In what situations would assigning a sequential number to each country be a better solution than using the first 3 letters of the country name in PHP?

Assigning a sequential number to each country would be a better solution than using the first 3 letters of the country name when dealing with a large number of countries or when the country names are not unique or easily distinguishable based on the first 3 letters. This approach ensures a unique identifier for each country and avoids potential conflicts or confusion that may arise from using the first 3 letters of the country name.

$countries = [
    1 => 'USA',
    2 => 'Canada',
    3 => 'United Kingdom',
    // Add more countries as needed
];

$countryCode = 2; // Assign a sequential number to each country

echo $countries[$countryCode]; // Output: Canada