diff --git a/cpp/src/phonenumberutil.cc b/cpp/src/phonenumberutil.cc
index dfd9ad31a..d9f0f30bb 100644
--- a/cpp/src/phonenumberutil.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/phonenumberutil.cc
@@ -716,12 +716,9 @@ PhoneNumberUtil::PhoneNumberUtil()
 }
 
 PhoneNumberUtil::~PhoneNumberUtil() {
-  for (vector<IntRegionsPair>::const_iterator it =
-           country_calling_code_to_region_code_map_->begin();
-       it != country_calling_code_to_region_code_map_->end();
-       ++it) {
-    delete it->second;
-  }
+  STLDeleteContainerPairSecondPointers(
+      country_calling_code_to_region_code_map_->begin(),
+      country_calling_code_to_region_code_map_->end());
 }
 
 // Public wrapper function to get a PhoneNumberUtil instance with the default
diff --git a/cpp/src/stl_util.h b/cpp/src/stl_util.h
index ead643def..29e86b39c 100644
--- a/cpp/src/stl_util.h
+++ b/cpp/src/stl_util.h
@@ -26,6 +26,16 @@ struct OrderByFirst {
   }
 };
 
+// Deletes the second attribute (pointer type expected) of the pairs contained
+// in the provided range.
+template <typename ForwardIterator>
+void STLDeleteContainerPairSecondPointers(const ForwardIterator& begin,
+                                          const ForwardIterator& end) {
+  for (ForwardIterator it = begin; it != end; ++it) {
+    delete it->second;
+  }
+}
+
 }  // namespace phonenumbers
 }  // namespace i18n