Where was that particular article made? Examination of the first few digits of a barcode often helps to answer this question. The following codes correspond to standard known as EAN (European Article Number). There are more standards, such as UPC, which is most often used in the U.S. My understanding is that the UPC used in the United States usually starts with number 0, as specified also by EAN.
00-13- USA 30-37- France 380- Bulgaria 383- Slovenia 385- Kroatia 387-Bosnia and Herzegovina 400-440- Germany 45,49- Japan 46- Russia 470- Kyrgyzstan 471- Taiwan 474- Estonia 475- Latvia 476- Azerbaijan 477- Lithuania 478- Uzbekistan 479- Sri Lanka 480- Philippines 481- Belarus 482- Ukraine 484- Moldova 485- Armenia 486- Georgia 487- Kazakhstan 489- Hong Kong 50- Great Britain 520- Greece 528- Lebanon 529- Cyprus 531- Macedonia 535- Malta 539- Ireland 54- Belgium, Luxembourg 560- Portugal 569- Iceland 57- Denmark 590- Poland 594- Romania 599- Hungary 600-601- South Africa 608- Bahrain 609- Mauritius 611- Morocco 613- Algeria 616- Kenya 619- Tunisia 621- Syria 622- Egypt 624- Libya 625- Jordan 626- Iran 627- Kuwait 628- Saudi Arabia 629- United Arab Emirates 64- Finland 690-695- PR China 70- Norway 729- Israel 73- Sweden 740- Guatemala 741- El Salvador 742- Honduras 743- Nicaragua 744- Costa Rica 745- Panama 746- Dominican Republic 750- Mexico 754-755- Canada 759- Venezuela 76- Switzerland 770- Colombia 773- Uruguay 775- Peru 777- Bolivia 779- Argentine 780- Chile 784- Paraguay 786- Ecuador 789-790 Brazil 80-83- Italy 84- Spain 850- Cuba 858- Slovakia 859- Czech Republic 860- Yugoslavia 865- Mongolia 867- North Korea 869- Turkey 87- Netherlands 880- South Korea 884- Cambodia 885- Thailand 888- Singapore 890- India 893- Vietnam 899- Indonesia 90-91- Austria 93- Australia 94- New Zealand 955- Malaysia 958- Macau