China entity problem in FAO #57
Description
Some background:
in FAOSTAT, there are two entities for China:
| Country Code | Country | M49 Code | ISO3 Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 351 | China | 156* | CPR** |
| 41 | China Mainland | 128 | CHN |
* 156 belongs CHN china in M49 Code
** CPR is not an official ISO alpha-3 code
We asked FAO and confirmed "China", m49 156 is all of china, what normally would be called CHN
The problem:
FAO releases their (forest) land use statistics only for complete China (mainland + hk,macao,twn). Other stats they have separated. How strict are we on geo chn in Gapminder namespace? Is gapminder geo chn China mainland? WB and UNpop use CHN as china mainland ("for statistical purposes"). Other sources aren't clear. How data providers normally handle this case? Is there any unwritten rule?