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===Pakistan=== |
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The format used in the Islamic Republic of [[Pakistan]]. |
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'''Official Addresses''' |
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|''Name''<br>''Street Number, Street Name''<br>''CITY NAME''<br>''District Name''<br>''Postal Code (PIN)''<br>''Province'' |
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|Mohammad Ali Abu Bakr<br> 15, Jinnah Road<br>Karachi<br>Karachi District<br>457700<br>Sindh |
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===Peru=== |
===Peru=== |
Revision as of 11:44, 19 September 2012
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,
- A social function: someone's address can have a profound effect on their social standing,
- 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.
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008) |
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. I.M. A. Payne ARAMARK Ltd. 30 Commercial Rd. Fratton PORTSMOUTH Hampshire PO1 1AA |
Name Company Name Street City Area/District City/Town/Village County Postal Code |
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 is – 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 |
Ms H Williams
Finance and Accounting |
Other delivery type | |
Recipient Name
Other recipient information (etc.) |
Mr J. O'Donnell
Lighthouse Promotions |
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:
Example | Format |
---|---|
Firma ABC Kundendienst Hauptstr. 5 1234 Musterstadt |
Addressee (Natural person/Organization) More detailed description of addressee (optional) Streetname + number Postal code + town Country (if other than Austria) |
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 e.g. vul. Lenina, d. 123, i.e. 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 | Latin |
---|---|---|
Name of addressee
Streetname, number, apartment/room |
Свістунову Івану Пятровічу
вул. Цэнтральная, д. 20 |
Svistunov Ivan Piatrovič
vul. Centraĺnaja, d. 20 |
Source: Belposhta
Belgium
In Belgium it is standard to use an alternating numbering scheme progressing in one direction along a street. The numbering starts at the side of the centre of the municipality. Always with odd numbers on the left side and even numbers on the right side when driving from the centre of the municipality outward. A cul-de-sac (/dead end street) is an exception. The numbering starts at the side where the street starts but without the alternating number scheme. The numbering starts, odd and even, at the left side and at the end of the streets turns back via the other side adding up back to the beginning of the street.
The address can be written in Dutch or in French. When you receive a Belgian address in German, this is also correct as Belgium has 3 official languages. When unsure of the recipient's language, it can be better to write it in Dutch and in French. This is usual for this country.
Brazil
In Brazil, an address must be mailed this way:
Format | Example |
---|---|
Name 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 standardbad 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.
- 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 |
People's Republic of China
The postal address in the People's Republic of China, 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 mainland China.
Chinese Example |
邮编 528-400 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 |
---|---|---|
Chinese Format |
Country, Postal Code Province, City, District, Street Name or Road Name with Stree Number or Road Number, Building Name or Number, Room Number Recipient |
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 PRC.
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 code is in format "### ##" (i.e. 158 00 = Prague 58) or "CZ-#####" (especially for international sendings).
Ex.: Josef Novák, Brněnská 56, 123 07 Jitrnice
Czech Post Recommended Addressing
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 t.v. or t.h., meaning "to the left" and "to the right".
Also, there is a 1:1 relationship between postal code and town. Nobody knows why you still have to write both.
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 |
Finland
Format | Example |
---|---|
Company Name or Department Street name + number + *apartment number (optional) Postal code + Town Country |
Eduskunta Matti Mallikainen Mannerheimintie 30 as 5 FI-00102 Eduskunta 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:
Example | Format |
---|---|
Entreprise ABC M. Frank Bender 12 rue de la montagne 01234 EXAMPLEVILLE |
Addressee (Natural person/Organization) More detailed description of addressee (optional) Housenumber + Streetname Postal code + uppercase town Country (if other than France) |
The postal code always consists of five digits.
Germany
In Germany, the address is generally formatted as follows:
Example | Format |
---|---|
Firma ABC Kundendienst Hauptstr. 5 01234 Musterstadt |
Addressee (Natural person/Organization) More detailed description of addressee (optional) Streetname + number Postal code + town Country (if other than Germany) |
- 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 DPAG-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.[6] However, for an overseas mail from Hong Kong to China, Macau, 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 post officers. 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.
Example | Format |
---|---|
Mr. Jackie CHAN Flat 25, 12/F, Acacia Building 150 Kennedy Road WAN CHAI HONG KONG (ISLAND) |
Name of addressee (with surname in CAPITAL LETTERS [citation needed]) Apartment number, Floor number, Name of building Street number and street name Name of village, town or district (in CAPITAL LETTERS [citation needed]) "HONG KONG" or "HONG KONG ISLAND" for Hong Kong Island / "KOWLOON" for Kowloon / "NEW TERRITORIES" or "N.T." for the New Territories |
Note that this format is very different from what is used in the United States. First, the term "flat" is used instead of "apartment", as in the United Kingdom, Ireland and most Commonwealth countries. Second, the flat number and floor number is written before the name of the building.
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.
Example | Format |
---|---|
香港(島) 灣仔堅尼地道 105 號 雅佳大廈 12 樓 25 室 陳港生先生 |
"香港島" or "香港" for Hong Kong Island / "九龍" for Kowloon / "新界" for the New Territories [Name of village, town or district] [Street name and street number] [Name of building] [Floor number] [Flat number] [Name of addressee] |
For mail to Hong Kong from overseas, "Hong Kong" should be added at the end of an address in English, and "香港" should be added at the beginning of an address in Chinese.
Hungary
In Hungarian mail addresses, the town name precedes the street address.
Format[7] | 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 |
Ireland
Ireland has no postcodes, apart from the 22 postal districts in Dublin and the 4 in Cork.
Format | Addressee's Name Number + Street Name POST TOWN + POSTCODE |
---|
Example with postcode only Cork and Dublin |
The Avalon Hotel 223 BURLINGTON ROAD IE DUBLIN 4 |
---|
Example with postcode without town only Cork and Dublin |
The Avalon Hotel 223 BURLINGTON ROAD 4 |
---|
Example without postcode all towns except Cork and Dublin |
The Avalon Hotel 21 NEW STREET IE LONGFORD |
---|
Israel
Basic format
Format | Example |
---|---|
Name Streetname + number Postal code + town |
Yisrael Yisraeli HaDoar 1 Jerusalem 12345 |
Example of common address with apartment number
Format | Example |
---|---|
Name Streetname + number/apartment town + Postal code |
Yisrael Yisraeli HaDoar 1/20 Jerusalem 12345 |
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 12345 |
Or
Format | Example |
---|---|
Name Streetname + number incl. entrance/apartment town + Postal code |
Yisrael Yisraeli HaDoar 1B/20 Jerusalem 12345 |
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 |
Ashok Padhye 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
|
Bapak Fauzi Bowo
|
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.
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 |
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 | Urban | Rural | PO Box | Post Restante |
---|---|---|---|---|
Format | Urban Locality Street Premise Province Postcode |
Rural Locality Street Premise Province Postcode |
Locality Province PO Box |
Restante Locality Province Post Office |
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 | 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 |
---|
Line ordering may not be changed.
Japan
Republic of Korea
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
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 No. 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 No 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 No. 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 |
---|---|
<Recipient name> <Street type (ommited for streets)> <street name> <number>-<interior or storey number> <city ward> <Postal code> <city>, <state> |
Cuauhtémoc Vázquez Contreras 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.
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 David Bain 65 Every Street Andersons Bay Dunedin 9013 |
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 |
---|---|
123 Petone Avenue Petone Wellington 5012 |
123 Petone Avenue Petone Lower Hutt 5012 |
One anomaly about this system is the Wellington Mail Centre, which is addressed as Wellington Mail Centre, Lower Hutt 5045 - not Wellington.
Norway
In Norway, the address is generally formatted as follows:
Format | Name (Businesspark name, etc.) Streetname + number Postal code + town |
---|
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).
Example:
- Nancy Vanderon
- Passion 21
- 6415 Bergen
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, 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) + Streetname + nr. (abbreviation for street number) + Number (for apartment buildings) bl. (abbreviation for building) + Building number + sc. (abbreviation for enterance) + Enterance 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[8]:
Format | Cyrillic | Latin |
---|---|---|
Name of addressee
Streetname, number, apartment/room |
Гусев Иван Сергеевич
ул. Победы, д. 20, кв. 29 |
Gusev Ivan
ul. Pobedy, d. 20, kv. 29 |
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 [when?] 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.
Singapore
SingPost recommends the following format for addresses:[9][10]
Example | Format |
---|---|
Ms. Tan Bee Soo 16 Sandilands Road SINGAPORE 546080 SINGAPORE |
Name of addressee Street number and name Name of town + Postcode |
Mr. M. Rajendran Blk 35 Mandalay Road # 13–37 Mandalay Towers SINGAPORE 308215 SINGAPORE |
Name of addressee Block number and street name Floor – Apartment number + Building name Name of town + Postcode |
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 code is in format "### ##" (i.e. 851 01 = Bratislava 5) or "SK-### ##".
Street number can be written as orientation number (related to street) or descriptive number (unique within town) or their combination separated by slash (descriptive/orientation). Descriptive numbers are also used within small villages that don't have named streets.
If the delivery is intended exclusively for specific person at company site, the address should begin with Name and Company name should follow. The standard format of address (in above table) enables anyone at 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 Novak1 Slovenska cesta 64 A2,3 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 4892 2324 Kidričevo | |||
PO Box address (poštni predal)4 | ||||
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 holders5 | ||||
Company name Postcode + Post town |
Nova Ljubljanska banka 1520 Ljubljana | |||
Poste restante | ||||
Recipient's name POŠTNO LEŽEČE Name of the post office Street/Locality + number Postcode + Post town |
G. Peter Šilj POŠTNO LEŽEČE Pošta 1260 Ljubljana-Polje Zadobrovška cesta 14 1260 Ljubljana-Polje |
^1 The abbreviations are: G. for gospod (Mr), Ga. for gospa (Mrs), and Gdč. for gospodična (Miss).
^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.
Spain
Format | Example |
---|---|
Recipient name Street type, name, number, storey and door Postal code and city Province |
Sr. Francisco Ansó Paseo de la Castellana, 185, 5ºB 29001 Madrid Madrid |
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Post recommends the following format:
Format | Name of addressee Street number and name Name of town Postcode |
---|
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 the English and Sinhala.
Sweden
In Sweden, the address is generally formatted as follows:
Format | Example |
---|---|
Name Street name + number SE- + Postal code + TOWN |
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. Town (or village) name should be written in CAPITAL letters. 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[11]:
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, the addresses are regulated by the department of household registration, but the mails are sent by the Chunghwa POST. As the result, people should fill out different formats of addresses in different situations.
Address Type | Format | Example |
---|---|---|
Chinese Domestic Vertical Sender [12] |
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 Domestic 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 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 International Mail[13] | 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 in Department of Household Registration, Ministry of Interior[14] |
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 |
Turkey
Turkish addressing system is as follows:[15]
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 e.g. vul. Lenina, nud. 123, i.e. 123 Lenin St), or "subsidiary" buildings may have own number. 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 | Latin |
---|---|---|
Name of addressee
Streetname, number, apartment/room |
Семенов Іван Леонідович
вул. Шевченка, буд. 17 |
Semenov Ivan Leonidovych
vul. Shevchenka, bud. 17 |
United Kingdom
Minimum format | Addressee's Name Number + Street Name (Locality) POST TOWN POSTCODE COUNTRY (if needed) |
John Johnson 987, Manford Boulevard Woking GUILDFORD GU22 1AA UNITED KINGDOM |
Rural areas | Addressee's Name Property Name (Street Name) Locality POST TOWN POSTCODE COUNTRY (if needed) |
Jack Jackson The Wombles 1, Bearley Hill Way Wimbledon LONDON SW19 1AA UNITED KINGDOM |
---|
This is the format preferred by Royal Mail. The locality is required only where its absence would be ambiguous. Post towns rarely correspond to political boundaries and often group places that for all other purposes are quite separate. The Royal Mail asks that postal towns be written in block capitals, but in practice they rarely are. Sometimes the postal county is included after the post town, often because of software which requires a county to be included as part of a postal address, even where a county was never required by Royal Mail (so called special post towns).
Additionally, many people in the UK either prefer to use an older format of their address, include unnecessary information, or simply don't know what the correct format is. An address such as 1, Linclare Place, ST NEOTS, PE19 7AG might typically be written as 1, Linclare Place, Eaton Ford (locality), St Neots, Huntingdon (district), Cambs. (County) PE19 7AG.
Because each UK postcode covers only around 15 addresses, one could actually address a letter to "1, PE19 7AG" and it should arrive, although with some delay.
The postcode should be on its own line and should be the last line unless the country is also included.
United States
Example | Format |
---|---|
Jeremy Martinson 455 Larkspur Dr. California Springs, CA 92926 |
Name of addressee House number and street name Name of town, State abbreviation + ZIP code (typical handwritten format) |
JEREMY MARTINSON 455 LARKSPUR DR CALIFORNIA SPRINGS CA 92926‑4601 |
Name of addressee House number and street name Name of town + State abbreviation + ZIP+4 code (USPS-recommended format) |
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 periods and commas.
- 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.
- Some institutes require addresses including county or township. This information is normally found on U.S. Census Bureau maps.
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
- ^ Addressing your mail: Guidelines, Royal Mail
- ^ Formatting an international address: International Addressing, Universal Posting Union
- ^ Universal Postal Convention, Article 12, RL123. In: Universal Postal Union – Letter Post Manual, page D.5
- ^ Australia Post. (29 September 2009). Full postcode datafile. Retrieved 1 October 2009
- ^ Australia Post. (nd). Address presentation standards. Retrieved 1 October 2009
- ^ Post Office Guide (Section 6) of Hongkong Post
- ^ Mail address schemes. Hungarian Post Office
- ^ Почта России. Правила оформления почтовых отправлений
- ^ SingPost Webpage
- ^ Universal Postal Union: Singapore Guide
- ^ Postal addressing systems in member countries: Switzerland, Universal Postal Union. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
- ^ Domestic mail
- ^ International Mail
- ^ 村里街路門牌查詢
- ^ PTT webpage. Retrieved 14 April 2010 Template:Tr icon
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- 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