Select Option from mysql database

For making select options from mysql database table, we are creating a table with name "country" in mysql database to show countires as options. And filling some countries as given below in the country table.

use database infosearch;
CREATE TABLE country (
 id int (10) PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
 name varchar(255) NOT NULL
)
ENGINE=InnoDB
DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4
COLLATE=utf8mb4_general_ci;

INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('Afghanistan');
INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('Albanie');
INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('Bahamas');
INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('Bangladesh');
INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('Cambodia');
INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('Colombia');
INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('Egypt');
INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('Georgia');
INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('Germany');
INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('India');
INSERT INTO country (name) VALUES('Ireland');

After creating a table and filling values, we are going to make function, which returns an array with id and countries names from mysql table;

<?php
function getCountries(){
    $host = "localhost";
    $username = "user_name";
    $password = "password";
    $database = "database_name";
    $items = array();
    $link = new mysqli($host,$username,$password,$database);
    if ($link->connect_error) {
        die('Connection error: ' . $link->connect_error);
    }
    else
    {
        $query = "SELECT * FROM country";
        $result = $link->query($query);
        while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc())
        {
            $items[$row['id']]=$row['name'];
        }

        $link->close();
    }

    return $items;
}
//Our next step is making HTML form, So make form as given.
?>

<form name="form1" action="simple_fom_result.php" method="post">
  <table>
  <tr><td>First Name</td><td><input type="text" name="first_name" id="first_name" /></td></tr>
  <tr><td>Last Name</td><td><input type="text" name="last_name" id="last_name" /></td></tr>
  <tr><td>Gender </td>
  <td>
  <input type="radio" name="gender" id="gernder-1" value="male" checked="checked" /> Male
<input type="radio" name="gender" id="gernder-2" value="female" /> Female 

</td></tr>
<tr><td>Country </td><td>
<select  name="country" id="country" >
<?php
$options=getCountries();
foreach($options as $key=>$val){
?>
<option value="<?php echo $key ?>"><?php echo $val?></option>
<?php } ?>
</select>
</td></tr>
<tr><td>Your Hobbies </td><td>
<textarea name="hobbies" id="hobbies" rows="5" cols="36"></textarea>
</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td><input type="submit" name="btn" id="btn" value="Submit" /></td></tr>
</table>
</form>