Where can I get up to date country list?

Question

I need to get list of valid countries for web application, is there any list that could be downloaded as XML or similar format, so that I could atomatically update country list?

Answer 1

Get the ISO 3166 list (there is an XML version) from the ISO 3166 Maintenance agency. You can also look at Updates on ISO 3166. You can read about the standard on Wikipedia for more information.