Address (geography)

An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used for describing the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along with other identifiers such as house or apartment numbers. Some addresses also contain special codes to aid routing of mail and packages, such as a ZIP code or post code.

Functions

Addresses have several functions:

• providing a means of physically locating a building, especially in a city where there are many buildings and streets;
• identifying buildings as the end points of a postal system;
• signalling social status;
• as parameters in statistics collection, especially in census-taking or the insurance industry.

History

Until the advent of modern postal systems, most houses and buildings were not numbered. Streets may have been named for landmarks, such as a city gate or market, or for the professions of their inhabitants. In many cities in Asia, most minor streets were never named. This is still the case today in much of Japan. When postal systems were introduced, it became necessary to number buildings to aid in mail delivery.

There was previously a topic of Physical Addresses of the ISO TC 154 (one of ISO technical committees). And there was for many years an international standard of Physical Addresses, the Article RL 123.3.3 of the Universal Postal Union Letter Post Regulations and most countries adopted those specifications. However some countries kept their old address layouts and a few years ago the entire harmonisations work collapsed and the standard specifications were declared deprecated. So the harmonisation process of addresses is actually going backwards. This is a huge problem not mainly for the postal services but for the computer industry producing administrative applications able to handle (how to store address data and print it right on envelopes) the different layouts (we can see here in this article). The topic is not known to be on the agenda of any of the postal or business administrative standard organisations today.

Current addressing schemes

House numbering or naming

In most English-speaking countries, the standard is an alternating numbering scheme progressing in one direction along a street, with odd numbers on one side (usually west or south or the lefthand side leading away from a main road) and even numbers on the other (usually north or east or the righthand side leading away from a main road), although there is significant variation on this basic pattern. Many older towns and cities in the UK have "up and down" numbering where the numbers progress sequentially along one side of the road, and then sequentially back down the other side. Cities in North America, particularly those planned on a grid plan, often incorporate block numbers, quadrants (explained below), and cardinal directions into their street numbers, so that in many such cities, addresses roughly follow a Cartesian coordinate system. Some other cities around the world have their own schemes.

Although house numbering is the principal identification scheme in many parts of the world, it is also common for houses in the United Kingdom and Ireland to be identified by name, rather than number, especially in small towns. In these cases, the street name will usually follow the house name. Such an address might read: "Smith Cottage, Frog Lane, Barchester, Barsetshire, BA9 9BA" or "Dunroamin, Emo, Co. Laois, Ireland" (fictional examples).

Quadrants

In cities with Cartesian-coordinate-based addressing systems, the streets that form the north-south and east-west dividing lines constitute the x and y axes of a Cartesian coordinate plane and thus divide the city into quadrants. The quadrants are typically identified in the street names, although the manner of doing so varies from city to city. For example, in one city, all streets in the northeast quadrant may have "NE" prefixed or suffixed to their street names, while in another, the intersection of North Calvert Street and East 27th Street can be only in the northeast quadrant.

Street-naming conventions

Street names may follow a variety of themes. In many North American cities, such as, San Francisco USA, and Edmonton, Canada, streets are simply numbered sequentially across the street grid. Washington, D.C. has its numbered streets running north-south and lettered or alphabetically named streets running east-west, while diagonal avenues are typically named after states. In Salt Lake City, and many other Utah cities, streets are in a large grid and are numbered in increments of 100 based on their location relative to the center of the city in blocks. A similar system is in use in Detroit with the Mile Road System. In some housing developments in North America, streets may all follow the same theme (for example, bird species), or start with the same letter. Streets in Continental Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America are usually named after famous people or auspicious dates.

Postal codes

Postal codes are a relatively recent development in addressing, designed to speed the sorting and processing of mail by assigning unique numeric or alphanumeric codes to each geographical locality.

Postal alternatives to physical addresses

For privacy and other purposes, postal services have made it possible to receive mail without revealing one's physical address or even having a fixed physical address. Examples are post office boxes and poste restante (general delivery).

Address format

In most of the world, addresses are written in order from most specific to general, e.g. finest to coarsest information, i.e. starting with the addressee and ending with the largest geographical unit. For example:^[1]

Example	Format
Mr A. Payne ARAMARK Ltd. 30 Commercial Road Fratton PORTSMOUTH Hampshire PO1 1AA Royaume-Uni	Name Company name Street City area/District City/Town/Village County Postal code Country (in French or English)

In English-speaking countries, the postal code usually comes last. In much of Europe, the code precedes the town name, thus: "1010 Lausanne". Often, the country code is still placed in front of the postal code: "CH-1010 Lausanne". However, this is no longer demanded by postal authorities.^[2]

If a house number is provided, it is written on the same line as the street name; a house name is written on the previous line. When addresses are written inline, line breaks are replaced by commas. Conventions on the placing of house numbers differ: either before or after the street name. Similarly, there are differences in the placement of postal codes: in the UK, they are written on a separate line at the end of the address; in Australia, Canada and the United States, they usually appear immediately after the state or province, on the same line; in Austria, Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands they appear before the city, on the same line.

East Asian addressing systems, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean addressing systems, when written in their native scripts, use the opposite ordering, starting with the province/prefecture, ending with the addressee. However both have the same order as western countries when written in the Latin alphabet. The Hungarian system also goes from large to small units, except the name of the addressee is put into the first line.

The Universal Postal Convention strongly recommends the following:

"The addressee's address shall be worded in a precise and complete manner. It shall be written very legibly in roman letters and arabic numerals. If other letters and numerals are used in the country of destination, it shall be recommended that the address be given also in these letters and numerals. The name of the place of destination and the name of the country of destination shall be written in capital letters together with the correct postcode number or delivery zone number, if any. The name of the country of destination shall be written preferably in the language of the country of origin. To avoid any difficulty in the countries of transit, it is desirable for the name of the country of destination to be added in an internationally known language. Administrations may recommend that, on items addressed to countries where the recommended position of the postcode is in front of the name of the location of destination, the postcode should be preceded by the EN ISO 3166–1 Alpha 2 country code followed by a hyphen. This shall in no way detract from the requirement for the name of the destination country to be printed in full."^[3]

Mailing address format by country

Argentina

In Argentina, an address must be mailed this way:

Format	Example
Name Streetname, number Complements, Neighbourhood (if needed) Postal code, Municipality	Luis Escala Piedras 623 Piso 2, depto 4 C1070AAM, Capital Federal

The postal code has been changed from a four digit format to an eight digit format, which is shown in the example. The new format adds a district or province letter code at the beginning, which allows it to be identified. As the system has been changed recently, the four digit format can still be used: in that case it is necessary to add the name of the province or district.

Old Format (4d)	New Format (8d)
Luis Escala French 392 Banfield (1828) Lomas de Zamora, Pcia Buenos Aires	Luis Escala French 392 Banfield B1828HKH, Lomas de Zamora

Australia

In common with the English-speaking world, addresses in Australia put the street number—which may be a range—before the street name, and the placename before the postcode. Unlike addresses in most other comparable places, the city is not included in the address, but rather a much more fine-grained locality is used, usually referred to in Australia as a suburb or town – although these words are understood in a different way than in other countries. Because the suburb or town serves to locate the street or delivery type, the postcode serves only as routing information rather than to distinguish previous other parts of an address. As an example, there are around 8000 localities in Victoria (cf. List of localities in Victoria (Australia) and List of Melbourne suburbs), yet around 700 unique geographic postcodes.^[4] For certain large volume receivers or post offices, the "locality" may be an institution or street name. It is always considered incorrect to include the city or metropolis name in an address (unless this happens to be the name of the suburb), and doing so may delay delivery.

Australia Post recommends^[5] that the last line of the address should be set in capital letters. In Australia, subunits are essential and should be separated from the street by two spaces; apartments, flats and units are typically separated with a forward slash instead. As in the US, the state/territory is crucial information as many placenames are reused in different states/territories; it is usually separated from the suburb with two spaces and abbreviated. In printed matter, the postcode follows after two spaces; in handwritten matter, the postcode should be written in the boxes provided.

Format	Example
Street address
Recipient Name Other recipient information (etc.) Street (Subunit  Number Name) Locality  State  Postcode	Ms H Williams Finance and Accounting Australia Post 219-241 Cleveland St STRAWBERRY HILLS  NSW  1427
Other delivery type
Recipient Name Other recipient information (etc.) Type Number Locality  State  Postcode	Mr J. O'Donnell Lighthouse Promotions PO Box 215 SPRINGVALE  VIC  8006

In addition to PO Boxes, other delivery types (which are typically abbreviated) may include:

Delivery type	Abbreviation
Care of post office	CARE PO
Community mail bag	CMB
General Post Box (in capital cities)	GPO BOX
Mail service	MS
Roadside delivery	RSD
Roadside mail service	RMS
Community mail agent	CMA
Community postal agent	CPA
Locked bag	LOCKED BAG
Roadside mail box/bag	RMB
Private bag	PRIVATE BAG

Australian Post Addressing Guidelines

Austria

In Austria, the address is generally formatted as follows:

Format	Example
Addressee (Natural person/Organization) More detailed description of addressee (optional) Streetname + number Postal code + town Country (if other than Austria)	Firma ABC Kundendienst Hauptstr. 5 1234 Musterstadt

The postal code always consists of four digits.

Belarus

Some neighborhoods may be planned in such a way that some, or most, apartment buildings don't face a named street. In this case, a number of expedients can be used. In older neighborhoods, a "main" building may have the same number as one or more "subsidiary" buildings accessible via driveways behind the main building. They will be addressed as vul. Lenina, d. 123 (123 Lenin St) An address may also cover one or more subsidiary buildings behind the main building, addressed as vul. Lenina, d. 123, bud. 2 (123 Lenin St, unit 2, where bud. (abbreviation for будынак, budynak) means a '(subsidiary) building'). In newer areas with more regular street plans, apartment buildings that don't face a named street may be designated with Cyrillic letters appended to the building number, e.g. 123-а, 123-б, etc., in Cyrillic alphabetical order.

In some microraion neighborhoods, with few, if any, buildings facing named streets, the name (or more likely number of the microraion (planned housing development)) would be used instead of the street name; thus someone may live at 4-th microrayon, d. 123, kv. 56, i.e. 123 - 4th Microraion, apt. 56.

Format	Cyrillic example	Latin example
Name of addressee Streetname, number, apartment/room Village (in rural areas when different from post office) Postal code, post office (in rural areas) or city/town Raion Region Country (for international mail)	Свістунову Івану Пятровічу вул. Цэнтральная, д. 20 в. Караліставічы 223016, п/а Новы Двор Мінскага р-на. Мінскай вобл. Беларусь (BELARUS)	Svistunov Ivan Piatrovič vul. Centraĺnaja, d. 20 v. Karalistavičy 223016, p/a Novy Dvor Minskaha r-na Minskaj vobl. BELARUS

Source: Belposhta

Belgium

The address starts with the most specific information (addressee individual identification) and ends with the most general information (postcode and town for domestic mail or country for cross border mail.) Spatial information of a physical address (including building, wing, stairwell, floor and door) may be useful for internal path of delivery, but is not allowed in the delivery point location line (i.e. the line containing street, number and box number). If needed, this information will appear on a line above the delivery point location line.

In Belgium the street number is mentioned after the thoroughfare name (unlike in France), separated by a space. Separators such as punctuation (point, comma or other signs) or ‘n°’, or ‘nr’ are not allowed. Extension designation (box numbers), if present, appears in the delivery point location line, preceded by the word for ‘box’ (‘bus’ in Dutch, ‘bte’ in French). The symbols ‘b’, ‘Bt’, ‘#’, ‘-’, ‘/’, … are not allowed as separators between the street number element and the box number element.

Example of a correctly formatted postal address:

Format	Example (French)	Example (Dutch)
Addressee individual information Function / department (optional) Organization (if applicable) Spatial/dispatching information (if applicable) thoroughfare + street number + box number Postal code + town Country (only for international mail)	Monsieur Alain Dupont Directeur Service Clients Acme SA Bloc A - étage 4 Rue du Vivier 7C bte 5 1000 Bruxelles BELGIUM	Dhr Paul Janssens Afdeling Kwaliteit Acme NV Gebouw A - Verdieping 3 Volklorenlaan 81 bus 15 2610 Wilrijk BELGIUM

The Belgian addressing guidelines are registered with the Universal Postal Union (UPU and see the link http://www.upu.int/en/activities/addressing/postal-addressing-systems-in-member-countries.html . These guidelines indicate exactly how to combine the various address components in order to obtain a correctly formatted postal address. The complete set of addressing guidelines can be found on the website of the Belgian postal operator (bpost). The correct representation of an address is not limited to the correct structure of address components but also relates to the content of addresses and their position on envelopes (see http://www.bpost.be/fr/residential/letters-cards/send/best_practices.html (in French)).

It is also possible to validate a Belgian postal address on bpost’s website and to receive feedback on the content and the format of an address. More information can be found on bpost’s website (see http://www.bpost.be/validationadresse/ (in French)).

Brazil

In Brazil, an address must be mailed this way:

Format	Example
Name Street type (avenue/terrace), Streetname, number, apartment/room (if needed) Neighbourhood (optional) Municipality, State Postal Code	Carlos Rossi Avenida João Jorge, 112, ap. 31 Vila Industrial Campinas - SP 13035-680

States can have their name written entirely, abbreviated in some way, or totally abbreviated to two letters (SP = São Paulo, RJ = Rio de Janeiro, etc.).

Only towns with 60,000 inhabitants and above have postal codes individualized for streets, roads, avenues, etc. One way can have several postal codes (by odd/even numbers side or by segment). These postcodes range from -000 to -899. Other towns have only a generic postcode with the suffix -000. Recipients of bulk mail (large companies, condos, etc.) have specific postcodes, with a suffix ranging from -900 to -959. P.O. boxes are mailed to Correios offices, with suffixes ranging from -970 to -979. Some rural settlements have communitarian postboxes with suffix -990.

Canada

Canada uses a similar system to the United States (below), but there are key differences.

• Only Canada Post can deliver to a P.O. Box. For this reason, the recipient may choose to insert their physical (also known as street) address as line two, expanding the complete address to four lines. Providing both allows a sender to ship via the Canada Post or via a private carrier. Some locations have special drop-off points for couriers, like a convenience store (for items delivered from certain stores such as Sears or other departments) envelopes are delivered to a separate building; a post office (P.O.). This is common in small communities of roughly 300-1500 people that are not near a city.
• Mail will be delivered to the line immediately above the city, province, postal code line.
• The province and type of street, e.g. Lane, is often abbreviated as shown in the PO standard^{bad link}.
• Do not use periods or commas. Cardinal directions like North, North West, etc. can be abbreviated in either English or French, and appear after the street name. Ordinal numbered streets (e.g. 6th, 2nd) can be written in either English or French.
• The postal code is used in the same way as the US Zip code. Postal codes come in a letter-number-letter-space-number-letter-number format, for example: A1A 1A1. There should be two spaces between the province abbreviation and the postal code.
• If sending a parcel from outside Canada, the word "CANADA" must be placed at the very bottom.
• In French there are a few differences in that the house number and street name should always separated by a comma. If there is an apartment number it should be written before the house number and separated by a hyphen. The type of street is always written in lower case and the province should never be abbreviated but written in full within brackets.

See the example below for a French address.

Format	Example
Recipient name Apt. number-House number, street name City (Province) and postal code	Jean-Pierre Lamarre 101-3485, rue de la Montagne Montréal (Québec) H3G 2A6

• See the Toponymie's website for information on how to write an address in French.
• See Canada Post's Addressing Guidelines for accurate, up-to-date information.

Chile

Chilean urban addresses require only the street name, house number, apartment number (if necessary) and municipality; however, more information is frequently included, such as neighbourhood, city, region. Postal codes are rarely included by people. All postal codes have eight digits, the first three indicating the municipality, the next five identifying a block or in large and scarcely populated areas a quadrant within the municipal territory.

The territories of most of the larger cities comprise several adjacent municipalities, so it is important to mention it.

Format	Example
Recipient name Street and number Apartment (if needed) Postal code (rarely used) Municipality City (not needed)	Sr. Rodrigo Domínguez Av. Bellavista N° 185 Dep. 609 8420507 Recoleta Santiago

Smaller cities often consist of only one municipality with several unofficial neighbourhoods that are usually mentioned even for official addressing purposes.

Format	Example
Recipient name Street and number, Apartment number Neighbourhood Municipality	Sra. Isidora Retamal Nelson N° 10, Dep. 415 Cerro Barón Valparaíso

Several large and mostly rural municipalities contain more than one small town, in such cases, the recipient address must mention either the town, the postal code or both.

Format	Example
Recipient name Street and number Town or village Postal code Municipality	Inversiones Aldunate y Cía. S.A. Los Aromos N° 12185 Maitencillo 25000311 Puchuncaví

China

The Postal area when written in Chinese characters (preferably Simplified Chinese characters), has the order of the largest unit first, ending with the addressee, i.e. country, province, municipality, town, street or road, building name, floor/level, house/flat number, company name, addressee. This is the most common language used when posting within China.

Format	Chinese example	English example
Country, Postal Code Province, City, District, Street Name or Road Name with Street Number or Road Number, Building Name or Number, Room Number Recipient	邮编 528400 北京市东城区名都路恒大花园7栋702室 张小明先生收	P.R. China 528400 Beijing City, East District, Mingdu Road, Hengda Garden, 7th Building, Room 702 To: Mr Xiaoming Zhang

The whole address is commonly written as a string of characters with no particular format regarding where a new line would start, similar to one long sentence, with any new lines appearing depending on the space available on the envelope. Generally, the district is omitted when posting within China.

Croatia

Format	Example
Name Street name + number HR- Postal code + town	Hrvoje Horvat Ulica maršala Tita 174 HR-51410 Opatija

Croatia uses five-digit postal code numbers. The Croatian postal service recommends using 2-letter ISO country codes as prefixes before international and domestic postal codes, though the practice is not mandatory.

Czech Republic

Common format in Czech Republic:

Format
Company Name or Department Street name + number Postal code + Town

Postal codes are in the format "### ##" (i.e. 158 00 = Prague 58) or "CZ-#####" (especially for international sendings).

Ex.: Josef Novák, Brněnská 56, 123 07 Jitrnice

How to correctly label the consignment

Denmark

In Denmark, apartment buildings will usually have two apartments per floor. Thus, if the addressee lives in an apartment, the address should contain the floor they live on, and either side (t.v. or t.h., meaning "to the left" and "to the right") or an alphanumeric character (1,2,3... or A,B,C...= starting from left seen from the top most step just before the floor).

Also, for postal codes 2000 and up, there is a 1:1 relationship between postal code and town.

Format	Example
Name Streetname + number + apartment floor and t.h./t.v. (optional) Postal code + town	Stig Jensen Solvej 5, 4. t.v. 5000 Odense C

Estonia

Format	Example
Name Street + Building number + apartment number Postal office Postal code + town COUNTRY	Kati Kask Aia tn 1–23 Kristiine postkontor 10615 Tallinn ESTONIA[6]

Finland

Format	Example
Company Name or Department Street name + number + *apartment number (optional) Postal code + Town Country	Eduskunta Matti Mallikainen Mannerheimintie 30 00100 Helsinki Finland

If a person's name is written before the company name in the address field of a letter, then that person is considered the recipient. In this case, no other employee is allowed to open the letter but the indicated recipient. If the company name is before the person's name, then the company is the recipient and any employee is allowed to open the letter.

* apartment number can formulated as "as 5" (as = asunto, 'apartment' in English) or as "C 55" (the letter A, B, C ... indicates the correct staircase in apartment blocks with several entrances)

Finland uses a five-digit postal code. Note that some of the larger companies and organizations have their own postal codes.

France

In France, the address is generally formatted as follows:

Format	Example
Addressee (Natural person/Organization) More detailed description of addressee (optional) Housenumber + Streetname Postal code + uppercase town Country (if other than France)	Entreprise ABC M. Frank Bender 12 rue de la montagne 01234 EXAMPLEVILLE

The postal code always consists of five digits.

Organisations, government agencies, and companies which receive large amounts of mail often have a special "CEDEX" address which goes after the last line (for instance, "75001 PARIS CEDEX").

Germany

In Germany, the address is generally formatted as follows:

Format	Example
Addressee (Natural person/Organization) More detailed description of addressee (optional) Streetname + number Postal code + town Country (if other than Germany)	Firma ABC Kundendienst Hauptstr. 5 01234 Musterstadt

• The postal code always consists of five digits.
• Organizations that receive large amounts of mail may be assigned a bulk customer ZIP code. These are different from regular ZIP codes in that they do not have a street name line. Some bulk customer ZIP codes are shared between several organizations.
• There are a few places that have house numbers but no street names (e.g. Baltrum) as well as addresses that have a street name but no house number.
• Some (but not all) private post companies are also able to deliver to Deutsche Post-operated P.O. boxes.
• Post codes follow the structure of DPAG's mail routing, not administrative boundaries.
• Each post code is used exclusively for street addresses, P.O. boxes or bulk recipients.

Hong Kong

The official languages of Hong Kong are English and Cantonese Chinese. For domestic mail within Hong Kong, the address may be written entirely in either English or Chinese. For overseas mail going out from Hong Kong, the address may be written in the language of the destination country, provided that the city name and the country name are in English.^[7] However, for an overseas mail from Hong Kong to China, Macao, Taiwan or Singapore, the address may be written entirely in Chinese. While traditional Chinese characters are commonly used in Hong Kong, simplified Chinese characters are also understood by Hong Kong's postmen. Note that Hong Kong does not use any postal codes, though many rural properties have a property identification code, e.g. HKT-12345.

An address written in English should begin with the smallest unit and end with the largest unit, as in the following example for a domestic mail within Hong Kong.

Format	Example
Name of addressee Flat number, Floor number, Name of building (if a rural address: (Flat number, Floor number,) Name/number of house) Street number and street name (if a rural address: Village name) Name of district "Hong Kong", "Hong Kong Island" or "H. K." for Hong Kong Island/"Kowloon" or "Kln" for Kowloon/"New Territories" or "N. T." for New Territories	Mr. Jackie Chan Flat 25, 12/F, Acacia Building 150 Kennedy Road Wan Chai Hong Kong Island

An address written in Chinese should begin with the largest unit and end with the smallest unit, as in the following example for a piece of domestic mail within Hong Kong. Traditional Chinese characters are used in this example.

Format	Example
["香港", "港島" or "香港島" for Hong Kong Island/"九龍" for Kowloon/"新界" for New Territories] [Name of district] [Street name][Street number] (if a rural address: [Village name]) [Name of building][Floor number][Flat number] (if a rural address: [House name/number]([Floor number][Flat number])) [Name of addressee]	香港島 灣仔 堅尼地道105號 雅佳大廈12樓25室 陳港生先生

For mail to Hong Kong from overseas, "Hong Kong" should be added at the end of an address written in English, and "香港" should be added at the beginning of an address written in Chinese.

Hungary

In Hungarian mail addresses, the town name precedes the street address.

Format[8]	Example
Addressee (name or company name) City or town Street name and number and floor/door - or - P.O. Box number Postal code	Kis János Budapest Fiktív utca 82., IV. em./28. - or - Pf. 184. (Pf = postafiók) 2806

The postal code consists of four digits.

Iceland

Format	Example	Explanation
Name Streetname + Number Complements Postal code + Place	Agnes Gísladóttir Holtsflöt 4 íbúð 202 (flat 202) 300 Akranes	first name, middle name(s), last name address in the dative case flat number etc. place: municipality, town or rural area

India

The format used for rural and urban addresses is different.

Rural Addresses

Format	Example
Name Street Number, Street Name VILLAGE NAME District Name Postal Code (PIN) State	Ishan Deb 5, Mahatma Gandhi Road BUDHAGAON District Sangli 471594 Maharashtra

Urban Addresses

Format	Example
Name Occupation (Optional) Flat Number, Building Name Street Number, Street Name Locality or Neighbourhood CITY - Postal Code (PIN) State	Dr. Ashok Padhye General Physician A-205, Natasha Apartments 2, Inner Ring Road Domlur BANGALORE - 560071 Karnataka

The state is optional in both cases, but is typically used.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, the address format is like this:

Format	Example
Name Building name (if needed) Street name number Village/Kelurahan, Subdistrict/Kecamatan City or Regency Postal Code Province (sometimes not needed) State	Bapak Joko Widodo Gedung Balaikota DKI Jakarta Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan No. xx Kelurahan Gambir, Kecamatan Gambir Jakarta Selatan 10110 Jakarta Indonesia

Generally "Jalan" or "Jl." means 'street' and should go before the street name, e.g. Jalan Cemara. More info about Indonesia administrative divisions see Administrative divisions of Indonesia.

Iran

Postal addresses in Iran has a standard which should be used by mail or parcel senders. This standard is registered and qualified in Universal Postal Union (UPU). According to the below table, Iran has 4 types of standard address:

Address Type	Format
Urban	Urban Locality Street Premise Province Postcode
Rural	Rural Locality Street Premise Province Postcode
PO Box	Locality Province PO Box
Post Restante	Restante Locality Province Post Office

Iraq

Format	Example
Name of Addressee Name of the District Mahla (Area) + Number Zuqaq (Alley) + Number Building number Name of Province Postal code Country	Ali Hassan Al-Mansour Mahla 609 Zuqaq 8 House no. 12 Baghdad 10013 Iraq

Ireland

Ireland has no postcodes, apart from the 22 postal districts in Dublin and the 4 in Cork.

Format	Example with postcode only Cork and Dublin	Example with postcode without town only Cork and Dublin	Example without postcode all towns except Cork and Dublin
Addressee's Name Number + Street Name POST TOWN + Postal District number (if any)	The Avalon Hotel 223 BURLINGTON ROAD DUBLIN 4	The Avalon Hotel 223 BURLINGTON ROAD 4	The Avalon Hotel 21 NEW STREET LONGFORD

Rural addresses are specified by the county, nearest post town, and the townland. Urban addresses are specified by county, city or town name, street name, house number, and apartment or flat number where relevant. A house name may be used instead of a number.

Israel

Basic format

Format	Example
Name Streetname + number Town + Postal code	Yisrael Yisraeli HaDoar 1 Jerusalem 1234567

Example of common address with apartment number

Format	Example
Name Streetname + number/apartment Town + Postal code	Yisrael Yisraeli HaDoar 1/20 Jerusalem 1234567

Example of common address with building entrance and apartment number

Format	Example
Name Streetname + number incl. entrance + apartment town + Postal code	Yisrael Yisraeli HaDoar 1 B, Apt. 20 Jerusalem 1234567

Or

Format	Example
Name Streetname + number incl. entrance/apartment town + Postal code	Yisrael Yisraeli HaDoar 1B/20 Jerusalem 1234567

Italy

An internal address, in Italy, must be composed of three to five rows.

Up to six rows can be used if the mail is sent abroad:

Format	Example
Addressee's name and surname or company name Optional - Additional information about the addressee Optional - Additional information about the building (building number, floor, apartment number) Street name and number (via/viale/corso/piazza...) or CASELLA POSTALE (P.O.Box number) Postcode Town Province_abbreviation Foreign State name	Claudio Verdi via Roma 35 34070 Monfalcone GO

Line ordering may not be changed.

Japan

A Japanese postal address, when written in Japanese phonetic and Chinese characters, starts with the largest geographical division, continues with progressively smallers subdivisions before ending with the addressee, i.e. country, prefecture, town, chōme, banchi, building number, building name, floor number, company name, addressee. This is the most common addressing format used when mailing within Japan. It is common practice to add the appropriate honorific to the addressee's name, e.g. 様 for a private individual or 御中 for a company or institution.

Format (large to small)	Japanese example	Japanese example (mailed from overseas)
Country, 〒Postal Code Prefecture, City, District, Chōme, Banchi, Building Number and Name, Room Number Recipient	日本国 〒112-0001 東京都文京区白山4丁目3-2 田中 太郎 様	日本国 〒112-0001 東京都文京区白山4丁目3-2 田中 太郎 様 JAPAN

When written in the Latin alphabet, the address begins with the smallest geographical area and ends with the largest one as in the following example. Macrons (as on ō and ū) may be omitted.

Format (small to large)	English example	English example (aternative)
Recipient Chōme, Banchi, Building Number, Building Name, Room Number District, City, Prefecture Postal Code Country	Mr Tanaka Tarō Hakusan 4-Chōme 3-2 Bunkyō-ku, TŌKYŌ 112-0001 Japan	Mr Tanaka Tarō 4-3-2, Hakusan Bunkyō-ku, TŌKYŌ 112-0001 Japan

Japanese-style envelopes are vertically aligned and the address is written from top to bottom, then right to left. Western-style envelopes are horizontally aligned and the address is written from left to right, top to bottom.

Latvia

In Latvia, the address in generally formatted as follows:

Address Type	Format	Example
Rural Area	Addressee’s Name Street Name, House Number, Flat Number or House Name Village (if applicable) Parish (if applicable) Amalgamated Municipality Postal Code	Andris Lapa Liepu iela 1 Ērberģe Mazzalves pag. Neretas nov. LV-5133
Urban Area	Addressee’s Name Street Name, House Number, Flat Number City or Town Amalgamated Municipality (if applicable) Postal Code	Andris Lapa Jelgavas iela 1-12 Aizpute Aizputes nov. LV-3456

Notes:

• Every address element should be written on a separate line, starting with the more detailed element.
• In Latvian, addressee’s name should be provided in dative, i.g., “Andrim Liepam”. There are two generally accepted official salutation forms you can use in front of the addressee's name: "A.god." (with a man's name) or "Ļ.cien." (with a man's or woman's name).
• Indicate a full street name, house and flat number (if applicable). Separate house and flat number with a hyphen.
• It is allowed to use abbreviation of parish ("pag." - abbreviation of "pagasts") and amalgamated municipality ("nov." - abbreviation of "novads").
• The postal code consists of two capital letters (LV) and four digits separated with a hyphen.
• For cross-border mail after the postal code you need to indicate the country of destination in block letters.

Further references: Latvijas Pasts

Macao

The official languages of Macao are Portuguese and Cantonese Chinese. For domestic mail within Macao, the address may be written entirely in either Portuguese or Chinese. For overseas mail going out from Macao, the address may be written in the language of the destination country, provided that the city name and the country name are in English. However, for an overseas mail from Macao to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore, the address may be written entirely in Chinese. While traditional Chinese characters are commonly used in Macao, simplified Chinese characters are also understood by Macao's postmen. Note that Macao does not use any postal codes.

An address written in Portuguese should begin with the street name and end with the area in Macao, as in the following example for a domestic mail within Macao.

Format	Example
Name of addressee Street name, Street number, Name of building, Floor number, Flat number, "Península de Macau" for Macao Peninsula/"Taipa" for Taipa/"Coloane" for Coloane/"Cotai" for Cotai	Sr. João Kuok Rua de Macau, n.o 1, Edifício ABC, 2 andar, moradia C, Península de Macau

An address written in Chinese should begin with the largest unit and end with the smallest unit, as in the following example for a piece of domestic mail within Hong Kong. Traditional Chinese characters are used in this example.

Format	Example
["澳門半島" for Macao Peninsula/"氹仔" for Taipa/"路環" for Coloane/"路氹" for Cotai] [Street name][Street number] [Name of building][Floor number][Flat number] [Name of addressee]	澳門半島 澳門街1號 ABC大廈2樓C室 郭若昂先生

For mail to Macao from overseas, "Macau" should be added at the end of an address written in Portuguese, and "Macao" at the end of an address written in English; "澳門" should be added at the beginning of an address written in Chinese.

Malaysia

Pos Malaysia recommends the following formats:

Address Type	Format	Example
Residential	Salutation, Name of recipient Unit number, Street name Residential area Postcode Post office/Mail centre State (optional) Country	Mr. Zack Ahmad 11 Jalan Budi 1 Taman Budiman 42700 BANTING SELANGOR MALAYSIA
Business	Salutation, Name of recipient Name of Position & Department (if applicable) Company name Unit/Lot number, Building name/Commercial area Lot number (for building), Street name Postcode Post office/Mail centre State (optional) Country	Dato' S.M. Nasrudin Managing Director Capital Shipping Bhd. Lot 323, 1st Floor, Bintang Commercial Centre 29 Jalan Sekilau 81300 JOHOR BAHRU JOHOR MALAYSIA
Business + Post Office Box / Locked Bag / Counter Deposit Ticket	Salutation, Name of recipient Name of Position & Department (if applicable) Company name Unit/Lot number, Building name/Commercial area Lot number (for building), Street name Postcode, Post office/Mail centre P.O. Box number Postcode of P.O. Box, Post office/Mail centre of P.O. Box Country	Ms. Jenny Chan COO Target Insurance Brokers Level 2, Principal Towers 11 Jalan Sultan Ismail 50250 KUALA LUMPUR P.O. BOX 10073 50704 KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA

Notes:

• The Country line MALAYSIA is always omitted when mailing from within Malaysia.
• The State line is strictly optional, the mailing system will not be affected if the State line is omitted.
• The Post office/Mail centre field is the name of the town/city which post office/mail centre jurisdiction covers the mailing address, and in several cases, may not be the actual town/city which the address is geographically located.
• It is recommended to have the Post office/Mail centre written in block letters, e.g. KUALA LUMPUR.
• The postcode is always in the 5-digit format and must correspond to the respective post office / mail centre.
• Pos Malaysia allows usage of P.O. Box for both residential and business addresses. Whenever a P.O. Box address is used, its respective postcode and post office/mail centre must be written on the last line of an address. If both postcodes are present (original and P.O. Box), mail will be sent to the P.O. Box on its first attempt.

Mexico

Format	Example
" - ,	Cuauhtémoc Vázquez Contreras Poncho Inc. Av. López Mateos Sur 2833-16 col. Loma Bonita 45070 Zapopan, Jalisco

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the address is generally formatted as follows:

Format	Example
Name (Businesspark name etc.) Street + number Postal code + town Country - Optional	Thomas van der Landen Boschdijk 1092 5631 AV EINDHOVEN Nederland

The postal code is a unique street identifier, and always consists of four numbers followed by a space and then two capital letters. PostNL, the descendant of the Dutch state-run PTT, recommends putting two spaces between postal code and town. Also, the name of the town should be written in capitals.

Because the Dutch postal code uniquely identifies a street, a shortened format may also be used. This method only needs the postal code and the number. The ideal format for this method is the number after the postal code, meaning that this: '5631 AV 1092' will still get the letter delivered to the correct location.

It is also possible to replace the street name line with a PO box (e.g. "postbus 1200") or freepost number (e.g. "antwoordnummer 150"), which have their own postal code.

New Zealand

New Zealand Post recommends the following format:

Format	Example
Recipient name Flat number/House number Street address or PO Box number Suburb or RD Number or PO Box lobby name (if not the same as the town/city) Town/City Postcode	Mr John Key 43 Vogel Street Roslyn Palmerston North 4414

Note that no space or full stops exists between P and O in PO Box or R and D in RD. One should put only one space between the town/city and the postcode.

Note for Wellington metropolitan area, users should use the city name (i.e. Wellington, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua), not the metropolitan area name. For example:

Incorrect	Correct	Correct
1 Molesworth Street Taita Wellington 5011	1 Molesworth Street Taita Lower Hutt 5011	1 Molesworth Street Thorndon Wellington 6011

The city in this case is important, as if Wellington is used instead of Lower Hutt and the postcode is unclear (note only the first digit differs), someone's private mail could accidentally be sent to the New Zealand Parliament Buildings instead (or vice versa).

One anomaly about this system is the Wellington Mail Centre, which is addressed as Wellington Mail Centre, Lower Hutt 5045, due to its location in the Lower Hutt suburb of Petone.

Norway

In Norway, the address is generally formatted as follows:

Format	Example
Name (Businesspark name, etc.) Streetname + number Postal code + town	Nancy Vanderon Passion 21 6415 Bergen

The postal code is unique, and is a four-digit number. It is also possible to replace the street name line with a PO box (e.g. Postboks 250).

Oman

In the Sultanate of Oman (2012), the address is formatted as follows:^[9]

Format	Example
Name Street number + house number Block number Area City	Way 2259, 2919 Block 222 Murtafaat Al Qurm Muscat

Physical addresses only exist in major urban centers like those of Greater Muscat, Sohar, Salalah, Sur and Nizwa.

Pakistan

The format used in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Official Addresses

Format	Example
Name Street Number, Street Name CITY NAME District Name Postal Code (PIN) Province	Mohammad Ali Abu Bakr 15, M. A. Jinnah Road Karachi Karachi District 457700 Sindh

Peru

In Peru, addresses in the Metropolitan Area of Lima and Callao are generally formatted as follows:

Format	Example
Name Street name, number Apartment (if needed) District Postal code	Roberto Prada Juan de Aliaga 230 Dpto 12 Magdalena del Mar Lima 17

Addresses elsewhere in the country are formatted as follows:

Format	Example
Name Street name, number Apartment (if needed) District City (province)	Camilo Rada Av. del Ejército 450 Dpto 5 Yanahuara Arequipa

Philippines

Poland

In Poland, the address is generally formatted as follows:

Format	Example
First name & surname of addressee and/or company name & department ul. Streetname + house (building) number / flat number or al. Avenuename + house (building) number / flat number or pl. Squarename + house (building) number / flat number or Smalltown/Village name + house number Postal code + City or town Country name (optional)	Jan Kowalski ul. Wiejska 4/6 00-902 Warszawa POLAND (POLSKA)

ul. = Str (Street)
al. = Ave (Avenue)
pl. = Sq (Square, or Circus)

The abbreviation "m." (meaning "mieszkania" = "flat") can be used instead of "/" before the flat number.

The postal code always consists of five digits separated with a hyphen (in the "XX-XXX" format), i.e. 00-486 (00=Warsaw); 20-486 (20=Lublin), etc. The first digit signifies the postal district, the second: the code zone, the third: the code sector, the fourth and fifth signify the post office and its area of operation. Usually the code is unique on the street level for cities and the town level for smaller towns and villages.

Romania

In Romania, the address is generally formatted as follows:

Format	Examples
First name & surname of addressee and/or company name & department str. (abbreviation for street) + Street Name + nr. (abbreviation for street number) + Number (for apartment buildings) bl. (abbreviation for building) + Building number + sc. (abbreviation for entrance) + Entrance number/letter et. (abbreviation for floor number) + Floor number + ap. (abbreviation for apartment number) + Number City/Village + jud. (abbreviation for county) / sector (city district - for residents of Bucharest) + County name / Sector number (in the case of Bucharest) + Postal code Country name (optional)	Mihail Ionescu str. Pacienţei, nr. 9 bl. U13A, sc. M et. 7, ap. 96 Victoria, jud. Braşov, 505722 România	Gheorghe Codreanu str. Virtuţii, nr. 44 Bucureşti, sector 6, 313988 România

Russia

The address must be written in Cyrillic or Latin alphabet, in usual format (from most specific to general).

Example:^[10]

Format	Cyrillic example	Latin example
Name of addressee Streetname, number, apartment/room City/town/village Sub-region Region Country Postal code	Гусев Иван Сергеевич ул. Победы, д. 20, кв. 29 пос. Октябрьский Борский р-н Нижегородская обл. Russia, Россия 606480	Gusev Ivan ul. Pobedy, d. 20, kv. 29 pos. Oktyabrskiy Borskiy r-n Nizhegorodskaya obl. Russia 606480

Note: sub-region and region names are void if the city is Moscow or Saint Petersburg or if it is sub-region administrative center.

Some neighborhoods may be planned in such a way that some, or most, apartment buildings face no named street. In this case, a number of expedients can be used. In older neighbourhoods, such as the historical center of Moscow, a "main" building may have the same number as one or more "subsidiary" buildings accessible via driveways behind the main building. They will be addressed as, for example, ul. Lenina, d. 123 (that is, 123 Lenin St). An address may also cover one or more subsidiary buildings behind the main building, addressed as ul. Lenina, d. 123, str. 2 (123 Lenin St, Unit 2, where str. (abbreviation for строение, stroenie) means a '(subsidiary) building'. In newer areas with more regular street plans, apartment buildings that face no named street may be designated with Cyrillic letters appended to the building number, such as 123-а, 123-б, etc., in alphabetic order.

In some microraion neighborhoods, with few, if any, buildings facing named streets, the name (or more likely number of the microraion (planned housing development)) would be used instead of the street name; thus someone may live at 4-th microrayon, d. 123, kv. 56, that is, 123 - 4th Microraion, apt. 56.

Serbia

Serbian postal addresses conform to rules similar to continental European rules:

Format	Example
Addressee Streetname + Number Postal code + Town Country (if other than Serbia)	Petar Petrović Krunska 5 11000 Beograd

In addition to 5-digit postal code, another line can be added containing PAK, a six-digit number which encodes the town, street and house number section.

Singapore

SingPost recommends the following format for addresses:^[11][12]

Format	Example
Name of addressee Street number and name Name of town + Postcode	Ms. Tan Bee Soo 16 Sandilands Road SINGAPORE 546080 SINGAPORE
Name of addressee Block number and street name Floor – Apartment number + Building name Name of town + Postcode	Mr. M. Rajendran Blk 35 Mandalay Road # 13–37 Mandalay Towers SINGAPORE 308215 SINGAPORE

Generally, the last line SINGAPORE is omitted when posting within the country. Addresses are usually written in the English language.

Slovakia

Common format in Slovakia:

Format
Addressee (Name or Company) Company or Department or Landlord (if applicable) Street name + number Postal code + Town COUNTRY (if sent abroad)

Postal codes are in the format "### ##" (i.e. 851 01 = Bratislava 5).

Street numbers can be written as orientation numbers (related to street) or descriptive numbers (unique within the town) or as a combination separated by a slash (descriptive/orientation). Descriptive numbers are also used within small villages that do not have named streets.

If the delivery is intended exclusively for a specific person at a company site, the address should begin with the individual's name and the company name should follow. The standard format of addresses enables anyone at the company to receive the delivery.

http://www.posta.sk/potrebujem/spravne-napisat-adresu ("How to write addresses correctly", in Slovak, with pictures)

Slovenia

Slovenia uses a four-digit postal number. The first digit indicates the area:

• 1xxx for Ljubljana
• 2xxx for Maribor
• 3xxx for Celje
• 4xxx for Kranj
• 5xxx for Nova Gorica
• 6xxx for Koper
• 7xxx not used
• 8xxx for Novo mesto
• 9xxx for Murska Sobota

The simpler the code, the bigger the locality: 1000 Ljubljana, 2000 Maribor (big cities); 1310 Ribnica, 9250 Gornja Radgona (mid-sized towns); 4263 Bohinjska Bela, 8262 Krška vas (smaller settlements, including villages).

Some cities have more than one post office, thus having multiple postcodes (usually in the x1xx format). For example Ljubljana which has a "general" postcode 1000, also has additional ones, ranging from 1101 to 1133 (for some reason, however, omitting 1103 and 1105), Kamnik has 1240 and 1241, etc. Albeit they exist, it is not necessary to use them - usually the "general" postcodes are used.

Format	Example
Street address
Company name      and/or Recipient's name Street (road, place, etc.) + number Postcode + Post town	Cvet, d. o. o. G. Janez Novak Slovenska cesta 64 A, 2241 Spodnji Duplek
Locality address (places with unnamed streets)
Company name      and/or Recipient's name Location (village, hamlet, etc.) + number Postcode + Post town	Juha, s. p. Ga. Angela Kovač Pleterje 489 2324 Kidričevo
PO Box address (poštni predal)
Company name      and/or Recipient's name p. p. + number Postcode + Post town	Vino, d. d. Gdč. Marija Repar p. p. 12 1234 Mengeš
Special postcode holders
Company name Postcode + Post town	Nova Ljubljanska banka 1520 Ljubljana
Poste restante
Recipient's name POŠTNO LEŽEČE Postcode + Post town	G. Peter Šilj POŠTNO LEŽEČE 4270 Jesenice

^1 The abbreviations are: g. for gospod (Mr), ga. for gospa (Mrs), and gdč. for gospodična (Miss) - all always capitalized if in the beginning of the line.

^2 Numbers can have a suffix like A, B, C, etc.

^3 Common abbreviations are: c. for cesta (Street), and ul. for ulica (Road) - both always capitalised if in the beginning of the line.

^4 Bigger towns have special postcodes for PO Boxes in the xxx1 format, e.g. 1001 Ljubljana, 4001 Kranj.

^5 Big companies which receive large amounts of mail are designated their special postcodes in the x5xx format.

South Korea

Spain

Format	Example
Recipient name Street type, name, number, storey and door Postal code and city Province	Sr. Francisco Ansó García Paseo de la Castellana, 185, 5ºB 29001 Madrid Madrid

5ºB means 5th floor (Spanish: quinto). Also, there may be door number, printed as 1ª (primera-first). Suffixes "o" and "a" derives from Spanish words piso (floor) which is masculine and puerta (door) which is feminine. In listed example, the door is described by letter B, instead of number.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Post recommends the following format:

Format	Example
Name of addressee Street number and name Name of town Postcode Country	Mr. A. L. Perera 201 Silkhouse Street KANDY 20000 SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka uses a five-digit postal code. Generally, the last line SRI LANKA is omitted when posting within the country. Addresses are usually written in English and Sinhala.

Sweden

In Sweden, the address is generally formatted as follows:

Format	Example
Name Street name + number Postal code + Post town Country (if sent from abroad)	Anna Andersson Storgatan 1 112 01 Stockholm SWEDEN

The postal code is unique, and is always a five-digit number divided into groups of three and two (e.g. SE-414 73) with the prefix SE (ISO-code for Sweden) used only if sent from abroad. It is also possible to replace the street name line with a PO box (e.g. Box 51).

Switzerland

In Switzerland, the address is generally formatted as follows:^[13]

Format	Example
Recipient name Street name and number Postal code and city Country (if sent abroad)	Monsieur Pierre Dupont Rue Pépinet 10 1003 Lausanne Suisse

Taiwan

In Taiwan, addresses are regulated by the Department of Household Registration, while mails are handled by the Chunghwa Post. As a result, senders are required to write addresses in different formats in different situations.

Address Type	Format	Example
Chinese-language domestic mail, vertical sender[14]	County or City 　　　　Township, town, city or distinct 　　　　Road or Street name 　　　　Building number Sender　Floor Zip codes	台 　　北 　　市 　　市 　　府 　　路 王　２ 小　號 明　２ 緘　樓 １１０６０
Chinese-language domestic mail, vertical receiver	Zip codes Receiver　County or City 　　　　　Township, town, city or distinct 　　　　　Road or Street name 　　　　　Building number 　　　　　Floor	１１０６０ 王　台 小　北 明　市 收　市 　　府 　　路 　　２ 　　號 　　２ 　　樓
Chinese-language domestic mail, horizontal	Zip codes Address' Name or Company	11060 台北市信義區市府路2號2樓 王小明收
English-language international mail[15]	Name or Company Number, Alley, Lane, Road/Street Name Township and District, County and City, Zip codes Country	Mr. Wang 2F., No.2, Shifu Rd. Xinyi Dist., Taipei City 11060 Taiwan
Complete address for Department of Household Registration, Ministry of Interior[16]	Number, Alley, Lane, Road/Street Name, Neighborhood, Village, Township and District, County and City	2F., No.2, Shifu Rd., Neighborhood 8, Xicun Vil., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan

Thailand

Format	Example
Name Surname House (building) number / Flat number Name of address District,Canton,Province, Country Postal code	Mr. Siam Rakchart 238/54 Phaithong Village Bangyai , Bangyai Nonthaburi, Thailand 11140

Turkey

Turkish addressing system is as follows:^[17]

Format
Name Neighbourhood name Street name + number Building name + flat number (if applicable) Postal code + town + district name (if applicable) + province

However, in rural areas with decidedly little population and with no street addresses, address format is much simpler:

Format
Name Village name Postal code + district name + province

Ukraine

Some neighborhoods may be planned in such a way that some, or most, apartment buildings don't face a named street. In this case, a number of expedients can be used. In older neighborhoods, a "main" building may have the same number as one or more "subsidiary" buildings accessible via driveways behind the main building. They will be addressed as vul. Lenina, d. 123 (123 Lenin St) An address may also cover one or more subsidiary buildings behind the main building, addressed as vul. Lenina, d. 123, bud. 2 (123 Lenin St, unit 2, where bud. (abbreviation for будинок, budynоk) means a '(subsidiary) building'). In newer areas with more regular street plans, apartment buildings that don't face a named street may be designated with Cyrillic letters appended to the building number, e.g. 123-а, 123-б, etc., in Cyrillic alphabetical order.

In some microraion neighborhoods, with few, if any, buildings facing named streets, the name (or more likely number of the microraion (planned housing development)) would be used instead of the street name; thus someone may live at 4-th microrayon, bud. 123, kv. 56, i.e. 123 - 4th Microraion, apt. 56.

Format	Cyrillic example	Latin example
Name of addressee Streetname, number, apartment/room Village/city/town Raion, Region Postal code Country	Петренко Іван Леонідович вул. Шевченка, буд. 17 м. Біла Церква Київська обл. 09117 Україна (UKRAINE)	Petrenko Ivan Leonidovych vul. Shevchenka, bud. 17 m. Bila Tserkva Kyivs'ka obl. 09117 UKRAINE

United Kingdom

The format specified by the postal operator Royal Mail is as follows:^[18]

Format	Example
Addressee's name Number and street name Locality (only if required) POST TOWN POSTCODE	Mr A Smith 3 High Street Hedge End SOUTHAMPTON SO31 4NG

The locality is required only where its absence would be ambiguous, for example where a post town or postcode district includes two streets with the same name. Royal Mail specifies that post towns should be written in block capitals. Until 1996 a postal county (or permitted abbreviation) was required after the post town, unless it was a special post town, for example London. The post town and postcode should each be on a separate line. Traditionally, each line of an address would end with a comma and be indented from the previous line. Royal Mail discourage this usage and specify that all lines should start from the same point and not be staggered or aligned to the centre.^[18] The postcode identifies, from left to right, increasingly smaller units of the postal delivery system. The first half of the postcode, known as the outward code, contains the postcode area and postcode district. The second half, known as the inward code, contains the postcode sector and postcode unit.^[18]

United States

Format	Example
Name of addressee House number and street name Name of town, State abbreviation + ZIP code (typical handwritten format)	Jeremy Martinson 455 Larkspur Dr. San Jose, CA 92926
Name of addressee House number and street name Name of town + State abbreviation + ZIP+4 code (USPS-recommended format)	JEREMY MARTINSON 455 LARKSPUR DR SAN JOSE CA 92926‑4601

Notes:

• Only the United States Postal Service (USPS) can deliver to a P.O. Box. For this reason the recipient may choose to insert their physical (aka street) address as line two, expanding the complete address to four lines. Providing both allows a sender to ship via the USPS or via a private carrier.
• Mail will be delivered to the line immediately above the city, state, zip code line.
• The state and type of street, e.g. Lane, is often abbreviated as shown in the PO standard.
• The USPS discourages the use of all punctuation except the hyphen in ZIP+4 codes,^[19] slashes in fractional addresses, hyphenated street numbers, and periods in decimal addresses (e.g. the street name contains a decimal point).^[20] Hyphenated street numbers are common in the New York City borough of Queens, Hawaii, and Southern California;^[21] see house numbering.
• Sometimes the name of the town required by United States Postal Service does not necessarily mean that address is within that city. See also ZIP codes and previous zoning lines.
• Standards for variations on this format (apartment, rural route, general delivery, grid, P.O. Box and highway addresses) are covered in USPS Publication 28.^[22]
• Puerto Rico addresses often include an urbanization or condominium name.^[23]
• The USPS allows for Spanish conventions in addresses in Puerto Rico. The USPS prefers that territories be addressed in the standard domestic format (e.g. "San Juan PR 00907")^[24][25] but in practice territory names are sometimes written as if they are a country (e.g. "San Juan 00907 Puerto Rico").
• International United States Department of State mail will use "DPO" as the city; military mail will use "APO" or "FPO". Both use "AE", "AP", or "AA" in place of the state code, depending on the continent.
• Three independent countries with a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia) have their own domestic government-run mail services, but are integrated into the USPS addressing and ZIP code system. (See United States Postal Service#International_services.)

See also

• Delivery point
• Handwritten Address Interpretation (HWAI)
• Japanese addressing system
• National Land and Property Gazetteer
• service d'adresse mondial (sedamo) or worldwide address service

References

External links

• Address formats for every country
• Frank's compulsive guide to postal addresses
• GRC Database Information: links to pages relating to addresses and addressing
• service d'adresse mondial (sedamo) worldwide address service
• Universal Postal Union Postal addressing systems by country
• ISO TC 154 ISO Technical Committee 154 on Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration
• International Postal Address Validation Postal address validation