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!

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
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

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;
}

Where to add custom code?

You should place custom PHP in functions.php and custom CSS in style.css of your child theme: where to place WooCommerce customization?

This code still works, unless you report otherwise. To exclude conflicts, temporarily switch to the Storefront theme, disable all plugins except WooCommerce, and test the snippet again: WooCommerce troubleshooting 101

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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. Follow @rmelogli