The Greek 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...

 system is administered by ELTA

Hellenic Post

The Hellenic Post S.A. is the state-owned provider of postal services in Greece. It succeeded the former government Postal Service, founded in 1828. ELTA provides a universal postal service to all parts of Greece and is a member of the Universal Postal Union...

 (Ελληνικά Ταχυδρομεία, Hellenic Post

Hellenic Post

The Hellenic Post S.A. is the state-owned provider of postal services in Greece. It succeeded the former government Postal Service, founded in 1828. ELTA provides a universal postal service to all parts of Greece and is a member of the Universal Postal Union...

). Each city street or rural region has a unique five-digit number. The first three digits identify the city, municipality or prefecture. In major cities, the final two digits identify streets or portions of streets.

Postal codes beginning with the digits between 100 and 180 are used for the city of Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

; the beginning sequences 180 to 199 are used for other parts of the prefecture of Attica

Attica

Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...

, with the exception of Corfu

Corfu

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

 and Rhodes

Rhodes

Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...

.

A complicated system relates the numbers used for the second and third digits to the numbers used in the fourth and fifth digits.

1. In less populated areas, the third digit is always a 0, while the final two digits identify municipalities in the prefecture. Because there are fewer municipalities in such regions, the final two digits tend not to exceed 50 or 60.
2. In areas with a greater population, the third digit may climb as high as 6 or 8, while the fourth and fifth digits may also be higher.
3. In larger cities, the third digit is never a 0, but ranges from 1 to 9. If it reaches 8 or 9, the fourth and fifth digits also reach larger numbers such as 80 and 99.

Sequences beginning in the 900s are not used.

All postal codes in Greece are numeric consisting of five digits. Until 1983 local three-digit systems existed in Athens and other cities.