diff --git a/draftlogs/7366_change.md b/draftlogs/7366_change.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..90205f72986
--- /dev/null
+++ b/draftlogs/7366_change.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+ - Replace country-regex with i18n-iso-countries [[#7366](https://github.com/plotly/plotly.js/pull/7366)]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 276409becdc..8083bd43f1b 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
         "color-normalize": "1.5.0",
         "color-parse": "2.0.0",
         "color-rgba": "2.1.1",
-        "country-regex": "^1.1.0",
         "css-loader": "^7.1.2",
         "d3-force": "^1.2.1",
         "d3-format": "^1.4.5",
@@ -38,6 +37,7 @@
         "gl-text": "^1.4.0",
         "has-hover": "^1.0.1",
         "has-passive-events": "^1.0.0",
+        "i18n-iso-countries": "^7.13.0",
         "is-mobile": "^4.0.0",
         "maplibre-gl": "^4.7.1",
         "mouse-change": "^1.4.0",
@@ -2882,11 +2882,6 @@
         "node": ">= 0.10"
       }
     },
-    "node_modules/country-regex": {
-      "version": "1.1.0",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/country-regex/-/country-regex-1.1.0.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha1-UcMz3N8Sknt+XuucEKyBEqYSCJY="
-    },
     "node_modules/cross-spawn": {
       "version": "7.0.6",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/cross-spawn/-/cross-spawn-7.0.6.tgz",
@@ -3581,6 +3576,11 @@
       "integrity": "sha1-gGZJMmzqp8qjMG112YXqJ0i6kTw=",
       "dev": true
     },
+    "node_modules/diacritics": {
+      "version": "1.3.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/diacritics/-/diacritics-1.3.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-wlwEkqcsaxvPJML+rDh/2iS824jbREk6DUMUKkEaSlxdYHeS43cClJtsWglvw2RfeXGm6ohKDqsXteJ5sP5enA=="
+    },
     "node_modules/dir-glob": {
       "version": "3.0.1",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/dir-glob/-/dir-glob-3.0.1.tgz",
@@ -5423,6 +5423,17 @@
         "node": ">= 6"
       }
     },
+    "node_modules/i18n-iso-countries": {
+      "version": "7.13.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/i18n-iso-countries/-/i18n-iso-countries-7.13.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-pVh4CjdgAHZswI98hzG+1BItQlsQfR+yGDsjDISoWIV/jHDAvCmSyZ5vj2YWwAjfVZ8/BhBDqWcFvuGOyHe4vg==",
+      "dependencies": {
+        "diacritics": "1.3.0"
+      },
+      "engines": {
+        "node": ">= 12"
+      }
+    },
     "node_modules/iconv-lite": {
       "version": "0.4.24",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/iconv-lite/-/iconv-lite-0.4.24.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 66df7e0854a..eb0db2b76ea 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -81,7 +81,6 @@
     "color-normalize": "1.5.0",
     "color-parse": "2.0.0",
     "color-rgba": "2.1.1",
-    "country-regex": "^1.1.0",
     "css-loader": "^7.1.2",
     "d3-force": "^1.2.1",
     "d3-format": "^1.4.5",
@@ -97,6 +96,7 @@
     "gl-text": "^1.4.0",
     "has-hover": "^1.0.1",
     "has-passive-events": "^1.0.0",
+    "i18n-iso-countries": "^7.13.0",
     "is-mobile": "^4.0.0",
     "maplibre-gl": "^4.7.1",
     "mouse-change": "^1.4.0",
diff --git a/src/lib/geo_location_utils.js b/src/lib/geo_location_utils.js
index e15659f8f45..35e3e77553d 100644
--- a/src/lib/geo_location_utils.js
+++ b/src/lib/geo_location_utils.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
 var d3 = require('@plotly/d3');
-var countryRegex = require('country-regex');
 var { area: turfArea } = require('@turf/area');
 var { centroid: turfCentroid } = require('@turf/centroid');
 var { bbox: turfBbox } = require('@turf/bbox');
@@ -12,8 +11,8 @@ var isPlainObject = require('./is_plain_object');
 var nestedProperty = require('./nested_property');
 var polygon = require('./polygon');
 
-// make list of all country iso3 ids from at runtime
-var countryIds = Object.keys(countryRegex);
+const countries = require("i18n-iso-countries");
+countries.registerLocale(require("i18n-iso-countries/langs/en.json"));
 
 var locationmodeToIdFinder = {
     'ISO-3': identity,
@@ -22,11 +21,12 @@ var locationmodeToIdFinder = {
 };
 
 function countryNameToISO3(countryName) {
-    for(var i = 0; i < countryIds.length; i++) {
-        var iso3 = countryIds[i];
-        var regex = new RegExp(countryRegex[iso3]);
-
-        if(regex.test(countryName.trim().toLowerCase())) return iso3;
+    // remove sequences of whitespaces
+    var cleanName = countryName.replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim();
+    var alpha3Code = countries.getAlpha3Code(cleanName, "en")
+    
+    if (alpha3Code !== undefined) {
+        return alpha3Code;
     }
 
     loggers.log('Unrecognized country name: ' + countryName + '.');
diff --git a/test/jasmine/tests/geo_test.js b/test/jasmine/tests/geo_test.js
index 16ff8e10138..5a32254abd6 100644
--- a/test/jasmine/tests/geo_test.js
+++ b/test/jasmine/tests/geo_test.js
@@ -819,8 +819,8 @@ describe('geojson / topojson utils', function() {
         var topojson = GeoAssets.topojson[topojsonName];
 
         var shouldPass = [
-            'Virgin Islands (U.S.)',
-            ' Virgin   Islands (U.S.) '
+            'Virgin Islands, U.S.',
+            ' Virgin   Islands, U.S. '
         ];
 
         shouldPass.forEach(function(str) {