country-data-lite

A lightweight country data utility with currency, plugs, and visa basics.

This project provides a small, practical dataset and helper functions for working with country-level travel information. It is designed for applications that need quick access to common fields such as currency, plug types, voltage, and simple visa notes without depending on a large travel data platform.

It is intentionally minimal so it can be understood quickly, adopted easily, and extended over time.

Why this project exists

A lot of country datasets are either too broad, too heavy, or not oriented toward practical travel use cases.

In many applications, you do not need every geopolitical field or a full statistical reference. You need a clean way to answer common questions such as:

• What currency does this country use?
• What plug types and voltage should a traveler expect?
• What is a simple high-level visa note?

This package provides a small and predictable starting point.

Mental model

Think of this package as a lightweight reference layer:

App -> Country Lookup -> Structured Country Data -> App

It does not replace full travel intelligence systems.

It provides a simple, reusable base for applications, guides, tools, and content workflows.

What is included

• A small country dataset in JSON format.
• Helper functions for lookup by code or name.
• Access to common travel-related fields.
• Minimal example usage.
• Basic tests.

Install

npm install country-data-lite

Example

import {
  getCountryByCode,
  getCountryByName,
  listCountries
} from "country-data-lite";

const canada = getCountryByCode("CA");
console.log(canada.currency.code);
console.log(canada.plugs.types);

const japan = getCountryByName("Japan");
console.log(japan.visaBasics.note);

console.log(listCountries().length);

Data shape

Each country entry follows a simple structure:

{
  "name": "Canada",
  "code": "CA",
  "region": "North America",
  "currency": {
    "code": "CAD",
    "name": "Canadian dollar",
    "symbol": "$"
  },
  "plugs": {
    "types": ["A", "B"],
    "voltage": 120,
    "frequencyHz": 60
  },
  "visaBasics": {
    "note": "Visa requirements vary by nationality. Many travelers can enter visa-free or with an electronic authorization depending on citizenship.",
    "disclaimer": "Always verify visa requirements with official government sources before travel."
  }
}

API

listCountries()

Returns the full list of country entries.

getCountryByCode(code)

Looks up a country by its ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code.

getCountryByName(name)

Looks up a country by name using a case-insensitive match.

hasCountry(codeOrName)

Returns true if a country exists in the dataset.

Design Principles

This project is intentionally minimal.

It focuses on a small set of practical travel-related fields rather than trying to become a complete country intelligence platform. The goal is to provide data that is easy to understand, easy to use, and easy to extend.

The design emphasizes:

• Simplicity over breadth.
• Practical travel fields over encyclopedic scope.
• Predictable structure over flexible complexity.
• Reusability over completeness.

Non-Goals

This project does not attempt to:

• replace official immigration or customs guidance.
• provide real-time visa rules by nationality.
• model every country-level statistic or policy area.
• act as a full geopolitical or economic dataset.

It focuses on a stable, lightweight reference layer for common travel-related use cases.

Roadmap

Future extensions may include:

• more countries and territories.
• time zone and emergency number fields.
• language and calling code fields.
• data validation utilities.
• optional filtering helpers.

Availability

country-data-lite is intended to be published as an npm package and maintained as an open-source project.

License

MIT