WooCommerce: Add a New Country For Billing/Shipping

There are times when the WooCommerce countries database is simply not enough. While the WooCommerce team is usually very fast at updating its code (though, the newest country is apparently South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, the year WooCommerce launched!), you may need to DIY in certain cases.

Think of Northern Ireland for example. It’s not a “country”, however most Irish businesses would ship to Northern Ireland and not to “UK”, so having “Northern Ireland” in the Checkout page country dropdowns may help.

In this edge case study, we’ll basically take a look at how to add a custom country, how to make sure this custom country shows at checkout as a possible option (and in the shipping zones admin section), and also how to assign to it a custom list of states. You never know!

Northern Ireland is now in the list of WooCommerce Billing & Shipping countries, thanks to the snippet below!

PHP Snippet: Add a Custom Country @ WooCommerce Admin / Checkout

/**
 * @snippet       Custom Country @ WooCommerce Checkout
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 6
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */

add_filter( 'woocommerce_countries', 'bbloomer_add_country' );

function bbloomer_add_country( $countries ) {
	$new_country = array(
		'XI' => 'Northern Ireland',
	);
	return array_merge( $countries, $new_country );
}

add_filter( 'woocommerce_continents', 'bbloomer_add_country_to_continent' );

function bbloomer_add_country_to_continent( $continents ) {
	$continents['EU']['countries'][] = 'XI';
	return $continents;
}

add_filter( 'woocommerce_states', 'bbloomer_add_country_states' );

function bbloomer_add_country_states( $states ) {
	$states['XI'] = array(
		'AN' => 'Antrim',
		'AR' => 'Armagh',
		'DY' => 'Derry',
		'DO' => 'Down',
		'FM' => 'Fermanagh',
		'TR' => 'Tyrone',
	);
	return $states;
}
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Where to add custom code?

You should place PHP snippets at the bottom of your child theme functions.php file and CSS at the bottom of its style.css file. Make sure you know what you are doing when editing such files - if you need more guidance, please take a look at my guide "Should I Add Custom Code Via WP Editor, FTP or Code Snippets?" and my video tutorial "Where to Place WooCommerce Customization?"

Does this snippet (still) work?

Please let me know in the comments if everything went as expected. I would be happy to revise the snippet if you report otherwise (please provide screenshots). I have tested this code with Storefront theme, the WooCommerce version listed above and a WordPress-friendly hosting.

If you think this code saved you time & money, feel free to join 17,000+ WooCommerce Weekly subscribers for blog post updates and 250+ Business Bloomer supporters for 365 days of WooCommerce benefits. Thank you in advance!

Need Help with WooCommerce?

Check out these free video tutorials. You can learn how to customize WooCommerce without unnecessary plugins, how to properly configure the WooCommerce plugin settings and even how to master WooCommerce troubleshooting in case of a bug!

Rodolfo Melogli

Business Bloomer Founder

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza.

Questions? Feedback? Support? Leave your Comment Now!
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If you are writing code, please wrap it between shortcodes: [php]code_here[/php]. Failure to complying with this (as well as going off topic, not writing in English, etc.) will result in comment deletion. You should expect a reply in about 2 weeks - this is a popular blog but I need to get paid work done first. Please consider joining BloomerArmada to get blog comment reply priority, ask me 1-to-1 WooCommerce questions and enjoy many more perks. Thank you :)

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