diff --git a/src/common/iso3166.cpp b/src/common/iso3166.cpp
index b0b4d66c2..42812fe5a 100644
--- a/src/common/iso3166.cpp
+++ b/src/common/iso3166.cpp
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@
 
 namespace mtx::iso3166 {
 
-std::vector<std::string> const g_popular_country_codes{ "CN", "DE", "ES", "FI", "FR", "IT", "JP", "NL", "NO", "PT", "RU", "SE", "GB", "US" };
-
 namespace {
 
 std::vector<region_t> const s_cctlds_only{
diff --git a/src/common/iso3166.h b/src/common/iso3166.h
index 40dad7aae..54124c0a9 100644
--- a/src/common/iso3166.h
+++ b/src/common/iso3166.h
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ struct region_t {
 };
 
 extern std::vector<region_t> const g_regions;
-extern std::vector<std::string> const g_popular_country_codes;
 
 std::optional<region_t> look_up(std::string const &s);
 std::optional<region_t> look_up(unsigned int number);
diff --git a/src/mkvtoolnix-gui/util/settings.cpp b/src/mkvtoolnix-gui/util/settings.cpp
index 345edd01b..f2862c0fb 100644
--- a/src/mkvtoolnix-gui/util/settings.cpp
+++ b/src/mkvtoolnix-gui/util/settings.cpp
@@ -436,10 +436,6 @@ Settings::setDefaults(std::optional<QVariant> enableMuxingTracksByTheseTypes) {
     m_oftenUsedLanguages.sort();
   }
 
-  if (m_oftenUsedCountries.isEmpty())
-    for (auto const &countryCode : mtx::iso3166::g_popular_country_codes)
-      m_oftenUsedCountries << Q(countryCode).toLower();
-
   if (m_oftenUsedCharacterSets.isEmpty())
     for (auto const &characterSet : g_popular_character_sets)
       m_oftenUsedCharacterSets << Q(characterSet);