Select Countries

Get all countries optimized for select dropdowns and forms

The /v1/select/countries endpoint returns a lightweight list of all countries with only id and name fields, optimized for dropdown menus and form inputs.

Endpoint

GET https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries

Authentication

Include your API key as a query parameter:

?apikey=your-api-key

Your API key is like a password, keep it secure. Get your key from the account dashboard.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`apikey`	string	Yes	Your API authentication key
`lang`	string	No	Language code for country names (default: `en`)

Supported Languages

en - English (default)
es - Spanish
pt - Portuguese
fr - French
de - German
it - Italian

Request Example

curl "https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries?apikey=your-api-key&lang=en"

JavaScript (Fetch)

const API_KEY = 'your-api-key';

async function loadCountries() {
  const response = await fetch(
    `https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries?apikey=${API_KEY}&lang=en`
  );
  const data = await response.json();
  return data;
}

JavaScript (Axios)

import axios from 'axios';

const response = await axios.get(
  'https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries',
  {
    params: {
      apikey: 'your-api-key',
      lang: 'en',
    },
  }
);

Python

import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries',
    params={
        'apikey': 'your-api-key',
        'lang': 'en'
    }
)
data = response.json()

PHP

<?php
$apiKey = 'your-api-key';
$url = "https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries?apikey={$apiKey}&lang=en";

$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$data = json_decode($response, true);
?>

Angular

// country.service.ts
import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { HttpClient, HttpParams } from '@angular/common/http';
import { Observable } from 'rxjs';
import { map } from 'rxjs/operators';

interface Country {
  id: string;
  name: string;
}

interface ApiResponse {
  success: boolean;
  data: Country[];
}

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class CountryService {
  private readonly API_KEY = 'your-api-key';
  private readonly BASE_URL = 'https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1';

  constructor(private http: HttpClient) {}

  getCountries(lang: string = 'en'): Observable<Country[]> {
    const params = new HttpParams()
      .set('apikey', this.API_KEY)
      .set('lang', lang);

    return this.http.get<ApiResponse>(
      `${this.BASE_URL}/select/countries`,
      { params }
    ).pipe(
      map(response => response.data)
    );
  }
}

// country-select.component.ts
import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
import { CommonModule } from '@angular/common';
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { CountryService } from './country.service';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-country-select',
  standalone: true,
  imports: [CommonModule, FormsModule],
  template: `
    <div *ngIf="loading">Loading countries...</div>
    <div *ngIf="error" class="error">{{ error }}</div>
    <select
      *ngIf="!loading && !error"
      [(ngModel)]="selectedCountry"
      (ngModelChange)="onCountryChange($event)"
    >
      <option value="">Select a country...</option>
      <option *ngFor="let country of countries" [value]="country.id">
        {{ country.name }}
      </option>
    </select>
  `
})
export class CountrySelectComponent implements OnInit {
  countries: any[] = [];
  selectedCountry = '';
  loading = true;
  error: string | null = null;

  constructor(private countryService: CountryService) {}

  ngOnInit() {
    this.countryService.getCountries('en').subscribe({
      next: (data) => {
        this.countries = data;
        this.loading = false;
      },
      error: (err) => {
        this.error = 'Failed to load countries';
        this.loading = false;
      }
    });
  }

  onCountryChange(countryId: string) {
    console.log('Selected country:', countryId);
    // Trigger state loading, emit event, etc.
  }
}

Response Format

Success Response

{
  "success": true,
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "66c7a6c9e4bda21f4ab10ef2",
      "name": "Afghanistan"
    },
    {
      "id": "66c7a6c9e4bda21f4ab10ef3",
      "name": "Albania"
    },
    {
      "id": "66c7a6c9e4bda21f4ab10ef4",
      "name": "Algeria"
    }
    // ... more countries (200+ total)
  ]
}

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`success`	boolean	Indicates if the request was successful
`data`	array	Array of country objects
`data[].id`	string	Unique country identifier (MongoDB ObjectId)
`data[].name`	string	Country name in the requested language

Error Response

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "INVALID_API_KEY",
    "message": "The provided API key is invalid"
  }
}

See the Error Codes documentation for all possible error codes.

Response Size

The select endpoint is optimized for minimal bandwidth:

Full endpoint (/v1/countries/all): ~500KB (includes all country data)
Select endpoint (/v1/select/countries): ~15KB (only id and name)

This makes the select endpoint 97% smaller and perfect for form dropdowns!

Token Usage

This endpoint consumes 1 token per request.

Tip: Cache the response in localStorage or your application state. Countries rarely change, so you can safely cache for 7+ days.

Use Cases

1. Dropdown Menu

<select id="country">
  <option value="">Select country...</option>
  <!-- Populated via JavaScript -->
</select>

<script>
async function populateCountries() {
  const response = await fetch(
    'https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries?apikey=your-api-key&lang=en'
  );
  const { data } = await response.json();

  const select = document.getElementById('country');
  data.forEach(country => {
    const option = new Option(country.name, country.id);
    select.add(option);
  });
}

populateCountries();
</script>

2. React Component

import { useState, useEffect } from 'react';

function CountrySelect() {
  const [countries, setCountries] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    fetch('https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries?apikey=your-api-key&lang=en')
      .then(res => res.json())
      .then(({ data }) => setCountries(data));
  }, []);

  return (
    <select>
      <option value="">Select country...</option>
      {countries.map(country => (
        <option key={country.id} value={country.id}>
          {country.name}
        </option>
      ))}
    </select>
  );
}

3. Vue Component

<script setup>
import { ref, onMounted } from 'vue';

const countries = ref([]);

onMounted(async () => {
  const response = await fetch(
    'https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries?apikey=your-api-key&lang=en'
  );
  const { data } = await response.json();
  countries.value = data;
});
</script>

<template>
  <select>
    <option value="">Select country...</option>
    <option v-for="country in countries" :key="country.id" :value="country.id">
      {{ country.name }}
    </option>
  </select>
</template>

Caching Example

Cache countries in localStorage to minimize API calls:

const CACHE_KEY = 'countries_cache';
const CACHE_DURATION = 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000; // 7 days

async function getCountries() {
  // Check cache first
  const cached = localStorage.getItem(CACHE_KEY);
  if (cached) {
    const { data, timestamp } = JSON.parse(cached);
    if (Date.now() - timestamp < CACHE_DURATION) {
      return data;
    }
  }

  // Fetch from API
  const response = await fetch(
    'https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries?apikey=your-api-key&lang=en'
  );
  const { data } = await response.json();

  // Save to cache
  localStorage.setItem(CACHE_KEY, JSON.stringify({
    data,
    timestamp: Date.now()
  }));

  return data;
}

Multilingual Example

Switch between languages dynamically:

function loadCountries(language = 'en') {
  return fetch(
    `https://api.countrydataapi.com/v1/select/countries?apikey=your-api-key&lang=${language}`
  ).then(res => res.json());
}

// Load in Spanish
const spanishCountries = await loadCountries('es');

// Load in French
const frenchCountries = await loadCountries('fr');

Performance Tips

Cache aggressively: Countries don't change often
Use lazy loading: Load countries when dropdown is focused
Implement search: For better UX with 200+ countries
Preload on page load: Fetch in background while user reads content

Rate Limits

Free tier: 100 requests/day
Basic tier: 1,000 requests/day
Pro tier: 10,000 requests/day
Enterprise tier: Unlimited

Check our pricing page for more details.

Related Endpoints

GET /v1/select/states - Get states by country
GET /v1/select/cities - Get cities by state
GET /v1/countries/all - Get complete country data

Complete Integration Guides

Address Form with Cascading Selects - Vanilla JavaScript
React Integration - Custom hooks
Vue Integration - Composables

Need Help?

Check our Error Codes documentation
View Authentication guide
Contact support through your account dashboard

Note: The id field returned is a MongoDB ObjectId that uniquely identifies each country across all endpoints. Use this ID when querying states, cities, or other related data.

API Documentation - Endpoints & Examples