pandas - Convert object data type to string issue in python

Question

How can I convert an object dtype structure to a string dtype? The method below is not working and the column remains object after converting to a string with .astype

import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame({'country': ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E']})

df.dtypes
#country    object
#dtype: object

df['county'] = df['country'].astype(str)

df.dtypes
#country    object
#dtype: object

Answer 1

object is the default container capable of holding strings, or any combination of dtypes.

If you are using a version of pandas < '1.0.0' this is your only option. If you are using pd.__version__ >= '1.0.0' then you can use the new experimental pd.StringDtype() dtype. Being experimental, the behavior is subject to change in future versions, so use at your own risk.

df.dtypes
#country    object

# .astype(str) and .astype('str') keep the column as object. 
df['country'] = df['country'].astype(str)
df.dtypes
#country    object

df['country'] = df['country'].astype(pd.StringDtype())
df.dtypes
#country    string