# Country configuration

When you verify a phone number, the destination country decides how the code travels: which channels are available there, which one is tried first, and whether verification is allowed at all. The [**Countries**](https://bird.com/dashboard/w/verify/countries) page is where you manage that, one row per country. Email recipients aren't affected by any of this — an email address has no country, so country configuration applies to phone-number recipients only.

By default every country is enabled with Bird's platform routing, so a new workspace can verify phone numbers worldwide without touching this page. You come here to narrow that: turn off countries you never serve (a cheap defense against [SMS pumping](#why-disable-a-country)), reorder channels where you have a preference, or pin a per-country sender.

## The Countries page

![The Countries page listing countries with channel order, sender, and an enable toggle per row](/images/docs/dashboard-verify-countries.png)

Each row shows the country, its effective channel order, whether it delivers under a shared or branded sender, and an on/off toggle. Filter by status or channel, or search by country name. A disabled country still shows its platform-default routing greyed out, so you can see what re-enabling restores.

The toggle enables or disables the whole country. Disabling means verifications whose recipient is a phone number in that country won't deliver there; re-enabling returns the country to the platform default rather than whatever you last had pinned, so a country you've only toggled stays in sync with Bird's routing as it evolves. Sender choices survive the toggle.

## Per-country routing

Click a row to open the country's routing sheet:

![A country's routing sheet with drag-sortable channels, per-channel senders, and enable switches](/images/docs/dashboard-verify-country-detail.png)

- **Channel order** — drag channels to set the order Bird tries them for this country. A verification works through the list until a send succeeds.
- **Per-channel enable** — switch an individual channel off without disabling the country. Channels Bird hasn't made available in a country can't be enabled; the platform sets that ceiling per country.
- **Per-channel sender** — pin the sender for this country: inherit your configuration default, pin the Bird shared sender, or set a custom one (email only today — see [Senders & branding](/docs/guides/verify/senders)). A per-country choice wins over the configuration default for recipients in that country.

## Why disable a country

The most common reason isn't preference — it's fraud. SMS pumping schemes trigger OTP sends to premium-rate numbers in countries the business has no users in, and every delivered code costs you money. If your product serves a known set of markets, disabling the rest closes that surface entirely. Verify's [platform caps](/docs/guides/verify/sending-verifications#abuse-guardrails) limit the blast radius either way, but a country you've turned off costs you nothing.

## Next steps

| Page                                                               | What it covers                                                      |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Senders & branding](/docs/guides/verify/senders)                  | Shared and branded senders, and what the code messages look like    |
| [Sending verifications](/docs/guides/verify/sending-verifications) | The send and check calls, per-request channel overrides, and limits |
| [Verify overview](/docs/guides/verify/overview)                    | The section map and platform defaults                               |