European number plates: codes, letters and look

Publié par Eplaque - 4 min de lecture ⏳

Le 26/01/2023 - Mis à jour le 17/10/2023

Are you wondering what a MK European number plate is? FIN? EST? All those letters have, of course, a meaning. Not only we will cover all the European number plate codes and letters. But also, find out about the visual aspect of all those car plates. With this resource, identifying all European number plates will be as easy as 1, 2,3 when driving in France!

How to read European number plate codes?

On some car plates, flags can help us identify the country of origin of a vehicle. But it’s far from always being the case! Indeed, EU license plates display the EC stars. In that case, we must rely on European number plate letters to understand where a car is registered. Here is the full list of the car plates codes in the European union:

A: Austria
B: Belgium
BG : Bulgaria
CY : Cyprus
CZ: Czech Republic
D: Germany (Deutschland)
DK: Denmark number plate
E: Spain
EST: Estonia
F: France
FIN: Finland
GB: Great Britain (prior Brexit, now UK)
GR: Greece
H: Hungary
HR: Croatia (Hrvatska)
I: Italy
IRL: Ireland
L: Luxembourg
LT: Lithuania
LV: Latvia
M : Malta
NL: Netherlands ou Nederland
P : Portugal
PL: Poland
RO: Romania
S: Sweden
SK: Slovakia
SLO: Slovenia

European car number plate country codes (outside UE)

Here are now all the missing European car license plate codes related to non EU countries that are part of the geographical Europe:

AL: Albania
AM: Armenia
AZ: Azerbaijan
AND: Andorra
BIH: Bosnia and Herzegovina
BY: Belarus
FO: Faroe Islands
GEO: Georgia
FL: Liechtenstein
MC: Monaco
MD: Moldova
MNE: Montenegro
N: Norway
NMK: North Macedonia
TR: Turkey
IS: Iceland
CH: Switzerland
RKS: Kosovo
RSM: San Marino
RUS: Russia
SRB : Serbia
UA: Ukraine
UK: license plate from the United Kingdom

Characteristics of European license plates, how do they look like?

From the Portugal plate to Kazakhstan via Andorra, Iceland, Lithuania or Hungary, we can see how they look like thanks to the map above. This particularly concise overview allows to draw lessons regarding the appearance of number plates in Europe. As we can see, white backgrounds largely predominate. Some countries and territories use yellow plates, including Great Britain, Luxembourg or Gibraltar. Black is rare, it is used by the Channel Islands and Liechtenstein (white characters).

European Union plates largely follow the French model, if we ignore the French right stripe that is shared with Italy:

Left stripe: blue with the EU stars + European number plate country code (see liste above)
Plate number

A territorial identifier sometimes separates the registration number (Croatia, Austria…), sometimes it is placed on the far right, as for the registration plate of France or Italy. It is noteworthy to mention that the blue “euroband” is compulsory on the left for the countries of the European Union. Some countries, apparently eager to join the Union, have already added it, for example Serbia.

Among the atypical plates, we note the Belgian license plate, which sports a red edge and red characters. The country is the only one to use red in Europe. Blue is used by 3 territories: Aland (autonomous Finnish archipelago), Monaco and San Marino.

The design of those plates can be altered in case of special series. For example, official number plates or personalised license plate.

The shortest and longest license plates in Europe

As far as the number plate with the shortest number is concerned, Monaco wins the competition with a 4-character code. This is better than the Vatican, whose plates are made up of at least 7 characters (CV + 5 digits for individuals). The longest car number plates are from Ireland (9 characters).

FAQ European number plate codes

What is an MK European number plate?

MK was the Makedonia code. Since the renaming of the country to North Makedonia, the code is now NMK.

What European number plate is E?

Spain.

How to perform a European number plate check?

There is no integrated system to check a number plate at European level at this point. One should check the available tools and resources in the country of origin to check a car by number plate.

What European country has yellow license plates?

UK, Luxembourg, Netherlands and small British Overseas Territories, such as Gibraltar have yellow number plates as standard colour.

How do European license plates work?

There is no European license plates as such. Each country has its own system. They just shared some layout similarities, such as the size and the presence of a blue strip on the left side.

What is B on a European number plate?

It means the vehicle is registered in Belgium.

CY European number plate?

It means Cyprus.

D on European number plate?

It is a German license plate.

HR European number plate?

The country related to HR is Croatia.

S European license plate?

S is for Sweden.

TR European number plate

TR is Turkey or Türkiye.

A European license plate?

A is for Austria.

Une question ?

Nous vous répondrons dans les meilleurs délais.

Les questions des utilisateurs

R Petru

25 avril 2024

What country is this plate from? xxx It is an emergency because I think there is ahigh chance that someone is in danger, in relation tot this car. Thank you for your help.

Eplaque

25 avril 2024

It doesn't ring a bell. If the T was a 1, it would match a Belgian plate structure. Looking at the country code in the blue strip would help identify the country more easily.

Brenda

27 mars 2024

I have a photo from 1984 that I am trying to figure out which European country this is in. It was the last trip my mother took before she died, covering 19 countries. It is a dark blue plate with white lettering, St and 6 numbers.

Eplaque

28 mars 2024

Could you upload the picture somewhere and send us the link (we won't publish it)?

Filipe Estevens Correia

20 mars 2024

Hello! any ideia of the country of origin of: R257 LWO

Eplaque

21 mars 2024

It's a British license plate, online tools even give us info about it, like it didn't pay tax and doesn't have MOT :) : https://www.checkcardetails.co.uk/cardetails/R257%20LWO

Jessica

8 mars 2024

What is the European number plate rd

Eplaque

11 mars 2024

RD is not related to any country, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_vehicle_registration_code
Louis

16 avril 2024

Where’s the location of « UL »v

Steven M. Barnett

26 février 2024

VS-DX 914 any idea the country?

Eplaque

27 février 2024

No, sorry.

Deb

23 février 2024

8803 TY 30 1960s euro license plate from?

Eplaque

23 février 2024

This could be a French plate, more specifically registered in the Gard department.

Magnus

12 janvier 2024

Saw a vehicle with a license plate W-538-LV in Sweden, where would this car be registered? It was a test vehicle, perhaps they have special plates?

Eplaque

15 janvier 2024

It could actually be a French plate, although if it was the case it would illegally drive there, since W plates are dealer plates that can only be used in France. Swedish test or dealer plates are green.

Ladd L Wikstrom

8 janvier 2024

What country is license plate LJ with blue shield then X1-809

Eplaque

8 janvier 2024

LJ is not a country code, so no idea. Could be Slovenian (LJ for Ljubljana), but apparently they don't have standard blue plates (only for police, starts with P).

Nick

31 décembre 2023

Hi, on the picture what is the plate above gb please?

Eplaque

2 janvier 2024

Those are from the Isle of Man.

jamice

16 octobre 2023

what does N on the liscense plate mean

Eplaque

17 octobre 2023

N denotes Norway.

D

12 octobre 2023

We saw a car that had a OX As the country (left) of their plate it wqs blue & white like the reste of Europe. Which country is it THANK YOU

Eplaque

13 octobre 2023

OX doesn't correspond to anything, it must me someone who personalized this area. Which is not legal.

Tanisha Herrington

11 octobre 2023

What does SFA with a blue strip on the left represent?

Eplaque

11 octobre 2023

SFA doesn't match any official country ISO code.

KARISHMA SHARMA

28 septembre 2023

Could you please identify the following number plate XXXX?

Eplaque

29 septembre 2023

As explained in the article, we do not have the authority to disclose such information; only law enforcement agencies can do so.

Lee

15 septembre 2023

Can you identify the following number plate VI723652?

Eplaque

18 septembre 2023

At first I thought it's a Swiss plate, but since there is no VI canton and no special serial starting with VI, it cannot be. There is no other European standard plate format with 2 letters and 6 digits.

Dan Goldstein

6 août 2023

Liechtenstein is FL, not LI. Was there last summer.

Eplaque

7 août 2023

You are right, although their 2 letter ISO code is LI, they use FL on license plates. We have corrected that entry, thanks.

FERGUSON Charles

28 juillet 2023

Je viens de trouver une vieille plaque que je voudrais identifier. Elle est émaillée noire avec un K rouge et les chiffres 144-284 en blanc. Pouvez-vous me dire d'où elle vient, et quel âge elle a? Merci d'avance.

Eplaque

31 juillet 2023

Nous l'ignorons, désolé.
Y980577

5 janvier 2024

Where is this plate from y980577

Eplaque

8 janvier 2024

Doesn't look like a standard European plate, maybe a special issuance or non EU.

Andrey

27 juillet 2023

Montenegro's code is "MNE".

Eplaque

28 juillet 2023

You're right, it's corrected!

Maria de la Torre

21 juillet 2023

Your English entry for the Ukraine is incorrect. It should be UA and not AU.

Eplaque

21 juillet 2023

You are right, it's now corrected. Thanks for the notification.

Maria

17 juillet 2023

Serbia/SRB seems to be missing from the list.

Eplaque

17 juillet 2023

Yep you are right, we have added it. Thanks for the notification!