Source of data for "official" country/region list
automation, country, country-codes, locale
Solution
This one looks very good: Multiple languages, update option, database independent file format for import, countries/regions/cities information, and some other features you might use or not.
And it's quite affordable if you need it for only one server.
Problem
Lately we've started getting issues with outdated countries / regions list being presented to users of our web-application. We currently have a few DB tables to store localized country names along with their regions (states). However as the planet goes, that list is in constant evolution and it's proving to be a pain to maintain as some regions are deleted, some merged - existing data needs to be updated all the time. What are, if any exist, the best practices when it come to dealing with multi-locale countries/regions list? Is there a place or a standard in place? I know of ISO 3166, but their list isn't exactly DB friendly ... plus it's not fully localized. An ideal solution would simply allow us to "sync" to it? Preferably in multiple language. The solution would preferably be free or subscription based with an historic of what changed so we could update our data (aka tblAddress) Thanks!