How many plug types a multi-country trip takes

The count, sub-region by sub-region

Sub-regions follow the UN M49 standard, which is what the table groups by. “Sockets” counts every socket type listed by at least one country in the group. “Plugs”, the number of plug types needed, comes from trying every combination of the 14 plug faces in our fit rules and keeping the smallest that reaches each country.

The last column shows one such set, not the only one. In 10 of the 15 sub-regions another set of the same size also works. Ties go to the first set in a fixed order that starts with the plugs reaching the most countries, so Type C comes first wherever it can. Type C alone reaches 90 of the 139 countries, which is why it opens 12 of these lists.

A long socket list rarely means a long plug list

Eastern Asia, Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa each list 9 socket types, more than any other sub-region. They still differ in what it takes to reach all of their countries. Southern Asia takes two plug types: Type C goes in everywhere except Sri Lanka, and Type G closes that gap.

Sub-Saharan Africa takes three, because Namibia has neither a socket for Type C nor for Type G. Eastern Asia also takes three, for a different reason: Japan and Taiwan rely on the Type A and B family, which takes neither of the other two plugs.

The short lists sit where one family dominates. Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Africa and Central Asia can all be covered with Type C alone, across 25 countries. Northern America needs Type A, and Australia and New Zealand Type I.

Starting from the plugs you already carry

Nobody starts from an empty bag. For each of our seven home profiles, the table takes the five UN regions and keeps only the countries where no plug from home fits at all, then gives the smallest set of adapter types for those. Countries where at least one plug from home goes in are left out, and so is the reference home country.

Added up over the five regions, India needs the fewest adapter types in total, 6, and Australia & NZ the most, 10. India’s profile carries three plug types, C, D and M; the Australian and New Zealand one carries only Type I, which few sockets elsewhere take. The coverage guide gives the reach of each plug on its own.

Oceania is the one column with a single answer for nearly everyone, since all three countries we cover there use Type I and nothing else.

Where the voltage changes along the way

Inside 13 of the 15 sub-regions, every country is on the same voltage range, so a trip that stays inside one of them does not cross the divide. The two exceptions are worth knowing. In Eastern Asia, Japan and Taiwan are on 100–127 V while the rest are on 220–240 V. In Latin America and the Caribbean, 18 countries are on 100–127 V, 5 on 220–240 V, and Brazil uses both, depending on the state and municipality.

That is a statement about the countries on a route, not about your devices. The route is compared with home, because the devices in the bag stay the same from stop to stop. So a visitor from the United States is on the other range at every stop in Europe, even though no border there crosses the divide.

Six routes, worked out

The rows below come from the multi-stop plug check and open in it. They are examples chosen to show different results; they do not rank destinations or say how common a route is. “All fit” and “Some fit” count stops. “Other voltage” counts stops on another range than home, or where a country uses both.

The first route shows how the count works. Thailand lists Types A, B, C and O, so American plugs go in there; the other three stops take two more plug types, C for France and Italy and G for the United Kingdom. All four stops are on 220–230 V against 120 V at home. The Australian route is the other extreme: Type I fits at none of the four stops, and the smallest set that reaches them is three types, C, G and A.

What the count leaves out

A country that lists several socket types does not put all of them in every building, so reaching a country in this count means that a matching socket type is in normal use there, not that it is in your room. The count also treats each plug face as a separate item and says nothing about particular adapters or devices. Whether a device works on another supply depends on the device: check its input rating label.

The figures cover the 139 countries in our data, so a sub-region here can be smaller than the UN’s full list. For your own route, enter the stops in the multi-stop plug check.

Sources

• Wikidata (CC0): electrical plug type (P2853), mains voltage (P2884) and frequency, retrieved 28 October 2026, checked against national and technical sources
• Wikipedia, Mains electricity by country (CC BY-SA 4.0): cross-check of plug types, voltage and frequency, facts only
• PlugAtlas sources and method, including the socket fit rules
• UN Statistics Division, M49 standard: regions

More guides

• The 15 plug types explained
• 230 V vs 120 V countries: the count by region
• Countries with several plug types, ranked
• One plug for every country? The coverage numbers
• When the plug fits but the voltage doesn’t
• How the adapter checker works