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

Border

Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...

 and street name

Street name

A street name or odonym is an identifying name given to a street. The street name usually forms part of the address...

s as references, along with other identifiers such as house or apartment

Apartment

An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

 numbers. Some addresses also contain special codes to aid routing of mail

Mail

Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

 and packages, such as a ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 or post code.

Functions

Addresses have several functions:

1. Providing a means of physically locating a building, especially in a city where there are many buildings and streets,
2. Identifying buildings as the end points of a postal system
   Mail
   Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...
   
   ,
3. A social function: someone's address can have a profound effect on their social standing,
4. As parameters in statistics collection, especially in census
   Census
   A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
   
   -taking or the insurance
   Insurance
   In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
   
    industry.

History

Until the advent of modern postal systems, most houses and buildings were not numbered. Street

Street

A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable...

s 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

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, most minor streets were never named. This is still the case today in much of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. When postal systems were introduced, it became necessary to number buildings to aid in mail delivery.

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

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, particularly those planned on a grid plan

Grid plan

The grid plan, grid street plan or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid...

, often incorporate block

City block

A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...

 numbers, quadrants (explained below), and cardinal directions into their street numbers, so that in many such cities, addresses roughly follow a Cartesian coordinate system

Cartesian coordinate system

A Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length...

. 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

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 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 name

Street name

A street name or odonym is an identifying name given to a street. The street name usually forms part of the address...

s may follow a variety of themes. In many North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n cities, such as, San Francisco USA, and Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

, Canada, streets are simply numbered sequentially

Numbered street

A numbered street is a street whose name is an ordinal number, as in Second Street or Tenth Avenue. Such forms are among the most common street names in North America, but also exist in other parts of the world, especially in the Middle East. Numbered streets were first used in Philadelphia and...

 across the street grid. Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 has its numbered street

Numbered street

A numbered street is a street whose name is an ordinal number, as in Second Street or Tenth Avenue. Such forms are among the most common street names in North America, but also exist in other parts of the world, especially in the Middle East. Numbered streets were first used in Philadelphia and...

s 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

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 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

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 species), or start with the same letter. Streets in Continental Europe

Continental Europe

Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

, the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

, and Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

 are usually named after famous people or auspicious dates.

Postal codes

Postal code

Postal code

A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. Once postal codes were introduced, other applications became possible.In February 2005, 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union had postal code systems...

s 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 box

Post Office box

A post-office box or Post Office box is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office station....

es and poste restante

Poste restante

Poste restante or general delivery is a service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it...

 (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:

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

Postal code

A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. Once postal codes were introduced, other applications became possible.In February 2005, 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union had postal code systems...

 usually comes last. In much of Europe, the code precedes the town name, thus: "1010 Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

". Often, the country code is still placed in front of the postal code: "CH

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

-1010 Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

". However, this is no longer demanded by postal authorities.

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

Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...

. 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

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...

 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."

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 4 digits format to a 8 digits format, which is showed at the example. The new format adds a district or province letter code at the beginning that allows to identify it. As the system has been recently changed the 4 digits format still can be found or used, in that case is needed to add an explicit reference regarding the province or district intended to reach.

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

Suburbs and localities (Australia)

Suburbs and localities are the names of geographic subdivisions in Australia, mainly for address purposes. The name locality is used in rural areas, while the equivalent in urban areas are suburbs. Sometimes locality is used to refer to both localities and suburbs, and they are also called address...

 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

Postcodes in Australia

Postcodes are used in Australia to sort and send mail to the correct address. All postcodes in Australia have four numbers and are placed at the end of the address...

 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. 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 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:

Example	Format
Firma ABC Kundendienst Hauptstr. 5 1234 Musterstadt	Addressee (Natural person/Organization) More detailed description of addressee (optional) Streetname + number Postal code Postal codes in Austria Postal codes in Austria were introduced in 1966 and consist of four numbers. The first indicates the state:* 1xxx: Vienna* 2xxx: Lower Austria * 3xxx: Lower Austria * 4xxx: Upper Austria...  + town Country (if other than Austria)

The postal code always consists of four digits.

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.

Canada

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

• Only Canada Post
  Canada Post
  Canada Post Corporation, known more simply as Canada Post , is the Canadian crown corporation which functions as the country's primary postal operator...
  
   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
  ZIP Code
  ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
  
  . 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, and postal code. 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 character

Simplified Chinese character

Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao for use in Mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language...

s), 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

Mainland China

Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...

.

Chinese Example		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.

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 Jiltenice

Czech Post Recommended Addressing

Denmark

Format	Example
Name Streetname + number Postal code + town	Stig Jensen Solvej 5 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 Postal codes in Germany Germany introduced postal codes on July 25, 1941, in the form of a two-digit system that was applied initially for the parcel service and later for all mail deliveries. This system was replaced in 1962 in West Germany by a four-digit system; three years later East Germany followed with its own...  + 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
  Baltrum
  Baltrum is a barrier island off the coast of East Frisia , in Germany, and is a municipality in the district of Aurich, Lower Saxony. It is located in-between the chain of the seven inhabited East Frisian Islands...
  
  ) as well as addresses that have a street name but no house number.
• Some (but not all) private post companies are also able to deliever 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 language

Official language

An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...

s of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 are English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and Cantonese Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

. 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. However, for an overseas mail from Hong Kong to China

Mainland China

Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...

, Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

, Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 or Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, the address may be written entirely in Chinese. While traditional Chinese character

Traditional Chinese character

Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi...

s are commonly used in Hong Kong, simplified Chinese character

Simplified Chinese character

Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao for use in Mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language...

s 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 Surname A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...  in CAPITAL LETTERS ) Apartment number, Floor number, Name of building Street number and street name Name of village, town or district Districts of Hong Kong The Districts of Hong Kong are the 18 political areas by which Hong Kong is geographically divided. Each district has a district council, which was formerly known as a district board. The districts were established in the early 1980s, when Hong Kong was under British rule...  (in CAPITAL LETTERS ) "HONG KONG" or "HONG KONG ISLAND" for Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km², as of 2008...  / "KOWLOON" for Kowloon Kowloon Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...  / "NEW TERRITORIES" or "N.T." for the New Territories New Territories New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory. Historically, it is the region described in The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory...

Note that this format is very different from what is used in the United States. First, the term "flat" is used instead of "apartment

Apartment

An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

", as in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and most Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 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 character

Traditional Chinese character

Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi...

s 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 Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km², as of 2008...  / "九龍" for Kowloon Kowloon Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...  / "新界" for the New Territories New Territories New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory. Historically, it is the region described in The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory... [Name of village, town or district Districts of Hong Kong The Districts of Hong Kong are the 18 political areas by which Hong Kong is geographically divided. Each district has a district council, which was formerly known as a district board. The districts were established in the early 1980s, when Hong Kong was under British rule... ] [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	Example
Addressee (name or company name) City or town Street name and number or P.O.Box number Postal code	Kis János Budapest Fiktív utca 82. 2806

The postal code consists of four digits.

Iceland

Format	Example
Name Streetname + number Postal code + town	Jón Jónsson Bárðagata 5 860 Hvolsvöllur

Ireland

Format	Addressee's Name Number + Street Name POST TOWN Post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system. Including the correct post town in the address increases the chances of a letter or parcel being delivered on time. Post towns are usually based upon the location of... + 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

Ireland 2010

Israel

Basic format

Format	Example
Name Streetname + number Postal code + town	Yisrael Yisraeli HaDoar Street 1 12345 Jerusalem

Example of common address with apartment number

Format	Example
Name Streetname + number/apartment Postal code + town	Yisrael Yisraeli HaDoar Street 1/20 12345 Jerusalem

Example of common address with building entrance and apartment number

Format	Example
Name Streetname + number incl. entrance + apartment Postal code + town	Yisrael Yisraeli HaDoar Street 1 B, Apt. 20 12345 Jerusalem

India

In India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, the address format is a little different for Village addresses and big city addresses:

Village Addresses

Format	Example
Name Street number name Village name District name Postal Code (Always 6 digit) State	Ashok Padhye 5 Mahatma Gandhi Road Budhgaon Dist. Sangli 471594 Maharashtra

City Addresses

Format	Example
Name Apartment Number, Apartment complex name (This line is optional) Street Number, name Locality City Postal Code (Always 6 digit) State	Ashok Padhye A-205 Natasha Golf View 2 Inner Ring Road Domlur Bangalore 560071 Karnataka

In both cases, the State is optional for intrastate mail.

Indonesia

In Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, 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 Fauzi Bowo 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

Administrative divisions of Indonesia

Republic of Indonesia is divided into provinces . Provinces are made up of regencies and cities . Province, regencies, and cities, have their own local governments and parliamentary bodies....

.

Iraq

Format

Example

Name of Addressee Name of the District Mahla (Area) + Number Zuqaq (Alley Alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane found in urban areas, often for pedestrians only, which usually runs between or behind buildings. In older cities and towns in Europe, alleys are often what is left of a medieval street network, or a right of way or ancient footpath in an urban setting... ) + Number Building number Name of Province Postal code Country

Ali Hassan Al-Mansour Mahla 609 Zuqaq 8 House no. 12 Baghdad Baghdad Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...   10013 Iraq Iraq Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

Iran

Postal addresses in Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 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

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.

Malaysia

Pos Malaysia

Pos Malaysia

Pos Malaysia Berhad is a post services company in Malaysia. The organisation was restructured in 1992 from being a governmental owned Malaysian Postal Services Department or Jabatan Perkhidmatan Pos Malaysia into a business corporation....

 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 Banting Banting is a principal town in the district of Kuala Langat, Selangor in Malaysia. Banting has a population of 48,240. It is situated on the banks of Langat River . It is a Rest Town or Bandar Persinggahan of Federal route . The historical Bandar Jugra, a former royal town of Selangor is situated... SELANGOR Selangor Selangor also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity") is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east, Negeri Sembilan to the south and the Strait of Malacca to the west... 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 Bahru Johor Bahru is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland... JOHOR Johor Johor is a Malaysian state, located in the southern portion of Peninsular Malaysia. It is one of the most developed states in Malaysia. The state capital city and royal city of Johor is Johor Bahru, formerly known as Tanjung Puteri... 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 Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million... P.O. BOX 10073 50704 KUALA LUMPUR Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million... 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
  Pos Malaysia
  Pos Malaysia Berhad is a post services company in Malaysia. The organisation was restructured in 1992 from being a governmental owned Malaysian Postal Services Department or Jabatan Perkhidmatan Pos Malaysia into a business corporation....
  
   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.

Netherlands

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

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

The postal code is unique, and always consists of four numbers followed by a space and then 2 capital letters. TNT Post, the descendant of the Dutch state-run PTT

Postal Telegraph and Telephone

A postal, telegraph, and telephone service is a government agency responsible for postal mail, telegraph, and telephone services. Such monopolies existed in many countries, though not in North America or Japan. Many PTTs have been partially or completely privatized in recent years...

, recommends putting two spaces between postal code and town.

Because the Dutch postal code is unique, 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

Freepost

Freepost is a postal service provided by various postal administrations, whereby a person sends mail without affixing postage, and the recipient pays the postage when collecting the mail...

 number (e.g. "Antwoordnummer 150"), which have their own postal code.

New Zealand

New Zealand Post

New Zealand Post

New Zealand Post, commonly referred by its acronym, NZPost is a State owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand.-History:...

 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 COUNTRY (if other than New Zealand)

Mr David Bain David Bain David Cullen Bain is a New Zealander who featured in one of the country's most notable murder cases. He was convicted in May 1995 of the murders of his parents and siblings in Dunedin on 20 June 1994...   65 Every Street Andersons Bay Dunedin Dunedin Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...  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 Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 and Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

 metropolitan areas, users should use the city name (i.e. Auckland, North Shore, Waitakere, Manukau, Wellington, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua), not the metropolitan area name. For example:

Incorrect

Correct

Great North Road Great North Road (New Zealand) Great North Road is a major thoroughfare in Auckland, on the North Island of New Zealand. It runs from the fringe of the Auckland CBD to west Auckland. The road is the second longest in Auckland, after its counterpart, Great South Road...   Henderson Auckland Auckland The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...  0610

Great North Road Henderson Waitakere Waitakere Waitakere City was the name of a city which existed from 1989 until 2010 in the Auckland region. It was New Zealand's fifth largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%... 0610

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

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

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

Russian Federation

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.


Example (postal code not accurate):


123456 Россия

Приморский край

Владивосток

ул. К Маркса

д. 57 к. 1 кв. 5

Афанасий Леонтьев

Singapore

SingPost recommends the following format for addresses:

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

House numbering

House numbering is the system of giving a unique number to each building in a street or area, with the intention of making it easier to locate a particular building. The house number is often part of a postal address....

 (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.

Slovenia

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

Slovenia uses a four-digit postal number.

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

Sri Lanka Post

The Department of Posts, functioning under the brand name Sri Lanka Post, is a government operated postal system in Sri Lanka. The postal headquarters is the General Post Office which is located in Colombo. The department itself comes under the purview of the Ministry of Telecommunications and Posts...

 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

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and Sinhala.

Sweden

In Sweden, the address is generally formatted as follows:

Format	Name (Businesspark name, c/o-address etc.) Street name + number Postal code + TOWN

The postal code is unique, and is always a five-digit number divided into groups of three and two (e.g. 414 73). 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).

Taiwan(Republic of China)

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 mail Vertical Sender	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 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 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	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 (R.O.C.)
Complete Address in Department of Household Registration, Ministry of Interior	Number, Alley, Lane, Road/Street Name, Neighborhood, Village Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New... , Township and District, County and City	2F., No.2, Shifu Rd., Neighborhood 8, Xicun Vil., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan (R.O.C.)

Turkey

Turkish addressing system is as follows:

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, 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. ul. Lenina, d. 123, i.e. 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 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 alphabetic

Cyrillic alphabet

The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...

 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.

United Kingdom

Minimum format	Addressee's Name Number + Street Name (Locality) POST TOWN Post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system. Including the correct post town in the address increases the chances of a letter or parcel being delivered on time. Post towns are usually based upon the location of... POSTCODE UK postcodes The postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were introduced by the Royal Mail over a 15-year period from 11th October 1959 to 1974...	Rural areas	Addressee's Name Property Name (Street Name) Locality POST TOWN Post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system. Including the correct post town in the address increases the chances of a letter or parcel being delivered on time. Post towns are usually based upon the location of... POSTCODE UK postcodes The postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were introduced by the Royal Mail over a 15-year period from 11th October 1959 to 1974...

This is the format preferred by Royal Mail

Royal Mail

Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...

. 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, SW1A 0AA" 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 address Street number and name Name of town, State abbreviation + ZIP code ZIP Code ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the... (typical handwritten format)
JEREMY MARTINSON 455 LARKSPUR DR CALIFORNIA SPRINGS CA 92926‑4601	Name of address Street number and name Name of town + State abbreviation + ZIP (+ 4) code (USPS-recommended format)

Notes:

• Only the United States Postal Service
  United States Postal Service
  The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
  
   (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 town required by United States Postal Service
  United States Postal Service
  The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
  
   do not necessarily mean that address is within that city. See also ZIP codes and previous zoning lines.
• Some institutes require addresses including county
  County (United States)
  In the United States, a county is a geographic subdivision of a state , usually assigned some governmental authority. The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states; Louisiana is divided into parishes and Alaska into boroughs. Parishes and boroughs are called "county-equivalents" by the U.S...
  
   or township
  Township (United States)
  A township in the United States is a small geographic area. Townships range in size from 6 to 54 square miles , with being the norm.The term is used in three ways....
  
  . This information is normally found on U.S. Census Bureau maps.

See also

• Delivery point
  Delivery point
  In a postal system, a delivery point is a single mailbox or other place at which mail is delivered. It differs from a street address, in that each address may in fact have several delivery points, such as an apartment flat, office department, or other room...
  
  
• Handwritten Address Interpretation
  Handwritten Address Interpretation
  HandWritten Address Interpretation: A software system developed at Center of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition of the State University of New York. Known as HWAI, it was first deployed by the United States Postal Service through its contractor Lockheed-Martin in Tampa, Florida during...
  
   (HWAI)
• Japanese addressing system
  Japanese addressing system
  The Japanese addressing system is used to identify a specific location in Japan. In Japanese, addresses are written using the opposite convention from Western addresses, starting with the biggest geographical entities down to the more specific ones....
  
  
• National Land and Property Gazetteer
  National Land and Property Gazetteer
  The National Land and Property Gazetteer is an initiative in the United Kingdom to provide a definitive and consistent address — see address — infrastructure for the whole of the UK...
  
  
• service d´adresse mondial
  Service d´adresse mondial
  service d´adresse mondial , abbreviation: sedamo, is an Internet based service for conveying postal addresses especially in non-Latin characters...
  
  (sedamo) or worldwide address service

External links

• 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

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.