Postal code
A
postal code (known in various countries as a
post code,
postcode, or
ZIP code) is a series of
letters and/or
digits appended to a
postal address for the purpose of sorting
mail.
Germany was the world's first country to introduce a postal code system in 1941. The
United Kingdom followed in 1959 and the
United States in 1963.
The majority of the world's national
postal services have postal code systems. A few do not: for example,
Ireland, although a national postal code system will be introduced in 2008.
Hong Kong and
Panama do not have postal codes.
Until
June 2006,
New Zealand's
post code system was only used for the presorting of mail in bulk, not for addressing individual items, but this has been replaced by a
new system in which postal codes will be required for all items.
Although postal codes are usually assigned to geographical areas, sometimes this is not the case: special codes may be assigned to institutions with large volumes of post, such as government agencies and large commercial companies. One example is the French
Cedex system.
Postal services often have their own distinctive formats and placement rules for postal codes (service areas, as a rule, are defined by
national borders). In most English-speaking countries the postal code forms the last item of the address, whereas in most continental European countries it precedes the name of the city or town.
National prefixes
In some countries (for instance continental Europe, where many countries use the same postcode format of four or five numeric digits) it is usual to prefix the numeric postal code with a
country code to avoid confusion.The codes used are generally based on
Licence plate codes — for instance "D-" for Germany or "F-" for France — rather than
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2.
Most postal codes are numeric. The few using alphanumeric postal code systems (with letters and digits) are:
*
Argentina*
Bermuda*
Brunei*
Canada*
Jamaica*
Malta*
The Netherlands*
United Kingdom*
VenezuelaBefore postal codes as described here were used, large cities were often divided into
postal zones (or
postal districts), usually numbered from 1 up within each city. The newer postal code systems often incorporate the old zone numbers, as with
London postal district numbers, for example.
Dublin, Ireland still uses postal district numbers, as postal codes are not used in the country at all. (
An Post relies on
OCR analysis of the entire address instead.) In
New Zealand,
Auckland,
Wellington and
Christchurch were also subdivided into postal zones, but these have fallen into disuse.
Australia
Australian postcodes are numeric, consisting of 4-digits. They were introduced in 1967 by the Postmaster-General's Department (PMG), the predecessor of
Australia Post. For a history of the PMG / Australia Post see
here.
Canada
Canada uses 6-character alphanumeric postal codes of alternating letters and digits. They were introduced on a trial basis in
Ottawa and
Manitoba in
1971 and then expanded to the rest of the country between
1972 and
1974.
China
A postal code in
Mainland China administered by the People's Republic of China has 6 different levels and 6 digits. From the left side, the first two digits show a province, a province-equivalent municipality, or an autonomous region. The third digit shows the postal zone. The fourth digit shows a
prefectures or a
prefecture-level city. The last two digits show a delivery post office.
Hong Kong and Macao have no postal codes.
Taiwan Area administered by the Republic of China has a separate set of postal codes.
Finland
Finland uses 5-digit numeric postal codes. First two digits show the postal area and the last three the digits represent post office in the area. Corporations receiving large amounts of mail may have an own postal code. The special postal code 99999 is
Korvatunturi, the place where
Santa Claus (or
Joulupukki in Finnish) is said to live.
France
France uses 5-digit numeric postal codes, the first two digits normally representing the
Département.
Germany
German postal codes are numeric, consisting of 5 digits. Between
1990 and
1993 the old 4 digit postal codes in the former
West Germany were prefixed with the letter "W", and postal codes in the former
East, with "O" (for "Ost" or "East" in German).
India
India's postal codes are numeric, consisting of 6 digits, such as
Kamboi 384230. They are known as
Postal Index Numbers or PIN.
Netherlands
|
Dutch postcode book 1978. Introducing postcodes in The Netherlands |
Postal codes in the
Netherlands are alphanumeric, consisting of 4 digits, followed by two letters.
New Zealand
Since
1977, New Zealand has had a system of four-digit codes which were only required on mail sent in bulk, but in
June 2006, a new system was introduced, which was required for all mail. There will be 1800 four-digit codes with a much finer granularity than the old codes, with each suburb and
PostShop lobby having its own postal code. The first three digits will specify location and the last digit the type of delivery (street,
PO Box Private Bag, or
Rural delivery).
South Africa
South African postal codes are numeric, consisting of four digits. For a list of postal codes or to search by Location or Post Code see
South African Post Office.
Spain
Spanish postal codes are numeric, consisting of five digits. There are a postal code by province: 52 postal codes of 52 provinces.
Soviet Union and Russia
|
Soviet postcodes: Upper image: The place to be filled with 6 digits of postal code. Located in the bottom left corner of the envelope. Bottom image: sample digits, printed on the backside of the envelope. |
Post codes in
Russia are 6 digits long. To assist in their machine reading, envelopes are printed with something like a 9-segment outline for each digit, which the sender fills in.
Switzerland
Switzerland uses 4-digit numeric post codes, sorted by geographical location.
Taiwan
Taiwan Area administered by the Republic of China uses postal codes of 3+2 digits. There are 368 sets of 3-digit codes for rural townships, urban townships, county-controlled cities, districts (
Hsinchu City and
Chiayi City have districts, but they are coded 300 and 600 respectively without 3-digit subdivisions),
Pratas Islands,
Spratly Islands, and
Diaoyutai Islands claimed by the ROC while administered by Japan as
Senkaku Islands. Omitting the supplemental 2 digits to write 3 digits is ordinarily okay, but a correct 5-digit code will speed up the mails.
The left-hand digit is for a large postal zone as follows:
*0 Unused
*1
Taipei City*2
Keelung City,
Taipei County,
Yilan County,
Lienchiang County (
Matsu),
Diaoyutai Islands*3
Hsinchu City,
Hsinchu County,
Taoyuan County,
Miaoli County*4
Taichung City,
Taichung County*5
Changhua City,
Nantou County*6
Chiayi City,
Chiayi County,
Yunlin County*7
Tainan City,
Tainan County*8
Kaohsiung City,
Kaohsiung County,
Penghu County,
Pratas Islands,
Spratly Islands*9
Pingtung County,
Taitung County,
Hualien CountyUnited Kingdom
UK postcodes are alphanumeric and between six and eight characters in length (including a single space character used to separate the
outward and
inward parts of the code). For example the post code for the
House of Commons is SW1A 0AA. These codes were introduced by the
Royal Mail over a fifteen year period from 1959 to 1974. They have been widely adopted not just for their original purpose of automating the sorting of mail but for many other purposes — see for example The
UK Postcode Lottery.
However, as the format of the codes does not achieve its objective of primarily identifying the main sorting office and sub-office they have been supplemented by a newer system of five digit codes called
Mailsort. Mail users who can deliver mail to the post office sorted by mailsort code receive discounts, whilst delivery by postcode does not provide any incentive.
United States
The
United States uses 5-digit numeric "ZIP codes". Since 1983, the US Post Office has been promoting an extended version called "ZIP+4", which adds a hyphen and 4 further digits after the main ZIP code to identify a smaller geographical area or single large user..
*
Universal Postal Union (UPU)
*
List of postal codes — for all countries (shows each country system's respective syntax only)
*
Lists of postal codes — index to full postal code lists for each country
*
UK postcodes — article about British postcodes
*
ZIP code — article about U.S. postcodes
*
Canadian postal code*
:Category:Lists of postal codes*
UPU files for every country in
PDF*
Formats of all countries' postal codes*
Worldwide postal code lookup*
German postal codes in German language
*
French Belgium and Switzerland postal codes in French language
*
French postal codes in French language
*
International zip codes*
GfK MACON: Worldwide post code maps for GIS*
GRC Database Information: postal code links*
UK Postcode Lookupnds-nl:Postcode
