It was not until 1968 that the idea of a single emergency number was implemented in the USA, when the first 911 system was introduced by the phone company AT&T in Alabama. The first community to use the 911 system was Hayleyville, Alabama.

Since then, 911 has become the most widely known emergency number, due to American TV and movies. However, many countries around the world use the same system, with different numbers. At the present time, the countries of the European Union (EU) are standardising with the number 112.

999 Introduced in UK >>

New Zealand emergency number - 111 >>