR MT MU MV MW MX MY MZ NA NE NG NI NL NO NP NR NZ OM PA PE PG PH PK PL PT PW PY QA RO RS RU RW SA SB SC SD SE SG SI SK SL SM SN SO SR SS ST SV SY SZ TD TG TH TJ TL TM TN TO TR TT TV TZ UA UG US UY UZ VA VC VE VN VU WS YE ZA ZM ZW -->
  AD~G AL~M AO AR AT~U AZ BA~B BD~J BN~O BR~T BW BY~Z CA CD CF~I CL~O CR CU~V CY~Z DE DJ~K DM DO DZ EC EE EG ER~T FI FJ FM FR GA~B GD~E GH~I GM~N GQ~R GT GW GY HN HR HT~U ID IE IL IN IQ~T JM JO JP KE KG~I KM~N KP KR KW KY~Z LA~C LI LK LR~V LY MA MC~E MG~H MK~N MR MT~Z NA NE NG NI NL NO~P NR NZ OM PA PE PG~H PK~L PT PW PY QA RO RS RU RW SA~E SG SI SK~O SR~T SV SY~Z TD TG~H TJ TL~O TR TT TV TZ UA UG US UY~Z VA VC VE VN VU WS YE ZA ZM ZW
</id>

Proposed text for UTS#51 Annex B: Flags

  • The valid regionemoji flag sequences are specified by Unicode region subtags as defined in [CLDR], with idStatus="regular", "deprecated", "dependent", "unknown", or "macroregion". However, for macroregions, only UN and EU are valid.
  • Deprecated regionand dependent emoji flag sequences should not be generated, but may be supported for backward compatibility.
  • Macroregion regionemoji flag sequences generally do not have official flags, with the exception of the UN and EU.
  • The unknown emoji flag sequence should not be displayed with the same glyph as an invalid or unsupported emoji flag sequence or flag emoji tag sequence.

Some regionMost regular emoji flag sequences represent countries (as recognized by the United Nations, for example); othersmost dependent emoji flag sequences represent territories that are associated with a country. Such territories may have flags of their own, or may use the flag of the country with which they are associated. (…)

References