An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used to give 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 and organization name. Some addresses also contain special codes, such as a postal code, to make identification easier and aid in the routing of mail.
Addresses provide a means of physically locating a building. They are used in identifying buildings as the end points of a postal system and as parameters in statistics collection, especially in census-taking and the insurance industry. Address formats are different in different places, and unlike latitude and longitude coordinates, there is no simple mapping from an address to a location.
Until the 18th and 19th centuries, most houses and buildings were not numbered.[1] Street naming and numbering began under the age of Enlightenment, also as part of campaigns for census and military conscription, such as in the dominions of Maria Theresa in the mid 18th century.[1] Numbering allowed the efficient delivery of mail, as the postal system evolved in the 18th and 19th centuries to reach widespread usage.[1]
Comprehensive addressing of all buildings is still incomplete, even in developed countries.[1] For example, the Navajo Nation in the United States was still assigning rural addresses as of 2015[2] [3] and the lack of addresses can be used for voter disenfranchisement in the USA.[1] [4] In many cities in Asia, most minor streets were never named, and this is still the case today in much of Japan. Over a third of addresses in Ireland shared their address with at least one other property at the time of the Eircode's introduction in 2015.[5]
See main article: House numbering. In most English-speaking countries, the usual method of house numbering is an alternating numbering scheme progressing in each direction along a street, with odd numbers on one side (often west or south or the left-hand side leading away from a main road) and even numbers on the other side, 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.[6] 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 villages. In these cases, the street name will usually follow the house name. Such an address might read: "Smith Cottage, Frog Lane, Barchester, Barsetshire, BZ9 9BA" or "Dunroamin, Emo, Co. Laois, Ireland" (fictional examples).
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 names may follow a variety of themes. In many North American cities, such as San Francisco, USA, and Edmonton, Alberta and Vancouver, British Columbia, streets are simply numbered sequentially across the street grid. Numbered streets originated in the United States in Philadelphia by Thomas Holme who laid out the original plan for the city in 1683. 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 and elsewhere, street names 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 often named after famous people or significant dates.
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.
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, service addresses and poste restante (general delivery).
In most of the world, addresses are written in order from most specific to general, i.e. finest to coarsest information, starting with the addressee and ending with the largest geographical unit. For example:[7]
In English-speaking countries, the postal code usually comes last. In much of Europe, the code precedes the town name, thus: "1010 Lausanne". Sometimes, the ISO 3166 country code is placed in front of the postal code: "CH-1010 Lausanne".[8]
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, France, Germany and The Netherlands they appear before the city, on the same line.
East Asian addressing systems, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese addressing systems, when written in their native scripts, use the big-endian order, from the largest geographical area to the smallest geographical area, followed by the recipient's name. However, both have the same order as western countries when written in the Latin script. The Hungarian system also goes from large to small units, except that 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 or post office box 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. Designated operators 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."[9]
In Argentina, an address must be mailed this way:
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.
See main article: Postcodes in Australia.
In common with the rest of 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 locality – 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 8,000 localities in Victoria (cf. List of localities in Victoria (Australia) and List of Melbourne suburbs), yet around 700 unique geographic postcodes.[10] 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[11] 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.
Apartment, flat and unit numbers, if necessary, are shown immediately prior to the street number (which might be a range), and, as noted above, are separated from the street number by a forward slash. These conventions can cause confusion. To clarify, 3/17 Adam Street would mean Apartment 3 (before the slash) at 17 Adam Street (in the case of a residential address) or Unit 3 at 17 Adam St (in the case of a business park). On the other hand, 3–17 Adam Street would specify a large building (or cluster of related buildings) occupying the lots spanning street numbers 3 to 17 on one side of Adam St (without specifying any particular place within the buildings). These forms can be combined, so 3/5–9 Eve Street signifies Apartment 3 (before the slash) in a building which spans street numbers 5 to 9 on one side of Eve Street.
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 3171 | |
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
In rural areas, "Property numbers are worked out based on the distance from the start of the road to the entrance of the property. That distance (in metres) is divided by ten. Even numbers are on the right and odd numbers are on the left. For example: the entrance to a property 5,080 metres from the start of the road on the right hand side becomes number 508. The start of the road is determined as the fastest and safest road accessed from the nearest major road or town. Rural road maps are being drawn up to define the name, the start point and direction of every rural road."[12]
In Austria, the address is generally formatted as follows:
The postal code always consists of four digits.
In Bangladesh, the format used for rural and urban addresses is different.
Urban Addresses
The postal code always consists of four digits.Rural Addresses
In Belarus, some neighbourhoods 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 neighbourhoods, a "main" building may have the same number as one or more "subsidiary" buildings accessible via driveways behind the main building. They will be addressed as vul. Lenina, d. 123 (123 Lenin St) An address may also cover one or more subsidiary buildings behind the main building, addressed as vul. Lenina, d. 123, bud. 2 (123 Lenin St, unit 2, where bud. (abbreviation for) means a '(subsidiary) building'). In newer areas with more regular street plans, apartment buildings that do not 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 neighbourhoods, 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.
Source: Belposhta
In Belgium, the address starts with the most specific information (addressee individual identification) and ends with the most general information (postcode and town for domestic mail or country for cross border mail.)Spatial information of a physical address (including building, wing, stairwell, floor and door) may be useful for internal path of delivery, but is not allowed in the delivery point location line (i.e. the line containing street, number and box number). If needed, this information will appear on a line above the delivery point location line.
The street number is placed after the thoroughfare name (unlike in France), separated by a space. Separators such as punctuation (point, comma or other signs) or "nº", or "nr" are not allowed. Extension designation (box numbers), if present, appears in the delivery point location line, preceded by the word for "box" (in Dutch, in French). Symbols such as b, Bt, #, -, / are not allowed as separators between the street number element and the box number element.
Examples of a correctly formatted postal address:
The Belgian addressing guidelines are registered with the Universal Postal Union (UPU and see the link Universal Postal Union – Postal addressing systems in member countries). These guidelines indicate exactly how to combine the various address components in order to obtain a correctly formatted postal address.
The complete set of addressing guidelines can be found on the website of the Belgian postal operator (bpost). The correct representation of an address is not limited to the correct structure of address components but also relates to the content of addresses and their position on envelopes (see bpost - Lettres & cartes - Envoi - Comment addresser ? (in French)). It is also possible to validate a Belgian postal address on bpost's website and to receive feedback on the content and the format of an address.
In Brazil, an address must be written this way:
States can have their name written in full, 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 street 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 offices, with suffixes ranging from -970 to -979. Some rural settlements have community postboxes with suffix -990.
Similar to Belgium and most other European countries, in Bulgaria the address starts with the most specific information (addressee individual identification) and ends with the most general information (town and postcode for domestic mail or country for cross border (international) mail.)Spatial information of a physical address (including building, wing, stairwell, floor and door) may be useful for internal path of delivery, but is not allowed in the delivery point location line (i.e. the line containing street, number and box number). If needed, this information will appear on a line above the delivery point location line.
The street number is placed after the thoroughfare name (unlike in France), separated by a space and the symbol 'No. '. Separators such as punctuation (point, comma or other signs) are allowed if needed. Extension designation (box numbers), if present, appears in the delivery point location line, preceded by the word for "box" (" ", " ", or " "). Symbols such as #, -, / are not strictly disallowed as separators between the street number element and the box number element. Note that there may sometimes be a confusion between (postal code (of the local post office)) and (P.O. (post office box), the individual physical P.O. box of a specific address or a subscription-based physical P.O. box inside a post-office branch).
The convention is that the addressee's information is written on the bottom right portion of the letter. The sender's information is written either on the top left portion of the letter or on the top reverse side of the letter (except for parcel packages). Domestic post letters, parcels and postal money transfers are written in Bulgarian Cyrillic while the international postal letters and parcels are written in the Latin script (usually in English due to its global usage) with Arabic numerals.Apart delivering mail and parcel packages to individual addresses, the Bulgarian Posts also delivers to local post offices (which then notify the recipient that he/she has mail to collect from the post office; so-called (letters on demand/request)) or to a subscription mailbox within a local post office.
Examples of a correctly formatted postal address:
Format for mail exchange between private individuals ():
Format for mail and parcel exchange between business partners ():
Format for mail and parcel sending to an individual subscription mailbox within a local office of Bulgarian Posts ():
The Bulgarian postal addressing guidelines are registered with the Universal Postal Union (UPU and see the link Universal Postal Union – Postal addressing systems in member countries). These guidelines indicate exactly how to combine the various address components in order to obtain a correctly formatted postal address.
The complete set of addressing guidelines can be found on the website of the Bulgarian postal operator (Bulgarian Posts). The correct representation of an address is not limited to the correct structure of address components but also relates to the content of addresses and their position on envelopes (see Български пощи (Български пощи) (in Bulgarian)). It is also possible to validate a Bulgarian postal address on Bulgarian Posts' website and to receive feedback on the content and the format of an address. More information can be found at (see Български пощи (in Bulgarian)).
Addressing guidelines can differ between English- and French-speaking populations in Canada. Here are some formatting rules that are used in common:
See the example below for a comparison of the English and French address formats:
English (from Canada Post): NICOLE MARTIN 123 SHERBROOKE ST TORONTO ON L3R 9P6
French (from the OQLF): Monsieur Jean-Pierre Lamarre 101–3485, rue de la Montagne Montréal (Québec) H3G 2A6
Chilean urban addresses require only the street name, house number, apartment number (if necessary) and municipality; however, more information is frequently included, such as commune (neighbourhood or town) and region. Postal codes are rarely included by people. All postal codes have seven digits, the first three indicating the municipality, the next four 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.
Smaller cities often consist of only one municipality with several unofficial comunes (neighborhoods) that are usually mentioned even for official addressing purposes.
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.
In other towns or rural communities there are no house numbers and addresses are generally identified by company name followed by only a street name follow by some reference point.In mainland China, the postal area when written in Chinese characters (preferably Simplified Chinese characters), has the big-endian order, which means that the Chinese-language address is written from the largest geographical area to the smallest geographical area.[13] The Chinese-language address format is:
Province, prefecture-level city, district or county (sometimes omitted), township or town or subdistrict (often omitted), village or community (usually omitted), road name, road number, building name, floor/level, room number
However, as a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), China Post also supports UPU's English-language address in the little-endian order, which means that English-language address is written from the smallest geographical area to the largest geographical area.[14] The English-language address format is:
Room number, floor/level, building nameroad number, road name, village or community (usually omitted), township or town or subdistrict (often omitted)
district or county (sometimes omitted), prefecture-level city
postcode and province
country name
Chinese domestic letters only support Chinese-language address in the big-endian order. The example is:
The international letters to China support English-language address in the little-endian order. The example is:
In Colombia the address format uses a numeric format based on which increase the number from south to north and which increase the number from east to west.
Croatian Post recommends the following format:[15]
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.
Common format in the Czech Republic:
Postal codes are in the format "### ##" (i.e. 158 00 = Prague 58) or "CZ-#####" (especially for international mail). On pre-printed Czech postcards and envelopes, the postal code is written on a separate last row in boxes for each number. If the envelope doesn't have pre-printed rows and boxes, the postal code should be before the town (or post office) name.
On private letters, the first line is usually constituted by a courtesy title (...) For private mails addressed to the workplace, the order is (name + company), while in official mails it is (company + name).
The basic system of house numbering uses conscription house numbers . For a temporary or recreational house, an evidentional house number (or, or distinguished by initial 0 or E prefix) is used instead. In most larger cities and also in some towns and large villages with street names, there is a double system of house numbering. The first number is the conscription or evidentional number (which corresponds to the chronological order of cadastral registration of the house), and the second number (after a slash) is the orientational number which expresses the position in the street. Sometimes only one of the two numbers is used, or the numbers are used in reverse order, and it can be difficult to distinguish which number is which. Generally, orientation numbers (if they exist) are preferred for mail services.
In Denmark, apartment buildings will usually have two or three apartments per floor. Thus, if the addressee lives in an apartment, the address should contain the floor they live on, and a side (or, meaning "to the left", "in the middle" and "to the right", respectively) or an alphanumeric character (1, 2, 3... or A, B, C...= starting from left seen from the top most step just before the floor).
Also, for postal codes 2000 and up, there is a 1:1 relationship between postal code and town.
In Estonia, use the following format.
In 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.
The apartment number can formatted as "" (is an abbreviation for, apartment) or as "" (the letter indicates the correct staircase in apartment blocks with several entrances.)
Finland uses a five-digit postal code. Note that some larger companies and organizations have their own postal codes.
See main article: Postal codes in France.
In France, the address is generally formatted as follows:
The postal code always consists of five digits. The is usually a town, but may be other territorial entities (up to a)
Organisations, government agencies, and companies which receive large amounts of mail often have a special CEDEX address which goes after the last line (for instance, "75001 PARIS CEDEX").
In Germany, the address is generally formatted as follows:
Hellenic Post recommends the following format for Greek addresses:[17]
The most widespread format, shown above, gives on the last line the recipient's five-digit post code (with a single space between the third and fourth digits) and the name of the town or village that is the base of a post office, in capital letters and separated from the postcode by two spaces. When sending mail abroad, or when sending mail from abroad to Greece, Hellenic Post recommends the following format:[18]
As with domestic mail, mail sent from abroad must contain the postcode in the same manner, but the postcode must be preceded by the international prefix of the country of delivery (for Greece, GR). Below the destination, the country of delivery must be written in capital letters, either in English or French (for Greece, or GREECE).
The official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English. For domestic mail within Hong Kong, the address may be written entirely in either Chinese or English. 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.[19] However, for an overseas mail from Hong Kong to Mainland China, Macao, Taiwan or Singapore, the address may be written entirely in Chinese. While traditional Chinese characters are commonly used in Hong Kong, simplified Chinese characters are also understood by Hong Kong's postmen. Note that Hong Kong does not use any postal codes, though many rural properties have a property identification code, e.g. HKT-12345.
An address written in English should begin with the smallest unit and end with the largest unit, as in the following example for a domestic mail within Hong Kong.
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.
For mail to Hong Kong from overseas, "Hong Kong" should be added at the end of an address written in English, and Chinese: 香港 should be added at the beginning of an address written in Chinese.
In Hungarian mail addresses, the city/town name precedes the street address. The post code then comes after the street address.
Hungarian family names precede given names in Hungarian. In this example, is the family name.
Sometimes a district number might appear after the name of the city/town.
Various abbreviations might appear in the precise street/building address: for instance, specifying the street type (etc.), or for (floor), or for (which means Land Registry number, or lot number), or for (ground floor) and so on.
The postal code consists of four digits.
In Iceland, the following format is used.
In India, multiple formats are used.
General Address
The format used for rural and urban addresses is different.
Rural Addresses
Urban Addresses
The state is optional in both cases, but is typically used.
In Indonesia, the address format is as follows:
| Residential with Street Names | Recipient's name Street name [Jl.] + Building Number [No.] + Neighborhood Association [RT.]/Community Association [RW.] Village/Subdistrict [Desa/Kel.], District [Kec.] City/Regency [Kota/Kab.], Province [Prov.] (Optional) + Postal Code | BudimanJl. Surya No. 10 RT.05/RW.02 Kel. Cempaka Putih, Kec. Cempaka Baru Kota Jakarta Pusat 10640 | |
| Residential with Housing Complex or Apartment | Recipient's nameName of housing complex or apartment + Building or Room Number [No.] + Neighborhood Association [RT.]/Community Association [RW.] (Optional) Village/Subdistrict [Desa/Kel.], District [Kec.] City/Regency [Kota/Kab.], Province [Prov.] (Optional) + Postal Code | Hendro AgimanPerumahan Citra Harmoni Cluster Green Valley Blok A No. 6 Kel. Karang Satria Kec. Tambun Selatan Kab. Bekasi 17510 | |
| Business with Street Names | Recipient's name with salutationName of Position & Department of Recipient Company name Street name [Jl.] + Building Number [No.] + Neighborhood Association [RT.]/Community Association [RW.] (Optional) Village/Subdistrict [Desa/Kel.], District [Kec.] City/Regency [Kota/Kab.], Province [Prov.] (Optional) + Postal Code | Ibu Ani WibowoKepala Departemen Personalia PT Maju Jaya Abadi Jl. Pahlawan Revolusi No. 28A Kel. Cipete Utara, Kec. Kebayoran Baru Kota Jakarta Selatan 12150 | |
| Business with PO Box | Recipient's name with salutationName of Position & Department of Recipient Company name "PO Box" + Number of the PO Box and Code of Post Office Branch City/Regency + Postal Code | Bapak Heru SatyantoKepala Departemen Pemasaran PT. Sejahtera Makmur PO Box 1234 JKS Jakarta 10001 |
Postal addresses in Iran have a standard which should be used by mail or parcel senders. This standard is registered and qualified by the 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 |
In Iraq, the following format is used:
See main article: Postal addresses in the Republic of Ireland.
In July 2015, the Republic of Ireland introduced Eircodes, a seven digit alphanumeric code, consisting of a 3 character routing key and a 4 character unique identifier for the property. Example A65 F4E2. Up until the introduction of Eircodes Dublin was the only county with a form of postal district identifier; these have been incorporated into the Eircode scheme. For example, Dublin 2 is routing code D02.
Rural addresses are specified by the county, nearest post town, and the townland. Urban addresses are specified by county, city or town name, street name, house number, and apartment or flat number where relevant. A house name may be used instead of a number. The Eircode is appended to the bottom of the address.[21]
In Israel, the Universal Postal Union recommends the following:
In apartment buildings the building number should appear first and then the apartment number separated by a "/". In the below example, "16" is the building number while "20" is the apartment number:
Example of common address with building entrance and apartment number:
OrA seven digit postal code for all addresses was introduced in 2013 which can cover an entire locality for a small town or village. In bigger cities postal areas are divided along streets and neighbourhoods.
A domestic address in Italy must be composed of three to five rows. Up to six rows can be used for international mail:
| Format | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Addressee's name and surname or company name Optional – Additional information about the addressee If required – Additional information about the building (building number, floor, apartment number) Street name and number (...) Postcode + Town + Province abbreviation Foreign State name | ||
| Post Office Box Addresses | ||
| Recipient Name Name of delivery post office Post office box number Postcode + Town + Province abbreviation | ||
Line ordering may not be changed.
See main article: Japanese addressing system.
| Example in Japanese | Romanized, Japanese order | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Country name (Japan) Postal code Address line (from larger to smaller division) Recipient | |||
| English, in Western order | |||
| Ms. Hanako Tanaka 3rd Fl. Rm. B 4-3-2 Hakusan Bunkyō-ku, Tōkyō 112-0001 (Japan) | Recipient Address line (secondary unit) Address line (sub-municipal level) Municipal, prefecture names and postal code Country name (Japan) | ||
| Japanese | Romanized | Anglicized | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postal code | 112-0001 | |||
| Prefecture-level division | Tokyo (Prefecture) | |||
| Municipal-level subdivision | Bunkyo (Ward) | |||
| Land-lot number | 4-3-2 Hakusan (Neighborhood) | |||
| Secondary unit | 3rd Fl. Rm. B | |||
| Name of the recipient | Ms. Hanako Tanaka | |||
A Japanese postal address, when written in Japanese phonetic and Chinese characters, starts with the largest geographical division, continues with progressively smaller subdivisions before ending with the addressee, i.e. country, prefecture, town,,, building number, building name, floor number, company name, addressee. This is the most common addressing format used when mailing within Japan. It is common practice to add the appropriate honorific to the addressee's name, e.g. for a private individual or for a company or institution.
When written in the Latin alphabet, the address begins with the smallest geographical area and ends with the largest one as in the Anglicized example in the table. Macrons (as on ō and ū) may be omitted.
Japanese-style envelopes are vertically aligned and the address is written from top to bottom, then right to left. Western-style envelopes are horizontally aligned and the address is written from left to right, top to bottom.
In Latvia, the address is generally formatted as follows:
| Address Type | Format | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rural Area | Addressee Name Street Name, House Number, Flat Number or House Name Village (if applicable) Parish (if applicable) Amalgamated Municipality Postal Code | ||
| Urban Area | Addressee Name Street Name, House Number, Flat Number City or Town Amalgamated Municipality (if applicable) Postal Code |
Notes:
Further reference: Latvijas Pasts
The official languages of Macao are Cantonese and Portuguese. For domestic mail within Macau, the address may be written entirely in either Portuguese or Chinese. For overseas mail going out from Macau, 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 overseas mail from Macau to mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore, the address may be written entirely in Chinese. While traditional Chinese characters are commonly used in Macau, simplified Chinese characters are also understood by Macau's postmen. Note that Macau does not use any postal codes.
An address written in Portuguese should begin with the street name and end with the area in Macau, as in the following example for domestic mail within Macau.
An address written in Chinese should begin with the largest unit and end with the smallest unit, as in the following example for a piece of domestic mail within Macau. Traditional Chinese characters are used in this example.
For mail to Macau from overseas, "Macau" should be added at the end of an address written in Portuguese, and "Macao" at the end of an address written in English; Chinese: 澳門 should be added at the beginning of an address written in Chinese.
See main article: Addresses in Malaysia.
Pos Malaysia recommends the following formats:
| Address Type | Format | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential | Salutation, Name of recipient Unit number, Street name Residential area Postcode Post office/Mail centre State (optional) Country | Mr. Zack Ahmad 11 Jalan Budi 1 Taman Budiman 42700 BANTING SELANGOR MALAYSIA | |
| Business | Salutation, Name of recipient Name of Position & Department (if applicable) Company name Unit/Lot number, Building name/Commercial area Lot number (for building), Street name Postcode Post office/Mail centre State (optional) Country | Dato' S.M. Nasrudin Managing Director Capital Shipping Bhd. Lot 323, 1st Floor, Bintang Commercial Centre 29 Jalan Sekilau 81300 JOHOR BAHRU JOHOR MALAYSIA | |
| Business + Post Office Box / Locked Bag / Counter Deposit Ticket | Salutation, Name of recipient Name of Position & Department (if applicable) Company name Unit/Lot number, Building name/Commercial area Lot number (for building), Street name Postcode, Post office/Mail centre P.O. Box number Postcode of P.O. Box, Post office/Mail centre of P.O. Box Country | Ms. Jenny Chan COO Target Insurance Brokers Level 2, Principal Towers 11 Jalan Sultan Ismail 50250 KUALA LUMPUR P.O. BOX 10073 50704 KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA |
Notes:
In Mexico, Correos de México recommends the following formats:[22]
| Address Type | Format | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | Recipient's Name Street Type and Name + Number Settlement Type and Name Postal Code + Locality (Optional), Municipality, Federal Entity | Alejandro Ramírez C. Francisco I. Madero No. 115 Col. Nuevo Casas Grandes Centro 31700 Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chih. | |
| Business | Recipient's Name Company Department or Position within Company (Optional) Company Name Street Type and Name + Number Settlement Type and Name Postal Code + Locality (Optional), Municipality, Federal Entity | Ing. Juan Rodríguez Altamirano Farmacéutica Altamirano Av. Durango No. 264 Int. 1 Col. Primer Cuadro 81200 Los Mochis, Ahome, Sin. | |
| Apartado Postal, Lista de Correos or Poste Restante | Recipient's Name [Business] Company Department or Position within Company (Optional) [Business] Company Name Delivery Method + [Apartado Postal] Number Postal Administration Post Office's Postal Code + Locality (Optional), Municipality, Federal Entity | Daniel González Ortiz Apartado Postal A44 Administración Postal Calvillo 20801 Calvillo, Ags. Esteban Martínez Hernández Lista de Correos Administración Postal Esperanza 85211 Cajeme, Son. Esperanza Rodríguez Domínguez Poste Restante Administración Postal Bermejillo 35231 Mapimí, Dgo. |
In the Netherlands, the address is generally formatted as follows:
The postal code is a unique street identifier, and always consists of four numbers followed by a space and then two capital letters. PostNL, which is appointed by the Dutch government to carry out the UPD (Dutch for Universal Postal Service), recommends putting two spaces between postal code and town. Also, the name of the town should be written in capitals.[23]
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: '5627 BX 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.
In New Zealand, New Zealand Post recommends the following format:
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:
The city in this case is important, as if Wellington is used instead of Lower Hutt and the postcode is unclear (note only the first digit differs), someone's private mail could accidentally be sent to the New Zealand Parliament Buildings instead (or vice versa).
One anomaly about this system is the Wellington Mail Centre, which is addressed as Wellington Mail Centre, Lower Hutt 5045, due to its location in the Lower Hutt suburb of Petone.
Postal addresses in Norway are formatted as follows:
The first line, Recipient (Person or Entity), is the legal recipient of the item being sent. The Recipient's name must be marked on the Recipient's mail box in order for the item to be delivered.
Flat or floor number is not part of Norwegian postal addresses.
The postal code (always four digits) is mandatory. If a PO box is used (e.g. Postboks 250 Sentrum), it replaces Street name + Number. PO box addresses have postal codes which differ from those used for street addresses. Some areas do not have street names. For these areas, Street name + Number is replaced by a local designation determined by the Norwegian postal service.
In the Sultanate of Oman (2012), the address is formatted as follows:[24]
Physical addresses only exist in major urban centers like those of Greater Muscat, Sohar, Salalah, Sur and Nizwa.
The format used in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Official Addresses
In Peru, addresses in the Metropolitan Area of Lima and Callao are generally formatted as follows:
Addresses elsewhere in the country are formatted as follows:
See main article: Postal addresses in the Philippines.
The Philippines follows Western conventions on addressing. Addresses in the Philippines either uses these formats.
| Origin | Destination | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Within Metro Manila | AddresseeStreet number Street name Barangay/Administrative district ZIP Code City (in capitals) | Mr. Juan Dela Cruz123 Rizal Ave., Santa Cruz 1014 MANILA | |
| Outside Metro Manila | To Metro Manila | Addressee Street Number, Street Name, Barangay/Administrative district, City/Municipality Postcode METRO MANILA | Mr. Juan Maliksi 121 Epifanio Delos Santos Ave., Wack-wack Greenhills, Mandaluyong 1550 METRO MANILA or Mr. Juan Dela Cruz |
| To provinces | AddresseeStreet number Street name, Barangay/Administrative district, City/Municipality Postcode Name of Province (in capitals) | Mr. Joel Magalang 23 MacArthur Hwy., San Matias, Santo Tomas 2020 PAMPANGA | |
| To residential area (including purok/sitio)/subdivision | House number, Street name, Subdivision/Residential area Barangay/Administrative district, City/Municipality Postcode Metro Manila/Province name (in capitals) | Ms. Joanna Dela Cruz B11-L20 Genesis St., San Lorenzo South Subdivision Malitlit, Santa Rosa 4026 LAGUNA or Mr. Juan Galang | |
In Poland, the address is generally formatted as follows:
ul. = Str (Street)
al. = Ave (Avenue)
pl. = Sq (Square, or Circus)
Some streets have names not containing the word "street". Then the full description is written with initial caps, e.g. "Zaułek Marii" (Court of Mary) or "Aleje Ujazdowskie" (plural for Ujazdowskie Ave.). If the first word of name is "Aleje" it may be abbreviated to "Al." (with initial capital).
The abbreviation "m." (meaning "mieszkanie" = "flat") can be used instead of "/" before the flat number.
Some large buildings occupy two or more cadastral plots. Sometimes to maintain consistency all numbers are included in address. The very well-known example is the address of Polish Radio Three: "ul. Myśliwiecka 3/5/7" (occupying three neighbouring plots). In examples like in above table the number "4/6" is ambiguous and not knowing the locality you cannot tell if "6" is the apartment number or the building is large.
When using a p.o. box the abbreviation "skr. poczt." may be used and "nr" (no.) may be omitted. Polish Post allows the box user to register an alias for their name. In such case it is written instead of the real name of the recipient. It is required to write the full name of post office including a number if it exists.
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. Contrary to popular belief the name after postal code is a locality of addressee, not their post office. So if a small town has no street names you do write its name twice. The post office location (and a number if there are many) is written only on letters to p.o. box or poste restante.
There is a strong recommendation to use all caps in the line with postal code and city.
Portuguese postal addresses is similar to continental European addresses:
Postal codes have the NNNN-NNN format. Street name and the number is traditionally separated by a comma, but nowadays CTT recommends just a blank space, or two blank spaces for extra clarity; this is to avoid OCR mistakes. The º after the number is the ordinal for floor number. Usually followed by "Esq." (Left, abbr from "Esquerdo") or "Dir." (Right, abbr from "Direito"), or an apartment letter (A, B, C, etc.). PO Boxes are called Apartado, followed by a number (e.g., Apartado 1001).
In Qatar, Q-Post recommends the following format:
Not all of Qatar's roads and buildings are numbered, Q-Post doesn't deliver to any street addresses, and no postal codes are used in Qatar.
In Romania, the address is generally formatted as follows:
| No. | Street Type | Abbreviation | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alee | Al. | Aleea Lungulețu (or Al. Lungulețu with abbreviation) | |
| 2 | Bulevard | Bd. | Bulevardul Unirii (or Bd-ul Unirii with abbreviation) | |
| 3 | Cale | - | - | |
| 4 | Canal | - | - | |
| 5 | Cartier | - | - | |
| 6 | Colonie | - | - | |
| 7 | Curte | - | - | |
| 8 | Drum | - | - | |
| 9 | Fundac | - | - | |
| 10 | Fundatură | - | - | |
| 11 | Hotar | - | - | |
| 12 | Intrare | Intr. | Intrarea Albinelor (or Intr. Albinelor with abbreviation) | |
| 13 | Parc | - | ||
| 14 | Pasaj | - | - | |
| 15 | Piață | - | - | |
| 16 | Pietonal | - | - | |
| 17 | Platou | - | - | |
| 18 | Potecă | - | - | |
| 19 | Prelungire | Prel. | Prelungirea Ferentari (or Prel. Ferentari with abbreviation) | |
| 20 | Rampă | - | - | |
| 21 | Scuar | - | - | |
| 22 | Șir | - | - | |
| 23 | Șosea | Șos. | Șoseaua Olteniței (or Șos. Olteniței with abbreviation) | |
| 24 | Splai | Spl. | - | |
| 25 | Stradă | Str. | Strada Lungă (or Str. Lungă with abbreviation) | |
| 26 | Stradelă | - | - | |
| 27 | Suiș | - | - | |
| 28 | Trecere | - | - | |
| 29 | Variantă | Var. | - |
In Russia, the address must be written in Cyrillic or Latin alphabet, in usual format (from most specific to general).
Example:[25]
Note: sub-region and region/oblast names are void if the city is Moscow or Saint Petersburg or if it is sub-region administrative center.
Some neighbourhoods 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 neighbourhoods, 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.
In Saudi Arabia, the address could be written in Arabic or English in the following format:[26] [27] [28]
Serbian postal addresses conform to rules similar to continental European rules:
In addition to 5-digit postal code, another line can be added containing PAK, a six-digit number which encodes the town, street and house number section.
In Singapore, SingPost recommends the following format for addresses:[29] [30]
| Format | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Name of addressee Street number and name Name of town + Postcode | Ms. Tan Bee Soo 16 Sandilands Road SINGAPORE 546080 SINGAPORE | |
| Name of addressee Block number and street name Floor – Apartment number + Building name Name of town + Postcode | Mr. M. Rajendran Blk 35 Mandalay Road # 13–37 Mandalay Towers SINGAPORE 308215 SINGAPORE |
Generally, the last line SINGAPORE is omitted when posting within the country. Addresses are usually written in the English language.
Common format in Slovakia:
Postal codes are in the format "### ##" (i.e. 851 01 = Bratislava 5).
Street numbers can be written as orientation numbers (related to street) or descriptive numbers (unique within the town) or as a combination separated by a slash (descriptive/orientation). Descriptive numbers are also used within small villages that do not have named streets.
If the delivery is intended exclusively for a specific person at a company site, the address should begin with the individual's name and the company name should follow. The standard format of addresses enables anyone at the company to receive the delivery.
http://www.posta.sk/potrebujem/spravne-napisat-adresu ("How to write addresses correctly", in Slovak, with pictures)
Slovenia uses a four-digit postal number. The first digit indicates the area:
The simpler the code, the bigger the locality: 1000 Ljubljana, 2000 Maribor (big cities); 1310 Ribnica, 9250 Gornja Radgona (mid-sized towns); 4263 Bohinjska Bela, 8262 Krška vas (smaller settlements, including villages).
Some cities have more than one post office, thus having multiple postcodes (usually in the x1xx format). For example, Ljubljana which has a "general" postcode 1000, also has additional ones, ranging from 1101 to 1133 (for some reason, however, omitting 1103 and 1105), Kamnik has 1240 and 1241, etc. Albeit they exist, it is not necessary to use them – usually the "general" postcodes are used.
| Format | Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Street address | ||||
| Company name and/or Recipient's name Street (road, place, etc.) + number Postcode + Post town | Cvet, d. o. o. G. Janez Novak Slovenska cesta 64 A, 2241 Spodnji Duplek | |||
| Locality address (places with unnamed streets) | ||||
| Company name and/or Recipient's name Location (village, hamlet, etc.) + number Postcode + Post town | Juha, s. p. Ga. Angela Kovač Pleterje 489 2324 Kidričevo | |||
| PO Box address (poštni predal) | ||||
| Company name and/or Recipient's name p. p. + number Postcode + Post town | Vino, d. d. Gdč. Marija Repar p. p. 12 1234 Mengeš | |||
| Special postcode holders | ||||
| Company name Postcode + Post town | Nova Ljubljanska banka 1520 Ljubljana | |||
| Poste restante | ||||
| Recipient's name POŠTNO LEŽEČE Postcode + Post town | G. Peter Šilj POŠTNO LEŽEČE 4270 Jesenice | |||
Numbers can have a suffix like A, B, C, etc.
Common abbreviations are: c. for cesta (Street), and ul. for ulica (Road) – both always capitalised if in the beginning of the line.
Bigger towns have special postcodes for PO Boxes in the xxx1 format, e.g. 1001 Ljubljana, 4001 Kranj.
Big companies which receive large amounts of mail are designated their special postcodes in the x5xx format.
See main article: Addresses in South Korea.
| Example in Korean | Romanized, in Korean order | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Korean: (대한민국)<br />서울특별시 종로구 사직로9길 23,<br />102동 304호<br />홍길동 귀하<br />30174 | (Daehan-minguk) Seoul-teukbyeolsi, Jongno-gu, Sajik-ro 9-gil 23, 102-dong 304-ho Hong Gil-dong gwiha 30174 | Country name (South Korea) Address line (From larger to smaller division) Recipient Postal code | |
| English, in Western order | English, alternative | ||
| Mr. Gil-dong Hong Apt. 102–304 23 Sajik-ro 9-gil Jongno-gu, Seoul 30174 (South Korea) | Mr. Gil-dong Hong Bldg. 102 Unit 304 23 Sajik-ro 9-gil Jongno-gu, Seoul 30174 (South Korea) | Recipient Address line (secondary unit) Address line (street level) City, province names and postal code Country name (South Korea) |
| Korean | Romanized | Anglicized | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provincial- or metropolitan-level division | Korean: 서울특별시 | Seoul-teukbyeolsi | Seoul (Special City) | |
| County- or district-level subdivision | Korean: 종로구 | Jongno-gu | Jongno (District) | |
| Street name and number | Korean: 사직로9길 23 | Sajik-ro 9-gil 23 | 23 Sajik-ro 9-gil (Road) | |
| Secondary unit | Korean: 102동 304호 | 102-dong 304-ho | Apt. 102–304 (or, Bldg. 102 Unit 304) | |
| Name of the recipient | Korean: 홍길동 (귀하) | Hong Gil-dong (gwiha) | (Mr.) Gil-dong Hong | |
| Postal code | 30174 | |||
South Korea uses a system similar to Western addressing, but previously used a system similar to Japanese addressing. South Korean addresses start with the largest unit (country, province), as with other East Asian countries.
In Spain, the addresses are generally formatted as follows:
5ºB means 5th floor (Spanish: quinto), door B. Also, there may be door number, printed as 1ª (primera-first). Suffixes "o" and "a" derives from Spanish words piso (floor) which is masculine and puerta (door) which is feminine.Some doors may be indicated with the abbreviations Izq. or Dcha., to indicate either left (Izquierda) or right (Derecha). Streets and avenues can be indicated with the abbreviations C. (for calle) and Av. (for avenida).
Sri Lanka Post recommends the following format:
Sri Lanka uses a five-digit postal code. Generally, the last line SRI LANKA is omitted when posting within the country. Addresses are usually written in English and Sinhala.In Sweden, the address is generally formatted as follows:
The postal code is always a five-digit number divided into groups of three and two (e.g. SE-414 73) with the prefix SE (ISO-code for Sweden) used only if sent from abroad. It is also possible to replace the street name line with a PO box (e.g. Box 51).
In Switzerland, the address is generally formatted as follows:[31]
The canton abbreviation (SO, VD in the examples) is needed only for cities/town that have the same name but in another canton for example: Renens and Renan which were both, in the past, called Renens, the difference stays today and Renens is often mentioned as Renens VD.
See main article: Postal addresses in Taiwan.
In Taiwan, addresses are regulated by the Department of Household Registration, while mails are handled by the Chunghwa Post. As a result, senders are required to write addresses in different formats in different situations.
| Address Type | Format | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese-language domestic mail, vertical sender[32] | County or City Township, town, city or distinct Road or Street name Building number Sender Floor Postal codes | Chinese: 台<br /> 北<br /> 市<br /> 市<br /> 府<br /> 路<br />王 ２<br />小 號<br />明 ２<br />緘 樓<br />１１０６０ | |
| Chinese-language domestic mail, vertical receiver | Postal codes Receiver County or City Township, town, city or distinct Road or Street name Building number Floor | Chinese: １１０６０<br />王 台<br />小 北<br />明 市<br />收 市<br /> 府<br /> 路<br /> ２<br /> 號<br /> ２<br /> 樓 | |
| Chinese-language domestic mail, horizontal | Postal codes Address Name or Company | Chinese: 11060<br />台北市信義區市府路2號2樓<br />王小明收 | |
| English-language international mail[33] | Name or Company Number, Alley, Lane, Road/Street Name Township and District, County and City, Postal codes Country | Mr. Wang 2F., No.2, Shifu Rd. Xinyi Dist., Taipei City 11060 Taiwan | |
| Complete address for Department of Household Registration, Ministry of Interior[34] | Number, Alley, Lane, Road/Street Name, Neighbourhood, Village, Township and District, County and City | 2F., No.2, Shifu Rd., Neighbourhood 8, Xicun Vil., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan |
See main article: Thai addressing system.
In Thailand, address are generally formatted as follows:
Turkish addressing system is as follows:[35]
Some neighbourhoods in Ukraine 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 neighbourhoods, a "main" building may have the same number as one or more "subsidiary" buildings accessible via driveways behind the main building. They will be addressed as vul. Bandery, d. 123 (123 Bandera St) An address may also cover one or more subsidiary buildings behind the main building, addressed as vul. Bandery, d. 123, bud. 2 (123 Bandera St, unit 2, where bud. (abbreviation for будинок, budynоk) means a '(subsidiary) building'). In newer areas with more regular street plans, apartment buildings that don't face a named street may be designated with Cyrillic letters appended to the building number, e.g. 123-а, 123-б, etc., in Cyrillic alphabetical order.
In some microraion neighbourhoods, 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.
In the United Arab Emirates, Emirates Post Group recommends the following format:
Not all of the roads and buildings in the UAE are numbered consistently and no postal codes are used in the United Arab Emirates. All mail by post are delivered only to PO boxes in the United Arab Emirates. If delivering to a street address it is customary to include recipient's telephone number should the delivery driver need to make a phone call to ascertain the address or let the recipient know that the package is already delivered.
In the United Kingdom, the format specified by the postal operator Royal Mail is as follows:[36]
The locality is required only where its absence would cause ambiguity, for example where a post town or postcode district includes two streets with the same name. Royal Mail specifies that post towns should be written in block capitals. Until 1996 a postal county (or permitted abbreviation) was required after the post town, unless it was a special post town, for example London. The post town and postcode should each be on a separate line. Historically, each line of an address ended with a comma and was indented from the previous line. Royal Mail discourage this usage and specify that all lines should start from the same point and not be staggered or aligned to the centre.[36] The postcode identifies, from left to right, increasingly smaller units of the postal delivery system. The first half of the postcode, known as the outward code, contains the postcode area and postcode district. The second half, known as the inward code, contains the postcode sector and postcode unit.[36]
See also: Fire sign (address).
In the United States, addresses are generally formatted as follows:
| Format | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Name of addressee House number and street name + Apartment/Suite/Room number (if any) Name of post office + State abbreviation + ZIP code (typical handwritten format) | Jeremy Martinson, Jr. 455 Larkspur Dr. Apt 23 Baviera, CA92908 | |
| Name of addressee House number and street name +Apartment/Suite/Room number if any Name of post office + State abbreviation + ZIP+4 code (USPS-recommended format) | JEREMY MARTINSON JR 455 LARKSPUR DR APT 23 BAVIERA CA92908‑4601 |
The street address line can take a number of alternate formats:
Notes:
In Vietnam, addresses are generally formatted as follows:
Notes: