How to make an international call to any country

To call another country, dial + (or your country’s exit code), then the country code, then the local number without its leading 0. A London number written locally as 020 7946 0123 becomes +44 20 7946 0123. From a US landline, where the exit code is 011, you dial 011 44 20 7946 0123 instead.

How a London number is dialed from a mobile or from a US landline

The three parts of an international number

Every international call is built from the same three pieces, defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in its E.164 numbering plan:

1. The exit code (the ITU calls it the international prefix). It tells your phone network that the next digits are a country code. It depends on where you are calling from: 011 in the US and Canada, 00 in most of Europe and much of the world.
2. The country code, one to three digits for the country you are calling to. The US and Canada share 1, the UK is 44, India is 91.
3. The national number: the number as people in that country write it, minus the trunk prefix (usually a leading 0) that they only dial inside the country.

So a call from the US to a Sydney number written locally as (02) 5550 1234 is 011 for the exit, 61 for Australia, then 2 5550 1234 without the 0: 011 61 2 5550 1234, or +61 2 5550 1234 from a mobile.

On a mobile phone, use the plus sign

On a mobile, you rarely need to know an exit code. Press and hold the 0 key until a + appears, then type the country code and number. Verizon’s guide to plus dialing describes exactly this: the + is used instead of dialing an exit code.

Save your international contacts in + format too, such as +44 20 7946 0123. The number then dials correctly whether you are at home, traveling, or calling from a foreign SIM.

From a landline, start with your exit code

A landline or desk phone usually has no + key, so you dial the exit code of the country you are in. The ITU recommends 00 as the exit code, and most countries use it. These are the main ones that do not:

• US, Canada and the rest of the North American Numbering Plan: 011
• Australia: 0011
• Japan: 010
• Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia: 001 (Singapore and Indonesia also list 008)
• South Korea: 001 or 002
• Nigeria: 009
• Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda: 000

If you are unsure, use a mobile and the + sign instead.

Photo by Hassan OUAJBIR on Unsplash

Drop the leading 0, except in Italy

Many countries write local numbers with a leading 0, such as 020 for London. That 0 is a trunk prefix for calls inside the country, and the ITU’s dialing procedures say the destination’s trunk prefix must not be dialed on an international call. Leave it out after the country code.

Some countries have no trunk prefix at all, so there is nothing to drop:

• Italy has no trunk prefix, so the 0 at the start of an Italian number is part of the number and stays. A Rome number written as 06 1234 5678 is dialed as +39 06 1234 5678.
• Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Norway write numbers with no leading 0, so you add the country code in front of the whole number.

When an organization publishes a separate number for callers outside the country, use that one exactly as written. It is already in the right format.

Calling Canada and the Caribbean from the US

The US, Canada and a group of Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados and the Dominican Republic, all share country code 1 under the North American Numbering Plan. From the US you dial them like a long-distance call, with 1, the three-digit area code and the seven-digit number, and no 011.

The dialing looks domestic, but the call still goes to another country, so check your carrier’s rate first. A Jamaica number (area code 876) can cost more than a call within the US.

Country codes and how to dial them

Use the format in the second column from a mobile, anywhere in the world. The third column is the exit code to dial when you call out of that country from a landline.

Country	Dial from abroad	Exit code from there
United States	+1, then the 10-digit number	011
Canada	+1, then the 10-digit number	011
Mexico	+52, then the 10-digit number	00
United Kingdom	+44, then the number without its 0	00
Ireland	+353, then the number without its 0	00
Germany	+49, then the number without its 0	00
France	+33, then the number without its 0	00
Italy	+39, then the full number, keeping its 0	00
Spain	+34, then the 9-digit number	00
Portugal	+351, then the 9-digit number	00
Netherlands	+31, then the number without its 0	00
Israel	+972, then the number without its 0	00
United Arab Emirates	+971, then the number without its 0	00
India	+91, then the number without its 0	00
Pakistan	+92, then the number without its 0	00
Philippines	+63, then the number without its 0	00
China	+86, then the number without its 0	00
Japan	+81, then the number without its 0	010
South Korea	+82, then the number without its 0	001 or 002
Australia	+61, then the number without its 0	0011
New Zealand	+64, then the number without its 0	00
Nigeria	+234, then the number without its 0	009

The table follows the ITU’s list of dialing procedures and its list of assigned country codes. For a country not listed here, the ITU’s country code list covers every country.

What an international call costs

The price depends on how the call is made, not on how you dial it. Through your own mobile or landline plan, the rate is set by your carrier and varies by plan and country, so look up the country on your carrier’s international rates page before a long call. If the person you are calling uses WhatsApp, FaceTime or a similar app, an app call over the internet costs only your data.

Neither helps when you need to reach a landline, a business, or someone who is not on a messaging app. For those calls you need an app that connects to the regular phone network. CallTuv, our own calling app, is one of these. It calls landlines and mobiles in 232 destinations from a web browser, an iPhone or an Android phone. You buy credit and pay per minute, from $0.03 a minute to the US and Canada, with no subscription, and credit never expires. You type the number with its country code, and the dialer shows the per-minute rate before the call starts. It makes outgoing calls only, so it cannot receive calls or texts, and it cannot call emergency numbers.

To compare it with other options, see our top 5 international calling apps and top 5 apps to call landlines.

If the call will not connect

When a call fails, check these in order:

1. The + or exit code. A missing + on a mobile, or 00 instead of 011 from a US landline, sends the call nowhere.
2. The country code. Make sure it is the code of the country you are calling, not the one you are in.
3. The leading 0. Remove it after the country code, unless you are calling Italy.
4. Toll-free numbers. Many free-phone numbers only accept calls from inside their own country. Look for a separate number for international callers on the organization’s website.
5. Your plan. Some phone plans block international calls until you turn them on. Your carrier can tell you whether yours does.

If you are traveling rather than calling from home, our guide on how to call home from abroad covers roaming, Wi-Fi calling and keeping your home number for bank codes.