diff --git a/DEPENDS b/DEPENDS
index 49083335a..093f5ddf6 100644
--- a/DEPENDS
+++ b/DEPENDS
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
  * geoip-database (optional)
  * setproctitle (optional)
  * pillow (optional)
+ * python-geoip (optional)
 
  * libtorrent (rasterbar) >= 0.14
 
diff --git a/deluge/core/core.py b/deluge/core/core.py
index 84db25eee..def2aa70b 100644
--- a/deluge/core/core.py
+++ b/deluge/core/core.py
@@ -138,6 +138,9 @@ class Core(component.Component):
         # New release check information
         self.new_release = None
 
+        # GeoIP instance with db loaded
+        self.geoip_instance = None
+
         # Get the core config
         self.config = deluge.configmanager.ConfigManager("core.conf")
 
diff --git a/deluge/core/preferencesmanager.py b/deluge/core/preferencesmanager.py
index e921f6a48..4d73cf2d2 100644
--- a/deluge/core/preferencesmanager.py
+++ b/deluge/core/preferencesmanager.py
@@ -49,6 +49,12 @@ import deluge.common
 import deluge.component as component
 from deluge.log import LOG as log
 
+try:
+    import GeoIP
+except ImportError:
+    GeoIP = None
+
+
 DEFAULT_PREFS = {
     "send_info": False,
     "info_sent": 0.0,
@@ -489,23 +495,19 @@ class PreferencesManager(component.Component):
     def _on_geoip_db_location(self, key, value):
         log.debug("%s: %s", key, value)
         # Load the GeoIP DB for country look-ups if available
-        geoip_db = ""
         if os.path.exists(value):
-            geoip_db = value
-        elif os.path.exists(pkg_resources.resource_filename("deluge", os.path.join("data", "GeoIP.dat"))):
-            geoip_db = pkg_resources.resource_filename("deluge", os.path.join("data", "GeoIP.dat"))
+            try:
+                self.core.geoip_instance = GeoIP.open(value, GeoIP.GEOIP_STANDARD)
+            except AttributeError:
+                try:
+                    self.session.load_country_db(value)
+                except RuntimeError, ex:
+                    log.error("Unable to load geoip database: %s", ex)
+                except AttributeError:
+                    log.warning("GeoIP Unavailable")
         else:
             log.warning("Unable to find GeoIP database file!")
 
-        if geoip_db:
-            try:
-                self.session.load_country_db(str(geoip_db))
-            except RuntimeError, e:
-                log.error("Unable to load geoip database!")
-                log.exception(e)
-            except AttributeError:
-                log.warning("GeoIP Unavailable")
-
     def _on_cache_size(self, key, value):
         log.debug("%s: %s", key, value)
         self.session_set_setting("cache_size", value)
diff --git a/deluge/core/torrent.py b/deluge/core/torrent.py
index 9410901be..bf36e3e6a 100644
--- a/deluge/core/torrent.py
+++ b/deluge/core/torrent.py
@@ -556,13 +556,12 @@ class Torrent(object):
             except UnicodeDecodeError:
                 client = str(peer.client).decode("latin-1")
 
-            # Make country a proper string
-            country = str()
-            for c in peer.country:
-                if not c.isalpha():
-                    country += " "
-                else:
-                    country += c
+            try:
+                country = component.get("Core").geoip_instance.country_code_by_addr(peer.ip[0])
+            except AttributeError:
+                country = peer.country
+
+            country = "".join([char if char.isalpha() else " " for char in country])
 
             ret.append({
                 "client": client,
diff --git a/deluge/ui/gtkui/peers_tab.py b/deluge/ui/gtkui/peers_tab.py
index 1df379e90..7a31ce32e 100644
--- a/deluge/ui/gtkui/peers_tab.py
+++ b/deluge/ui/gtkui/peers_tab.py
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ class PeersTab(Tab):
         component.get("SessionProxy").get_torrent_status(torrent_id, ["peers"]).addCallback(self._on_get_torrent_status)
 
     def get_flag_pixbuf(self, country):
-        if country == "  ":
+        if not country.strip():
             return None
 
         if not self.cached_flag_pixbufs.has_key(country):