Country Lookup

Overview

Pass a common country name, alternate spelling, or ISO 3166 code in the query. The service searches a monthly updated dataset of 250 countries, returning matching records with capitals, domain extensions, region groupings, and mapped official languages. Paid plans can set the major cities parameter to include prominent urban centers along with geographic coordinates.

Endpoint

One host, one path per API. The block below shows this call in four languages; every one of them is the same HTTP request. Making requests covers the timeouts, retries and parameter rules that apply to all of them. The SDKs wrap the same call in a typed client.

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curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/countrylookup?country=USA&majorcities=true" \
  -H "x-api-key: your_api_key_here"

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const res = await fetch('https://api.apiverve.com/v1/countrylookup?country=USA&majorcities=true', {
  headers: { 'x-api-key': 'your_api_key_here' },
});

if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);

const { data } = await res.json();
console.log(data);

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import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/countrylookup?country=USA&majorcities=true",
    headers={"x-api-key": "your_api_key_here"},
    timeout=15,
)
res.raise_for_status()

print(res.json()["data"])

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package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/countrylookup?country=USA&majorcities=true", nil)
	req.Header.Set("x-api-key", "your_api_key_here")

	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()

	out, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(out))
}

Replace your_api_key_here with the key from your dashboard. When the inputs arrive as a list rather than one at a time, batch requests run up to 200 of them through this same API in a single call.

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — there is no token exchange and no per-endpoint scope to configure. Authentication covers creating, rotating and revoking keys.

Parameters

Sent in the query string. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

Response

Every API returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape. Response format covers the envelope, the other output formats and how premium fields are withheld.

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{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "search": "USA",
    "countries": [
      {
        "name": {
          "common": "United States",
          "official": "United States of America",
          "native": {
            "eng": {
              "official": "United States of America",
              "common": "United States"
            }
          }
        },
        "tld": [
          ".us"
        ],
        "cca2": "US",
        "ccn3": "840",
        "cca3": "USA",
        "cioc": "USA",
        "independent": true,
        "status": "officially-assigned",
        "unRegionalGroup": "Western European and Others Group",
        "capital": [
          "Washington D.C."
        ],
        "altSpellings": [
          "US",
          "USA",
          "United States of America"
        ],
        "region": "Americas",
        "subregion": "North America",
        "languages": {
          "eng": "English"
        },
        "latlng": [
          38,
          -97
        ],
        "landlocked": false,
        "flag": "🇺🇸"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change. Error handling covers the full status list and which of them are worth retrying.

Use cases

Customs Declaration Filling

When generating export manifests, logistics software queries the destination ISO code to append standardized official country names and regions.

Locale Preference Detection

E-commerce platforms resolve visitor country codes to display corresponding official languages and flag icons on storefront headers.

Global Vendor Profiling

Standardize supplier databases by resolving freeform location text into uniform ISO alpha-3 codes, capital cities, and top-level domains.

Traveler Briefing Packs

Travel booking apps supply passengers with destination briefing cards containing capital cities, spoken languages, and regional groupings before departure.

Other ways to use Country Lookup

Set up Country Lookup on APIVerve, or reach the same source a different way. Your APIVerve account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.

Related

More in Geography: