diff --git a/docs/user/locale/Country.dox b/docs/user/locale/Country.dox
index 8c1a74a49f..2eebdcce5c 100644
--- a/docs/user/locale/Country.dox
+++ b/docs/user/locale/Country.dox
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2011 Haiku, Inc. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright 2011-2019 Haiku, Inc. All rights reserved.
  * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
  *
  * Authors:
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
  *		John Scipione, jscipione@gmail.com
  * 
  * Corresponds to:
- *		headers/os/locale/Country.h	 rev 42274
- *		src/kits/locale/Country.cpp	 rev 42274
+ *		headers/os/locale/Country.h	 rev 53489
+ *		src/kits/locale/Country.cpp	 rev 53489
  */
 
 
@@ -77,6 +77,32 @@
 */
 
 
+/*!
+	\fn status_t BCountry::SetTo(const char* countryCode)
+	\brief Initialize a BCountry from a country code.
+
+	\param countryCode The country code to initialize from.
+
+	\returns Same value as InitCheck.
+
+	\since Haiku R1
+*/
+
+
+/*!
+	\fn status_t BCountry::InitCheck()
+	\brief Check validity of the BCountry object.
+
+	\param countryCode The country code to initialize from.
+
+	\returns B_OK if everything went fine, B_BAD_DATA if the specified country
+	         code is not valid, B_NO_MEMORY if the object could not be
+			 allocated properly.
+
+	\since Haiku R1
+*/
+
+
 /*!
 	\fn status_t BCountry::GetName(BString& name,
 		const BLanguage* displayLanguage = NULL) const
diff --git a/headers/os/locale/Country.h b/headers/os/locale/Country.h
index 681910e895..ae41f5351f 100644
--- a/headers/os/locale/Country.h
+++ b/headers/os/locale/Country.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2003-2011, Haiku, Inc.
+ * Copyright 2003-2019, Haiku, Inc.
  * Distributed under the terms of the MIT Licence.
  */
 #ifndef _COUNTRY_H_
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ public:
 								BCountry& operator=(const BCountry& other);
 								~BCountry();
 
+			status_t			SetTo(const char* countryCode);
+			status_t			InitCheck() const;
+
 			status_t			GetNativeName(BString& name) const;
 			status_t			GetName(BString& name,
 									const BLanguage* displayLanguage = NULL
diff --git a/src/kits/locale/Country.cpp b/src/kits/locale/Country.cpp
index e95711d5f0..7912908d2d 100644
--- a/src/kits/locale/Country.cpp
+++ b/src/kits/locale/Country.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
  * Copyright 2003-2011, Axel Dörfler, axeld@pinc-software.de.
- * Copyright 2009-2010, Adrien Destugues, pulkomandy@gmail.com.
+ * Copyright 2009-2019, Adrien Destugues, pulkomandy@gmail.com.
  * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
  */
 
@@ -30,8 +30,9 @@
 
 BCountry::BCountry(const char* countryCode)
 	:
-	fICULocale(new icu::Locale("", countryCode))
+	fICULocale(NULL)
 {
+	SetTo(countryCode);
 }
 
 
@@ -48,7 +49,10 @@ BCountry::operator=(const BCountry& other)
 	if (this == &other)
 		return *this;
 
-	*fICULocale = *other.fICULocale;
+	if (!fICULocale)
+		fICULocale = new icu::Locale(*other.fICULocale);
+	else
+		*fICULocale = *other.fICULocale;
 
 	return *this;
 }
@@ -60,9 +64,36 @@ BCountry::~BCountry()
 }
 
 
+status_t
+BCountry::SetTo(const char* countryCode)
+{
+	delete fICULocale;
+	fICULocale = new icu::Locale("", countryCode);
+
+	return InitCheck();
+}
+
+
+status_t
+BCountry::InitCheck() const
+{
+	if (fICULocale == NULL)
+		return B_NO_MEMORY;
+
+	if (fICULocale->isBogus())
+		return B_BAD_DATA;
+
+	return B_OK;
+}
+
+
 status_t
 BCountry::GetNativeName(BString& name) const
 {
+	status_t valid = InitCheck();
+	if (valid != B_OK)
+		return valid;
+
 	UnicodeString string;
 	fICULocale->getDisplayName(*fICULocale, string);
 	string.toTitle(NULL, *fICULocale);
@@ -78,7 +109,10 @@ BCountry::GetNativeName(BString& name) const
 status_t
 BCountry::GetName(BString& name, const BLanguage* displayLanguage) const
 {
-	status_t status = B_OK;
+	status_t status = InitCheck();
+	if (status != B_OK)
+		return status;
+
 	BString appLanguage;
 	if (displayLanguage == NULL) {
 		BMessage preferredLanguages;
@@ -105,6 +139,10 @@ BCountry::GetName(BString& name, const BLanguage* displayLanguage) const
 const char*
 BCountry::Code() const
 {
+	status_t status = InitCheck();
+	if (status != B_OK)
+		return NULL;
+
 	return fICULocale->getCountry();
 }
 
@@ -112,6 +150,10 @@ BCountry::Code() const
 status_t
 BCountry::GetIcon(BBitmap* result) const
 {
+	status_t status = InitCheck();
+	if (status != B_OK)
+		return status;
+
 	return BLocaleRoster::Default()->GetFlagIconForCountry(result, Code());
 }
 
@@ -119,6 +161,10 @@ BCountry::GetIcon(BBitmap* result) const
 status_t
 BCountry::GetAvailableTimeZones(BMessage* timeZones) const
 {
+	status_t status = InitCheck();
+	if (status != B_OK)
+		return status;
+
 	return BLocaleRoster::Default()->GetAvailableTimeZonesForCountry(timeZones,
 		Code());
 }