The story behind country codes for diplomatic number plates in Kenya

Cynthia Kamau·January 16, 2023

Once in a while, one often comes across a car with diplomatic plates, however, a majority of us don’t know to which embassy or organization that they belong to unless we google.

Essentially, the embassies were assigned numbers depending on the order in which they recognized Kenya’s independence with Germany being 1CD and so on.

Currently, the diplomatic plates in Kenya are as follows:

1 CD – Germany
2 CD – Russian Federation
3 CD – Ethiopia
4 CD – China
5 CD – Norway
6 CD – Hungary
7 CD – Egypt
8 CD – Serbia
9 CD – Italy
10 CD – France
11 CD – Slovakia
12 CD – Denmark
13 CD – Japan
14 CD – Sudan
15 CD – Austria
16 CD – India
17 CD – Australia
18 CD – Canada
19 CD – Holy See (The Vatican)
20 CD – Finland

21 CD – Switzerland
22 CD – Britain
23 CD – Liberia
24 CD – Israel
25 CD – Nigeria
26 CD – Ghana
27 CD – Netherlands
28 CD – Malawi
29 CD – United States of America (USA)
30 CD – Belgium
31 CD – Sweden
32 CD – Pakistan
33 CD – Poland
34 CD – Korea
35 CD – Bulgaria
36 CD – Greece
37 CD – Cuba
38 CD – Kuwait
39 CD – Spain
40 UN – United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

41 UN – World Health Organization (WHO)
42 UN – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
43 UN – International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (The World Bank)
44 UN – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
45 UN – World Food Programme (WFP)
45 CD – Romania
46 CD – Thailand
47 CD – The African Union (A.U)
48 CD – Colombia
49 CD – India
50 CD – Somalia
51 CD – Brazil
52 CD – Turkey
53 CD – Lesotho
54 CD – Zambia
55 CD – Madagascar
56 CD – Malaysia
57 CD – D.R. Congo (DRC)
58 CD – Swaziland
59 CD – Sri Lanka
60 CD – Iraq

61 CD – Rwanda
62 UN – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees / UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
63 UN – United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Eastern & Southern African Regional Office
64 CD – Iran
65 CD – Cyprus
66 CD – Argentina
67 UN – United Nations Information Centre (UNIC)
68 CD – Philippines
69 CD – Burundi
70 CD – Chile
71 CD – Oman
72 CD – League of Arab States / Arab League
73 CD – European Union
74 CD – Yemen
75 CD – Kenya Mission to UNEP
76 CD – Côte d’Ivoire (Consulate)
77 CD – Bangladesh
78 CD – Saudi Arabia
79 UN – United Nations Centre for Human Settlements / UN-Habitat (UNCHS)
80 CD – Libya

81 CD – Ireland (Consulate)
82 CD – United Nations Centre for Human Settlements / UN-Habitat (Kenya Mission)
83 CD – Algeria
84 CD – Palestine
85 CD – Uganda
86 CD – Mexico
87 CD – Morocco
88 CD – Costa Rica (Consulate)
89 CD – Gabon (Consulate)
90 UN – United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Kenya Country Office
91 CD – Indonesia
92 CD – Portugal
93 CD – Venezuela
94 CD – Zimbabwe
95 CD – International Civil Aviation Organization (I.C.A.O)
96 CD – Asian Development Bank
97 CD – Tanzania
99 CD – Peru
100 CD – International Finance Corporation (I.F.C)