Telephone numbers in Europe

Telephone numbers in Europe are managed by the national telecommunications authorities of each country. The country calling codes start primarily with 3 and 4, however, some countries that by the Copenhagen criteria are considered part of Europe have country codes from the Asia range, starting with 9.

Calling codes in Europe

The international access code (trunk prefix) has been standardized as 00, as recommended by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

European Economic Area

Country Country calling code National number length Dialing plan* International Call Prefix
Austria 43 4 to 13 variable 00
Belgium 32 8 to 10 fixed with 0 00
Bulgaria 359 7 to 9 variable 00
Croatia 385 8 or 9 (some mobile) variable 00
Cyprus 357 8 fixed 00
Czech Republic 420 9 fixed 00
Denmark 45 8 fixed 00
Estonia 372 7 (fixed or mobile), 8 (mobile) fixed 00
Finland 358 5 to 12 variable 00
France 33 9 fixed with 0 00
Germany 49 3 to 12 variable 00
Greece 30 10 fixed 00
Hungary 36 8 (landline) or 9 (mobile) fixed 00
Iceland 354 7 (mobile and landline) or 9 (for 3xxxxxxxx) fixed 00
Ireland 353 7 to 9; 10 (mobile voicemail and Northern Ireland) variable 00
Italy 39 6 to 12 fixed 00
Latvia 371 8 fixed 00
Liechtenstein 423 up to 12 (generally is 7) fixed 00
Lithuania 370 8 variable 00
Luxembourg 352 8 (fixed new numbering plan); 9 (mobile); 12 (mobile telematic); 4-11 (historic numbers still active) [1] fixed 00
Malta 356 8 fixed 00
Netherlands 31 9 variable 00
Norway 47 4-12 (generally 8) fixed 00
Poland 48 9 fixed 00
Portugal 351 9 fixed 00
Romania 40 9 fixed with 0 00
Slovakia 421 9 variable 00
Slovenia 386 8 variable 00
Spain 34 9 (3 for emergency services, 4 for phone companies, 5 and starting with 118 for telephonic information, 6 and starting with 116 for social interest and 5 or 6 with starting with other numbers that are not listed before for premium services) fixed 00
Sweden 46 6 to 9 00
All European Economic Area member states apply the European Union roaming regulations. The regulation eventually led to the abolition of all roaming charges for temporary roaming when traveling within the EEA as of June 15, 2017. The European Union international calls regulations regulate prices of calls (and text messages) when calling from your home country to another EEA country.

Other European countries/territories

Country Country calling code National number length Dialing plan International call prefix
Abkhazia † 995 44 or 7 840 (landline) / 7 940 (mobile) 7 variable 00 or 8~10
Albania 355 8 (fixed), 9 (mobile) variable 00
Andorra 376 6 or 9 (in special cases) fixed 00
Armenia 374 8 variable 00 (was 8~10)
Belarus 375 9 variable 00 (was 8~10)
Bosnia and Herzegovina 387 8 to 9 variable 00
Faroe Islands 298 6 fixed 00
Georgia 995 9 variable 00 (was 8~10)
Gibraltar 350 8 fixed 00
Kosovo† 383 8 variable 00
North Macedonia 389 8 variable 00
Moldova 373 8 fixed with 0[2] 00 (was 8~10)
Monaco 377 8 to 9 fixed (?) 00
Montenegro 382 8 fixed 00
Nagorno-Karabakh † 374 47 (landline) / 374 97 (mobile) 5 variable 00 (was 8~10)
Russia 7 (shares with Kazakhstan) 10 variable 8~10
San Marino 378 6 to 12 fixed 00
Serbia 381 8 to 10 variable 00
South Ossetia † 995 34 or 7 99534 / 7 997 / 7 929 (mobile) 5 to 7 variable 00 or 8~10
Switzerland 41 9 fixed with 0 00
Transnistria † 373 5 / 373 2 (Moldova codes used) 7 variable 00
Turkey 90 10 fixed 00
Northern Cyprus † 90 392 (landline), 90 533 / 90 542 (mobile) 7 fixed 00
United Kingdom 44 9 or 10 digits (geographic); 7, 9 or 10 (non-geographic) variable 00
Ukraine 380 9 variable 00 (was 8~10)
Vatican City 379 (never activated)

† = Disputed state, may not be recognized as an independent state by some or all European Union members.

*A variable dialing plan has different dialing procedures for local and long-distance telephone calls. A call within the same city or within an area is dialed only by the subscriber number, while for calls outside the area, the number must be prefixed with the destination area code. For fixed dialing plan it is always required to dial all digits of the complete telephone number, including any area codes, if implemented.

Asian regions with European history or heritage

Despite fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria for being part of Europe the following countries are in the Asian numbering group, having a country code starting with 9:

One country that is geographically in Asia but is considered part of Europe for cultural and historical reasons, belong to the European group 3:

Harmonized service numbers

The following service numbers are harmonized across the European Union:

Single numbering plan (1996 proposal)

Proposed Country Code: 3

In 1996, the European Commission proposed the introduction of a single telephone numbering plan, in which all European Union member states would use the code '3'. Calls between member states would no longer require the use of the international access code '00'. Instead the digit 1 was proposed for these calls, replaced by +3 for call from outside the EU. Each country would have a two-digit country code after the 1 or the +3. Calls inside each country would not be affected.

Option 3 : Creation, in addition to providing numbers for special services, of a clear European numbering identity (three digit numbering codes) by using the number "3" to proceed current national country codes (e.g. "333" for France or "344" for the UK). This would liberate up to 50 new country codes within Europe and allow the current codes starting with number "4" to be recycled within the world-wide numbering plan.

This proposal would have required states like Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark and others, whose country codes began with the digit '4', to return these to the International Telecommunication Union.

This would create four different ways of calling someone. For example, to call a number in Berlin, in Germany:

xxxx xxxx (within Berlin)
030 xxxx xxxx (within Germany)
1 49 30 xxxx xxxx (within the EU)
+3 49 30  xxxx xxxx (outside the EU)
+49 30  xxxx xxxx (current system)

Such a scheme would also have affected Spain which uses +34. For example, to call someone in Barcelona:

93x xxxxxx (within Spain)
1 34 93x xxxxxx (within the EU)
+3 34 93x  xxxxxx (outside the EU)
+34 93x  xxxxxx (current system)

States like Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and Finland, which used codes in the '35x' range, would adopt a different format. For example, to call a number in Dublin, Ireland:

xxx xxxx (within Dublin)
01 xxx xxxx (within Ireland)
1 53 1 xxx xxxx (within the EU)
+3 53 1 xxx xxxx (outside the EU)
+353 1 xxx xxxx (current system)

A Green Paper on the proposal was published, but it was felt by many in the industry that the disruption and inconvenience of such a scheme would outweigh any advantages.

A disadvantage would have been that every local number beginning with "1" would have had to be changed (except emergency number which would be kept).

Another disadvantage would be that people wanting to call France (e.g. Southeast France using +33 4...) using an old number would connect another country like Spain, or people wanting to call Spain (e.g. +34 9...) would end up in e.g. Germany if they use an old number.

The EU proposal should not be confused with the European Telephony Numbering Space (ETNS) scheme, which uses the country code +388, and was intended to complement, rather than replace, existing national numbering plans.

See also

References

  1. "E.164 Number Ranges in use in Luxembourg" (PDF). Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation. October 2017.
  2. http://en.anrceti.md/news29032012
  3. "112 – The European emergency number". European Commission – Information Society. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  4. "SOS 112 Europe". Retrieved 31 January 2011.