 <p>One of the first things you need to learn about SQL (and relational databases) is that you shouldn't store multiple values in a single field.</p> <p>You should create another table and store one value per row.</p> <p>This will make your querying easier, and your database structure better.</p> <pre><code>select case when exists (select countryname from itemcountries where yourtable.id=itemcountries.id and countryname = @country) then 'national' else 'regional' end from yourtable </code></pre>