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The UTF-8 conversion was done on 20 January 2003; the previous ISO-8859-1 Latin Alphabet 1 version, current as of that date, remains available HERE (but won't be updated). The UTF-8 version includes text in Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Thai, Khmer, and other scripts that can't be represented in Latin-1 but are easily accommodated by UTF-8. Most of this text is in the COUNTRY INDEX. Anybody who can supply missing country names or other relevant items in native language and script is welcome to send them in; I'll be glad to add them (with credit, of course).
Periodic updates of any postal reference are necessary because countries change, provinces within countries change, postal codes change, addressing standards and recommendations change. The Internet makes matters simultaneously better and worse: better because now we can link to the postal authorities in each country and to other relevant sites, worse because web addresses change out from underneath us constantly. Thus any document like this is doomed to decay over time if it's not constantly maintained. The last update time is shown at the top. Feel free to report stale links, or send corrections, suggestions, or new information, by e-mail to fdc@columbia.edu.
Britain and Ireland: John Benton, Ross Chandler, Craig Cockburn, Peter Crabb-Wyke, David Levy, James Grinter, Ian Morrison, Shane Wilson, "George D", Hugh Dunne, David Goddard, Johannes Eggers, Christy Looby, Finlay Smith, Gerard Lardner, Robert Gormley, G.S. Sinclair, Chris Cooke, Colin Russ, Stewart Potter, Bill Bedford, Chris Harrison, P. Breathnach, Michael Everson, Mark Dyche, David Gowdy, Guy Burgess, Alan Berry, Ken Westmoreland, Jonathan Nigel, Peter Reynolds, Martin Spamer, Chris Davies, Benjamin Brundell, Mark Jolly, Liam McGee, William Wallace, Andy Paterson, Sarah Woodhouse, Mark Brader, Paul Black, Bernard Treves Brown, Greg Boettcher, Peter Kirk, Michael T. Farnworth, Andrew Leonard, Chris Woodhouse (Royal Mail), Philip Woods, John Marsh, Paolo Montanelli, Angela Watts.
General information and corrections: Linda Beek, Dan Olsson, Peter Russell, Ken Westmoreland, Gert Grenander, Marcy Strawmyer, Mark Brader, László Kende, Tex Texin, Helgi Jonsson, Roozbeh Pournader, Tom Gewecke, Magda Danish, Stuart Brown, Noah Levitt, Herman Ranes. Miikka-Markus Alhonen, Marco Cimarosti, Kent Karlsson, Celvin Niklas Jojakin Ruisdael, Hans Schievelkamp, Pete Russel, Doug Ewell, Philip Newton, Jim Brent, Christian Rosner, Howard Laker, Cassandra Phillips-Sears, Austin Knight, G. Herbke, Joshua Holman, the IBM International Components for Unicode (ICU) library, and the Web page Country names in various languages by Werner Fröhlich for several of the native-script country names (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc).
This document tries to describe -- or invent when necessary -- conventions for addressing postal mail from within the USA to other countries that are both (a) effective (i.e. have a good chance of working), and (b) as inoffensive as possible when addressing choices might be controversial. Note that the general problem -- how to address mail from country A to country B, for all A's and B's -- is an n × n problem, of which this document attempts to address only one dimension: mail from the USA to elsewhere. But even this is a moving target as addressing guidelines and formats of each country are constantly revised.
The very term country can be controversial. Who decides what is a country and what isn't? The criterion used in this document is simple: if the USPS lists it in its Index to Countries and Localities, we treat it as a country. Thus some localities (such as Reunion Island) that are not distinct countries are listed, whereas other localities that consider themselves countries (such as Western Sahara) are not listed (but still discussed). Rationale: if you address mail from the USA to WESTERN SAHARA, the USPS won't know what to do with it. If you want to send mail to SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON (a part of France that is in Canada) from the USA, it doesn't make sense for the mail to go all the way to France and back.Similarly, saying that a particular country is in Europe or Africa or Latin America or Asia or the Middle East can be controversial. Where does Russia go? Turkey? Egypt? The Falkland Islands (Malvinas)? I've made a few groupings like this for convenience, e.g. to keep the number of tables to a minimum and avoid duplications -- these choices are purely logistical and not political or ideological.
The best international addressing strategy is one that is not only consistent and inoffensive, but that also achieves to whatever degree possible several potentially conflicting goals:
When this document was first written for internal use in the late 1980s, the United States Postal Service (USPS) had no published guidelines for addressing international mail -- if it did, we'd have just used them. There were no standard or recommended names for countries. The situation has improved since then with the appearance of the USPS International Mail Manual (IMM), including an "index of countries and localities", first discovered (by me) in 2000, newly available in HTML so we can link directly to it and to sections of it. The new HTML version also seems to be greatly expanded over the earlier versions, for example containing long lists of cities with postcodes for each country (e.g. Russia).
ISO International Standard 11180, "Postal Addressing" (1993) (withdrawn 15 Jan 2004), by the way, was no help at all, except that it contained a reference to the Universal Postal Union:
http://www.upu.int/
which provides tip sheets for addressing mail to each country. But there is no way to tell how authoritative or current the UPU guidelines are -- they are not dated, and they give no references. But for some countries, the UPU provides the only guidance available. It should also be noted that addressing guidelines are incidental to the UPU's primary mission, which is creating standards for the description of postal addresses (that is, defining and naming the elements), not for their rendition, which is left to each country.
August 2006: The UPU's website has changed a lot since I wrote the previous paragraph. The addressing recommendations for each country, which are found HERE, now have dates, and have more information (e.g. lists of state/province abbreviations, additional examples), and there is a comprehensive page of links to postcode lookups for each member country HERE.
Abbreviations and Acronyms:
IMM International Mail Manual (USPS) ISO International Organization for Standardization Portable Document Format (Adobe Acrobat) UPU Universal Postal Union USA United States of America USPS United States Postal Service
As a basis for discussion, let's begin by looking at a typical international address:
JOE BLOGGS Person's name COMPUTER CENTER Department (if any) CURTIN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Institution or Company (if any) 309 KENT STREET Street Address (or Post Office Box) BENTLEY WA 6102 City Line (WA = Western Australia) AUSTRALIA Country Name
It illustrates several points, all of which are discussed later in greater detail:
According to USPS officials that I interviewed in 2002: unless the country name is CANADA, the USPS does not read and does not care about anything that appears above it. International mail from the USA to any country but Canada goes to a single location in that country for sorting and separation. Thus when sending mail from the USA to any other country we are free to format the address according to the requirements of the destination country (for mail to Canada, the addressing requirements conform to our own; for details see the section on Canada).
I'm not sure it is still true (in 2004) that the USPS does not care about different destinations within a big country. Recent editions of the IMM seem to imply otherwise, e.g. by including long lists of cities in different countries, complete with postcodes. See the section on the Former Soviet Union.
A handful of national postal authorities now recommend writing postal code on a line by itself, above or below the city line (Ecuador, Ukraine, Hungary... and now also the UK). In such cases, the "City Line" occupies two lines. As far as I can tell, this is a recent development and is largely ignored in many of the countries that recommend it (e.g. Russia). In any case, it makes formatting and parsing international addresses all the more complicated, and might also cause addresses to exceed address-line limits, where they did not before (e.g. for postal scanners, databases, forms, or window envelopes).
While the United States might ignore the destination city in international mail, other countries do not necessarily do so. For example, mail from England to Los Angeles is sent directly to Los Angeles, whereas a letter to New York goes on a flight to New York. The journey of a letter from Nome (Alaska) to Provideniya (Siberia), if sent westward rather than east, could be 23,000 miles shorter if the USPS processed the city line.
The following table shows a sampling of City Line formats. Punctuation shown in the Format column is to be taken literally:
Format Examples town, province postalcode China, India town province postalcode USA, Canada, Australia postalcode town-province Brazil postalcode town, province México postalcode town (provincia) Italy postalcode town Most other European countries & ex-USSR; Israel town postalcode New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, Singapore town, county Ireland (except Dublin) town
postalcodeUK, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Hungary postalcode
townEcuador town Hong Kong, Syria, Iraq
In the formats above, "province" stands for whatever each country calls its subdivisions (e.g. "state" in the USA), and often is abbreviated according to local postal standards. Here are some variables in City Line format, all of which are illustrated later in this document:
For the lines above the city line, each country has its own standards, which are discussed to some extent in the sections on individual countries such as Cuba and México, but for details consult the postal authority websites of each country, which are accessible from the tables at the beginning of each main section of this document. For the purposes of international mail, the main thing is to get the country line right so the USPS sends it to the right country, and city line right so the main receiving depot in the country can route it to the right town or city, whose local post office will deal with the rest.
When sending international mail:
ABC Holding B.V. Marijkestraat 11 NL-2518 BG Den Haag THE HAGUE NETHERLANDS
The form you choose depends on your own database and record-keeping requirements, for which is it always best to use consistent city names.
When sending mail to Russia, Israel, Greece, Armenia, China, etc, it is perfectly acceptable to write the lines above the City Line in the native script. According to the USPS IMM, it is also OK to write the City Line in the native script, but it must also be written in English below the native script and above the Country Line (USPS guideline (d) below):
198156 САНКТ ПЕТЕРБУРГ 198156 SAINT PETERSBURG RUSSIA
Obviously if you don't have a way to write the address in Cyrillic, Hebrew, Greek, etc, it can be transliterated in whatever way is most acceptable at the receiving end. Most countries that use non-Roman writing systems can deliver letters that are addressed in Roman transliteration -- Russia, Greece, Israel, most Arab countries, Japan, Korea, and both Chinas among them.
For mail to México, Italy, France, etc, if you can print accented Roman letters, all the better. If you can't, leave off the accents or transliterate according to language-specific rules (as in German "ä" to "ae" -- see section on Germany).
Never put "ATTN: person's name" or any other notations such as apartment number below the City or Country Line. This interferes with automatic sorting and can slow down delivery. (Personally, I think bureaucratic notations like ATTN are useless -- if you have addressed your mail to a person, then of course it is for their attention.)
Americans should avoid referring to other countries' postal codes as Zip codes, and also should not call other countries' administrative subdivisions states. These are common errors on address forms. Use "State or Province" and "Zip or Postal Code" on your address forms. It's not perfect, but it indicates that we understand that other countries can have their own terminology.
The USPS lists the following general guidelines for addressing domestic business mail at THIS WEBSITE (the link worked as of 16 Jan 2003 and checked again 2 May 2007; if it doesn't work for you, search the USPS website for "addressing" or somesuch); most (but not all) of these points apply also to international mail:
The following additional guidelines are given in Section 122 the IMM for addressing international mail:
MR THOMAS CLARK 117 RUSSELL DRIVE LONDON WIP 6HQ ENGLAND |
MS C P APPLE APARTADO 3068 46807 PUERTO VALLARTA JALISCO MEXICO |
In the absence of more-specific guidelines, don't put more than six lines (including the country name) in an international address, nor more than 38 characters in any line (these are the requirements for France). Pieces that do not follow the guidelines are liable to be rejected by automatic sorting machines, slowing down their delivery.
Here's an example of a well-formed address for mail from the USA to Canada:
PROF FRED FOO 1. Most specific line at the top DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 2. Less specific... MOUNT ROYAL COLLEGE 3. Less specific... 4825 RICHARD ROAD SW 4. Street Address CALGARY AB T3E 6K6 5. City Line CANADA 6. Country Line (not used in domestic mail)
It conforms to both US and Canadian postal addressing guidelines. It's printed in a fixed font with all capital letters and contains absolutely no punctuation. The lines go from most specific at the top to most general at the bottom. The City Line includes the official province abbreviation with no comma and two spaces before the postal code, which is the format recommended by Canada Post. The country line is at the bottom. The postal code goes in the City Line, not the Country Line, on the left or right according to the standard of the destination country.
Links (verified July 2006):
USA PO BOX GENERAL DELIVERY United Kingdom PO Box POSTE RESTANTE México, Spain, ... Apartado Poste Restante France BP (Boite Postal) Poste Restante Netherlands Postbus Poste Restante Norway, Denmark, ... Postboks Poste Restante Germany Postfach Postlagernd
For general delivery (poste restante -- "to be called for"), the addressee's name must match the name on the proof of identity (such as a passport) that the addressee will show upon picking up the mail. In the United States, the "+4" part of the ZIP+4 code for General Delivery is 9999, and for a Post Office Box, the last four digits of the PO Box number.
USA address format is:
town ST nnnnn-nnnn
where ST is the official USPS 2-letter state or territory abbreviation from the table below with no comma preceding it, followed by the ZIP or ZIP+4, for example:
JOHN DOE ACME INC 123 MAIN ST NW STE 12 ANYTOWN NY 12345
in which ST, NW, STE, and NY are abbreviations recognized by USPS (for Street, Northwest, Suite, and New York, respectively). If ZIP+4 is used, the two parts of the ZIP code must be separated by a single dash (and no spaces). The state abbreviation and ZIP code should be separated by one or two spaces (depending on which recommendation you read). Examples:
OSHKOSH WI 54901 (5-digit ZIP) FRANKLIN SQUARE NY 11010 (5-digit ZIP) NEW YORK NY 10025-7799 (ZIP+4) FORT RICHARDSON AK 99505-5700 (ZIP+4)
Uppercase is used, as recommended by the USPS, for ease of automatic scanning and application of bar codes. See the USPS ZIP Code directory or other relevant publications for additional addressing recommendations such as the format of street addresses, recommended abbreviations, etc, all of which help to keep your mail from being rejected by the automatic sorters. Some useful information on USA addresses can be found at the USPS Website:
http://www.usps.gov/
In cases where the street name and number might be "too long" (e.g. for a database field, or for an automatic reader), any part of this line that denotes a sub-part of the main address (e.g. an apartment or suite number) can or should be put on a separate line above the street name and number:
JOHN DOE ACME INC STE 12 123 MAIN ST NW ANYTOWN NY 12345
Don't spell out state names or use old-fashioned state abbreviations for them like "Ala", "Miss", or "N.Y.". Here is the table of states and other postal entities of the USA with their official 2-letter abbreviations (source: USPS National ZIP Code Directory) that are recognized by the USPS and its postal sorters:
AL Alabama IN Indiana ND North Dakota AK Alaska IA Iowa OH Ohio AS American Samoa KS Kansas OK Oklahoma AZ Arizona KY Kentucky OR Oregon AR Arkansas LA Louisiana PW Palau AA Armed Forces Americas ME Maine PA Pennsylvania AE Armed Forces Europe MH Marshall Islands PR Puerto Rico AP Armed Forces Pacific MD Maryland RI Rhode Island CA California MA Massachusetts SC South Carolina CO Colorado MI Michigan SD South Dakota CT Connecticut MN Minnesota TN Tennessee DE Delaware MS Mississippi TX Texas DC District of Columbia MO Missouri VI US Virgin Islands FM Federated Micronesia MT Montana UT Utah FL Florida MP N. Mariana Islands VT Vermont GA Georgia NE Nebraska VA Virginia GU Guam NV Nevada WA Washington HI Hawaii NJ New Jersery WV West Virginia NH New Hampshire NM New Mexico WI Wisconsin ID Idaho NY New York WY Wyoming IL Illinois NC North Carolina
Military addresses use APO (Army or Air Force Post Office) or FPO (Fleet Post Office for the Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard) instead of the city name, and then the "state" name is AA (for Americas), AE (for Europe), or AP (for Pacific), e.g.:
SGT NICK FURY HEADQUARTERS COMPANY 7TH ARMY TRAINING CENTER ATTN: AETT-AG UNIT 28130 APO AE 09114
APO addressing is also used for certain diplomatic sites, e.g.:
CUSTOMS ATTACHE AMERICAN EMBASSY CARACAS UNIT 4964 APO AA 34037
Certain other diplomatic sites can be mailed to in care of the US State Department in Washington DC. All others require international mail.
APO/FPO addresses can be used only from the USA or other areas served by the US Post Office, or from other APO/FPO addresses. Mail from elsewhere to these locations must be addressed through the town, city, and country in which the military installation is located.
References:
Links:
For more about automatic sorting of US mail, see the Kermit News article, Kermit Helps Automate Mail Delivery.
The Canada address format is like the USA format:
town province postalcode
No commas or other punctuation, postal code on the right separated by two spaces. Upper case is preferred but not required except in the postal code. Example:
SASKATCHEWAN WATER CORP 111 FAIRFORD STREET EAST MOOSE JAW SK S6H 2X1 CANADA
Canada has 2-letter abbreviations for its provinces and territories, just like we have for our states, and which do not conflict with ours:
Symbol English Name French Name Inuktitut Name AB Alberta Alberta BC British Columbia Colombie-Britannique MB Manitoba Manitoba NB New Brunswick Nouveau-Brunswick NL (3) Newfoundland and Labrador Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador NT Northwest Territories Territoires du Nord-Ouest NS Nova Scotia Nouvelle-Écosse NU (1) Nunavut Nunavut ᓄᓇᕗᑦ ON Ontario Ontario PE Prince Edward Island Île-du-Prince-Édouard QC (2) Quebec Québec SK Saskatchewan Saskatchewan YT Yukon Yukon
Notes:
Canadian postal codes are always LNL NLN (Letter, Number, Letter, Space, Number, Letter, Number). (In this context, "Number" means "Digit".) The first segment is the Forward Sortation Area; the second is the Local Delivery Unit. The postal code is placed two spaces to the right of the province/territory abbreviation. All letters in the City Line (and preferably the entire address) should be uppercase. Examples:
CALGARY AB T2H 1M5
MOOSE JAW SK S6H 2X1
ST LAURENT QC H4N 1J7
MISSISSAUGA ON L5K 1Z8
YELLOWKNIFE NT X1A 2P7
TALOYOAK NU X0E 1B0
NORTH POLE NT H0H 0H0 <-- ("Ho Ho Ho")
Doug Ewell has written a report on the semantics of Canadian postal codes; CLICK HERE for details.
The city or town name must not be translated. If the official name of the municipality is French, it must be written in French including accents; if it is English, it must be written in English. Canadian postal policies emphasize equal treatment of English and French, but they do not mention other languages of Canada such as Inuktitut, Cree, Lakota, Micmac, Ojibwa, etc. I assume that locality names must be written in Roman letters and not Canadian Syllabics (see Nunavut in the table above), although I could not find any statements to that effect at the Canada Post website. In Nunavut, Inuktitut is the official language of government and road signs are in both Roman and Syllabics -- what about mail? (It turns out that even French town names with accents are stored internally in uppercase ASCII without accents, as you can see in postcode lookup).
Links (last checked: 19 Sep 2004):
Canadian postal humor: "Canada Post doesn't really charge 32 cents for a stamp. It's 2 cents for postage and 30 cents for storage." (Gerald Regan, Cabinet Minister, 31 Dec 1983 Financial Post)
Here's a summary table of Caribbean localities showing the USPS country name (see INDEX for local, long, and other forms), ISO 3166 Alpha-2 Code, United Nations Car Code (these codes are explained in the section on Europe), postcode format (if any), and sample City line. As far as I can tell, neither ISO nor Car codes are used in Caribbean postal addresses. The right two columns are taken from the Universal Postal Union, when available (a surprising number are not). In the postcode format, n indicates a digit and L indicates an uppercase letter; italic words like town and island are to be replaced by actual town or island names. Country names link to the country's postal authority website, if known, or other relevant site, if any.
USPS Name ISO Car City Line Format City Line Example ANGUILLA AI -- town THE VALLEY ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA AG -- town St. John's ARUBA AW -- town Oranjestad BAHAMAS BS BS town NASSAU BARBADOS (*) BB BDS town BBnnnnn Cheapside, Bridgetown BB11000 BERMUDA (*) BM -- town LL nn Hamilton HM 12 BONAIRE AN NA Address through NETHERLANDS ANTILLES BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS VG -- town, island Road Town, Tortola CAYMAN ISLANDS (*) KY -- po-box
island KYn-nnnnP.O. Box 123 SAV
Grand Cayman KY1-1010CUBA (*) CU C CP nnnnn town CP 10600 CIUDAD DE LA HABANA CURACAO AN NA Address through NETHERLANDS ANTILLES DOMINICA DM WD town ROSEAU DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (*) DO DOM nnnnn town 10902 SANTO DOMINGO GRENADA GD WG town ST. GEORGE'S GUADELOUPE (*) GP -- nnnnn town 97163 POINT À PITRE HAITI HT RH nnnn town 6110 PORT-AU-PRINCE JAMAICA (*) JM JA town zone KINGSTON 10 MARTINIQUE (8) MQ -- nnnnn town 97246 FORT DE FRANCE MONTSERRAT MS -- town OLD TOWNE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES (*) AN NA town
islandWILLEMSTAD
CURAÇAOPUERTO RICO PR -- Address through USA SABA AN NA Address through NETHERLANDS ANTILLES SAINT CROIX (*) VI -- US Virgin Islands - Address through USA SAINT EUSTATIUS AN NA Address through NETHERLANDS ANTILLES SAINT JOHN (*) VI -- US Virgin Islands - Address through USA SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS KN -- town BASSETERRE SAINT LUCIA LC -- town CASTRIES SAINT MAARTEN AN NA Address through NETHERLANDS ANTILLES SAINT THOMAS (*) VI -- US Virgin Islands - Address through USA SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES VC -- town KINGSTOWN TORTOLA VG -- Address through BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO TT TT town
islandPort of Spain
TrinidadTURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS TC -- town Providenciales VIRGIN GORDA VG -- Address through BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
Don't write ANTILLES, CARIBBEAN, LEEWARD ISLANDS, VIRGIN ISLANDS, WEST INDIES, BRITISH WEST INDIES, or BRITISH ISLANDS under the country name, despite advice to that affect that can be found elsewhere, since the USPS operates on country names, not on names of regions or areas. Notes:
56 Church Street PO Box HM 100 Hamilton HM 12 Hamilton HM AX BERMUDA BERMUDA
See the Bermuda Yellow Pages website for a list of postcodes, as well as for the "proper way to address a letter" in Bermuda (19 Sep 2004).
US Consulate General J.B. Gorsiraweg 1 (street and number) Willemstad (town) CURAÇAO (island) NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
BUREAU OF VITAL RECORDS VIRGIN ISLANDS DEPT OF HEALTH CHARLOTTE AMALIE (town) SAINT THOMAS VI 00801 (island VI Zip)
Here's a summary table of Latin American countries showing the USPS country name (see INDEX for local, long, and other forms), ISO 3166 Alpha-2 Code, United Nations Car Code (these codes are explained in the section on Europe), postcode format (if any), and sample City line. As far as I can tell, neither ISO nor Car codes are used in Latin American postal addresses. The right two columns are taken from the Universal Postal Union except where I had better information. In the postcode format, n indicates a digit and L indicates an uppercase letter; italic words like town and district are to be replaced by actual town or district names. Non-italic letters, spaces, and hyphens are to be taken literally (such as CP, which stands for Código Postal, Postal Code). Country names link to the country's postal authority website, if known, or other relevant site.
USPS Name ISO Car City Line Format City Line Example ARGENTINA AR RA LnnnnLLL town S3000ADQ SANTA FE BELIZE BZ BH town BELIZE CITY BOLIVIA BO BOL town COCHABAMBA BRAZIL BR BR nnnnn-nnn town-LL 40301-110 SALVADOR-BA CHILE CL RCH nnnnnnn town 6500709 SANTIAGO COLOMBIA CO CO town BOGOTÁ COSTA RICA CR CR nnnn town 1000 SAN JOSÉ CUBA CU C CP nnnnn town CP 10600 CIUDAD DE LA HABANA DOMINICAN REPUBLIC DO DOM nnnnn town 10902 SANTO DOMINGO ECUADOR EC EC LnnnnL
townP0133B
QUITOEL SALVADOR SV ES CP nnnn district
townCP 1120 MEJICANOS
SAN SALVADORFRENCH GUIANA GF -- nnnnn town 97300 CAYENNE GUATEMALA GT GCA nnnnn-town 09001-QUETZALTENANGO GUYANA GY GUY town GEORGETOWN HAITI HT RH nnnn town 6110 PORT-AU-PRINCE HONDURAS HN -- nnnnn town 11101 TEGUCIGALPA DC MEXICO MX MEX nnnnn town, LL 02860 MÉXICO, DF NICARAGUA NI NIC nnn-nnn-n
town050-008-4
GRANADAPANAMA PA PA town PANAMÁ PARAGUAY PY PY nnnn town 1209 ASUNCION PERU PE PE town LIMA 39 PUERTO RICO PR -- (Address through USA) SURINAME SR SME town PARAMARIBO URUGUAY UY ROU nnnnn
town11000
MONTEVIDEOVENEZUELA VE YV town nnnn state CARACAS 1010 DISTRITO CAPITAL
Detailed sections on México, Brazil, Cuba, and Colombia follow this section.
When addressing mail to a Latin American country, don't write SOUTH AMERICA or CENTRAL AMERICA under the country name.
Venezuelan city lines include the city name, then the 4-digit postal code, then either ESTADO followed by the state name or else DISTRITO CAPITAL (formerly DISTRITO FEDERAL) for Caracas. The postcode might have a letter suffix:
CORO 4101-A ESTADO FALCÓN
You can address French Guiana through France; it's part of the French postcode and delivery system. You should also be able to address it directly too, thus avoiding the double ocean crossing.
Note that Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Uruguay (according to the UPU) write the postal code on its own line. As always, postcodes are in flux. The examples above (current as of January 2003) are contrasted with examples from our own database from just a few years prior:
Bahia Blanca 8000 ARGENTINA Santiago 9 CHILE Bogota COLOMBIA Nival 4 GUATEMALA Asuncion 2968 PARAGUAY Montevideo 11000 URUGUAY
Additional information about Mexico, Brazil, and Cuba is given in the following sections.
Links:
For purposes of addressing mail from within the USA, the name of the country is MEXICO. In Spanish, the 'e' has an acute accent: México. In Spain and parts of Latin America, some people prefer the more phonetic spelling, "Méjico" (just as in the USA, some Texans might prefer to write "Tejas").
México has states (estados) like Jalisco, Sonora, etc, which are included in the address. The state for México City is DF (Distrito Federal = Federal District), similar to Washington DC in the USA or Canberra ACT in Australia (DF is divided into Delegaciones including México City, San Jerónimo, etc.)
Postal codes are 5 digits. Examples:
03100 México, DF 10200 San Jerónimo, DF 62000 Cuernavaca, MOR 85100 Ciudad Obregon, SON
The states of México and their official abbreviations are:
AGS Aguascalientes MOR Morelos BCN Baja California Norte NAY Nayarit BCS Baja California Sur NL Nuevo León CAM Campeche OAX Oaxaca CHIS Chiapas PUE Puebla CHIH Chihuahua QRO Querétaro COAH Coahuila QROO Quintana Roo COL Colima SLP San Luis Potosí DF Distrito Federal SIN Sinaloa DGO Durango SON Sonora GTO Guanajuato TAB Tabasco GRO Guerrero TAMPS Tamaulipas HGO Hidalgo TLAX Tlaxcala JAL Jalisco VER Veracruz MEX México (Estado de) YUC Yucatán MICH Michoacán ZAC Zacatecas
It is important to put "Colonia" for District (when known) in Mexican addresses, for example:
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Carretera Al Ajusco Km.13, Colonia Héroes de Padierna Apartado 20-021, Delegación Alvaro Obregón 01000 México, DF MEXICO
The 5-digit postal code goes on the left, then the town or city, a comma, and the state abbreviation. Authority: Universal Postal Union (the Mexican Postal Service site contains no guidelines or examples that I can find).
It is common to see the postal code written on the right, but I believe this is an old form (say, pre-2000):
(Person's Name) Calle Ave. Castillo Chapultepec No.47 Colonia Cd.Chapultepec Cuernavaca, MOR 62380 MEXICO
Some terms and abbreviations included in Mexican addresses are:
Apartado (Apartado Postal, Apartado de Correos) Post office box Calle Street Cd. Ciudad (city) Col. Colonia (district) CP Código Postal (postal code)
Links:
México Postal Service: http://www.sepomex.gob.mx/ Postcode lookup (Nov 2005): http://www.sepomex.gob.mx/Sepomex/Servicios/Busca+tu+Codigo+Postal/ Mexico Postcode Format http://www.upu.int/post_code/en/countries/MEX.pdf States of México http://www.tourbymexico.com/Pprisel/pprisel.htm
Brazilian addresses have states (estados) and a 5+3-digit postal code (CEP, Código de Endereçamento Postal) that goes on the left. The state goes on the right, separated by a dash. There should be no other punctuation. Example:
20071-003 Rio de Janeiro-RJ
If a postal code has only 5 digits (like our own ZIP without the "plus 4"), add "-000" to the end:
04103-000 São Paulo-SP
The state for Brasilia is DF (Distrito Federal), like Washington DC, e.g.:
70084-970 Brasilia-DF
Always use the exact spacing and punctuation shown above -- no periods, commas, etc. Never include "CEP" in the address; it just means "postal code". For example, if you have an address like:
Rio de Janeiro, RJ CEP 20071-003
it should be written as:
20071-003 Rio de Janeiro-RJ
The states of Brazil and their official abbreviations are:
AC Acre AL Alagoas AP Amapá AM Amazonas BA Bahía CE Ceará DF Distrito Federal ES Espirito Santo GO Goiás
MA Maranhão MT Mato Grosso MS Mato Grosso do Sul MG Minas Geraís PR Paraná PB Paraíba PA Pará PE Pernambuco PI Piauí
RN Rio Grande do Norte RS Rio Grande do Sul RJ Rio de Janeiro RO Rondônia RR Roraima SC Santa Catarina SE Sergipe SP São Paulo TO Tocantins
Noticed in July 2007: Brazil seems to have joined the countries that are putting the postal code as the bottom line, as you can see if you look at the current version of Formas de Endereçamento (link just below), although it seems the format described here is still accepted. Examples of the two formats (from the Brazil post website):
I suspect the first ("old") format is better for sending mail to Brazil from the USA, because USPS expects the see the city line just above the country name.
Links:
Correios Brasil Brazil Post http://www.correios.com.br/ Consulta de CEP Postcode Lookup http://www.correios.com.br/servicos/cep/default.cfm Formas de Endereçamento Addressing Guidelines http://www.correios.com.br/servicos/cep/cep_formas.cfm
Cuban addresses are written like this:
Sr. Héctor García Marizá Reina #35, apt. 4a, e/ Gervasio y Escobar Ciudad de La Habana, CP 11900 CUBA
where:
Reina #35 = street and number apt. 4a = apartment number e/ = between streets Gervasio and Escobar CP = Código Postal (postal code)
After this line may be the Reparto (zone) and Municipio; that is, minor divisions, for example:
Sr. Jorge Pérez Rodríguez Calle Martí #24, apt. 4a., e/ Corombé y 26 de Julio Rpto. Abel Santamaría, Aguacate Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba, CP 22222 CUBA
that is:
Person street / number, apartment, between streets Reparto, Pueblo Municipio, Provincia, Postal Code CUBA
"esq." (esquina, corner) can be used instead of "e/" (between) when the house is on the corner, for example:
Calle Martí #24, apt. 4a., esq. Corombé
In practice the CP is rarely used and mail, if otherwise properly addressed, can be delivered without it.
The divisions of Cuba are:
Provincia → Municipio → Ciudad or Pueblo → Reparto or Barrio or Communidad
A reparto or barrio is a division of a city or town, whereas a communidad is an isolated zone ("oasis de casas dentro del campo desierto") outside of the town but which falls within its jurisdiction; for example in the municipio of Nuevitas is the town Playa Santa Lucía, and some 3km distant is the communidad Palmas de Lucía (meanwhile capital city of the municipio of Nuevitas is the ciudad of Nuevitas).
Note that the general scheme does not apply to Ciudad de La Habana, which is a Provincia. There are many Municipios without Ciudad or Pueblo; for example, Ciudad de La Habana has these general options:
Ciudad de La Habana → Municipio → Pueblo → Reparto or Barrio
Ciudad de La Habana → Municipio → Reparto or Barrio
And for Municipio Especial Isla de la Juventud, the scheme is:
Municipio Especial Isla de la Juventud → Ciudad o Pueblo → Reparto o Barrio
The Provincias, with their recommended abbreviations, are:
PR Pinar del Río CA Ciego de Ávila CH Ciudad de La Habana CG Camagüey HA La Habana LT (Victoria de) Las Tunas MT Matanzas HO Holguín VC Villa Clara GR Granma (Bayamo) CF Cienfuegos SC Santiago de Cuba SS Sancti Spíritus GT Guantánamo IJ Municipio Especial Isla de la Juventud
Municipio Especial Isla de la Juventud is a special municipio; that is, not a provincia, but treated as a provincia.
Links:
(This section by Felipe Zapata Roldán, 11 December 2005) In Colombia, the postal code system has not been implemented yet, but there's a plan to do it in the near future (postal codes exist but they are not used). A standard mailing address (residential, commercial, or industrial) looks like this:
NAME COMPANY DEPARTMENT/DIVISION (May contain the building and office number) STREET ADDRESS CITY, DEPARTMENT (Department = state, optional) COLOMBIA
The format of the street address is:
STREET ###L $ ###-###, extra info
In which STREET field may be CALLE, CARRERA, AVENIDA, CIRCULAR, TRANSVERSAL; # of course are numerical digits (in groups of two or three); $ may be written '#' or 'No' and it stands for número and means crossing, usually, a CALLE crosses a CARRERA and vice versa. Which goes first depends on which face of the block the location is in; extra info may be the building name or number, apartment, block, story, level, etc.
Example:
Felipe Zapata Roldán Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín Escuela de Física CALLE 59A 63 - 120 Medellín, Antioquia COLOMBIA
Important: In Colombia, for natural persons, we use both father's last name and mother's maiden name... it's better if you know them... still, if you don't, there's no problem.
There's also a special kind of address, the Colombian P.O. Box, or Apartado Aéreo or A.A., meaning something like 'airmail post office box'; here's an example:
A.A. 3840 Medellin COLOMBIA
No name, no company, no nothing.... that's all optional. All that is needed is a number up to 5 digits and the name of the city. Any citizen or company may open an A.A., and just like in many countries they have to pay a maintenance fee.
Links:
Australia uses the same address format as the USA and Canada. It has 4-digit numeric postal codes and the following states, always abbreviated in caps as follows:
Abbrev Full Name Postboxes and
Large UsersStreet Addresses ACT Australian Capital Territory 0200-0299 2600-2639 NSW New South Wales 1000-1999 2000-2599, 2620-2914 NT Northern Territory 0900-0999 0800-0899 QLD Queensland 9000-9999 4000-4999 SA South Australia 5800-5999 5000-5799 TAS Tasmania 7800-7999 7000-7499 VIC Victoria 8000-8999 3000-3999 WA Western Australia 6800-6999 6000-6799
NSW includes Norfolk Island; WA includes Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Island. Write Australian city lines as follows:
town state postal-code
Use all uppercase letters, no punctuation, put two spaces before the postal code. Examples:
CANBERRA ACT 2614 AUSTRALIA SYDNEY NSW 2000 AUSTRALIA
Within Western Australia lies a small area calling itself the Hutt River Province Principality, which seceded from Western Australia and the Commonwealth of Australia in 1970 over a wheat-quota dispute. Whatever its legal and international standing, it has no listing in the USPS International Mail Manual, so mail from the USA to that area must be addressed "via Northampton WA 6535" in Australia. For further info, search the Web for "Hutt River".
Links:
New Zealand, like Australia, uses 4-digit postal codes but until recently they have been relatively optional, used mainly for presorting bulk mail. New Zealand Post didn't even show them in their own contact addresses:
Customer Service Centre New Zealand Post Private Box 39100 Wellington Mail Service Centre Wellington NEW ZEALAND
All this has changed. As noted on the New Zealand Post website:
The current postcode system has become outdated for mail sorting. The development of new suburbs, more apartment living and overall population growth has seen a 25% increase in delivery points in the last ten years. Added to this are a number of issues that present problems for efficient and accurate mail sorting and delivery. ... New postcodes will resolve these problems by creating a unique address for every delivery point in New Zealand Post's delivery network. ... The new postcodes will entirely replace the existing postcode system. All postcodes currently in use will be replaced. ... The postcode is [now] mandatory for all addresses.
The change took effect in June 2006. The old postcodes are invalid. The "hard cutover" is scheduled for June 2008. Until then, new postcodes must be used on bulk mail and the postcode can be omitted from regular mail. After the cutover, the new postcode will be required on all mail. Examples showing the new and old postcodes:
Upper and lower case may be used in all parts of the address, but for the benefit of USPS, the name of the country, NEW ZEALAND, must be written in all uppercase. The former NZ Post requirement for lots of space between the town name and postal code has been dropped, one or two spaces are now sufficient.
References (all good as of 10 January 2007):
(The UK and Ireland have their own sections towards the end of this document.)
"Europe" is a imprecise term, especially as it relates to which countries are part of it and which are not. Geographical, political, and cultural definitions tend to disagree. Furthermore, countries such as Spain, France, and the Netherlands that are indisputably European might include parts that are elsewhere. CLICK HERE for a discussion.
All European countries except Ireland have postal codes. They are almost always written on the left-hand side of the City line, before the name of the town or city. The format of the postcode itself varies from country to country: number of digits, grouping, and in a few cases an alphabetic part.
Until recently, all European postcodes included country-code prefixes. These were originally United Nations "car codes" (one, two, or three letters), kept in an annex, "Car (Or Road) Distinguishing Signs", to the 1949/68 United Nations Conventions on Road Traffic, adopted in part by the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT). These codes were not accepted by the Universal Postal Union as a world standard, but were widely used anyway.
Beginning in 1994, car codes were supposed to be replaced by ISO 3166 Alpha-2 codes, but it seems this was not done to any great extent outside of Scandinavia. Thus for some decades (say 1970-1994) a letter to Sweden would have a City and Country line like the following (note: two spaces recommended after the postcode):
S-126 25 Stockholm SWEDEN
Then in 1995 this became:
SE-126 25 Stockholm SWEDEN
More recently in most European countries, the recommendation is to omit the country prefix for internal mail, but to use it for international mail. Many countries (not all) also recommend all uppercase letters for better automatic sorting results:
126 25 STOCKHOLM SWEDEN
The situation is definitely confusing with postal standards, guidelines, and examples in flux and in conflict. The Universal Postal Union recommends that the ISO Alpha-2 Country Code be used for international mail, and that the country code prefix be omitted on domestic mail (e.g. within Italy), but of course the local standards of each country prevail, and to confound matters, Alpha-2 codes can change or (worse) be recycled; for example, Czechoslovakia was CS but when it split into the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993 the codes became became CZ and SK, respectively; then in 2003 Serbia and Montenegro, which had inherited YU from Yugoslovia, had its code changed to CS (Crna Gora i Srbja), and then in 2006 Serbia and Montenegro split and received the codes RS and ME, respectively.
Postal addresses that appear in printed matter, databases, and on the Web can be found in all three formats. CEN (see Links at the end of this section) recommends in Annex C of EN 14142-1:2003 (a standard for addresses) that cross-border mail should be prefixed by the ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 code where the postcode precedes the the locality in the destination country.
Thus, depending on whose guidelines you read, the CEPT country code should be used, or the ISO code should be used, or there should be no country code at all. For example, the local standard of Germany might say something like "Under no circumstances should a country code such as D or DE be prefixed to the postcode", but the standard in (say) Switzerland for sending mail to Germany might call for a D or DE prefix. In any case, the prefixes should do no harm except perhaps to cause the mail piece to be rejected by automatic sorters in the source country, the destination country, or both, in which case they are handled manually. As far as I can tell, the USPS doesn't care about them.
Here's a summary table of European countries showing the USPS country name (see INDEX for local, long, and other forms), ISO 3166 Alpha-2 Code, United Nations Car Code, postcode format, and sample City line. The country-code prefix is omitted, as in the UPU examples, except where the UPU states explicitly that it should be used. In the postcode format, n indicates a digit and L indicates an uppercase letter; italic words like town and district are to be replaced actual town or district names. Non-italic letters, spaces, and hyphens are to be taken literally. Country names link to the country's postal authority website, if known, or other relevant site.
USPS Name ISO Car City Line Format City Line Example ALAND ISLAND (*) FI AX AX-nnnnn town AX-22111 MARIEHAMN ALBANIA AL AL town TIRANA ANDORRA AD AND town AD500 ANDORRA LA VELLA AUSTRIA AT A nnnn town 1010 WIEN BELARUS BY BY See The Former Soviet Union BELGIUM BE B nnnn town 4000 LIEGE BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA BA BIH See The Former Yugoslavia BOSNIA / REPUBLIKA SRPSKA BA BIH See The Former Yugoslavia BULGARIA BG BG nnnn town 1000 SOFIA CROATIA HR HR See The Former Yugoslavia CYPRUS (*) CY CY nnnn town 1900 NICOSIA CZECH REPUBLIC CZ CZ See The Former Czechoslovakia DENMARK DK DK nnnn 1566 COPENHAGEN V ESTONIA EE EST See The Former Soviet Union FAROE ISLANDS (*) FO FO nnn 100 TÓRSHAVN FINLAND (*) FI FIN nnnnn 00550 HELSINKI FRANCE (*) FR F nnnnn town 34092 MONTPELLIER GERMANY DE D nnnnn town 35035 MARBURG GREECE GR GR nnn nn town 101 88 ATHENS HUNGARY (*) HU H town
nnnnBUDAPEST
1540ICELAND IS IS nnn town 110 REYKJAVÍK ITALY IT I nnnnn town (LL) 00144 ROMA (RM) LATVIA (*) LV LV See The Former Soviet Union LIECHTENSTEIN (*) LI FL nnnn town 9486 SCHAANWALD LITHUANIA LT LT See The Former Soviet Union LUXEMBOURG LU L nnnn town 2998 LUXEMBOURG MACEDONIA (*) MK MK See The Former Yugoslavia MALTA (*) MT M town LLL nnnn ZEJTUN ZTN 1000 MOLDOVA MD MD See The Former Soviet Union MONACO (*) MC MC nnnnn town 98000 MONACO MONTENEGRO (*) ME ?? See The Former Yugoslavia NETHERLANDS NL NL nnnn LL town 1098 SJ AMSTERDAM NORWAY NO N nnnn town 0107 OSLO POLAND PL PL nn-nnn town 00-940 WARSZAWA PORTUGAL PT P nnnn-nnn town 1250-096 LISBOA ROMANIA RO RO nnnnnn town 050000 BUCARESTI RUSSIA RU RUS See The Former Soviet Union SAN MARINO SM RSM nnnnn town 47899 FIORINA SERBIA (*) RS ?? See The Former Yugoslavia SLOVAK REPUBLIC SK SK See The Former Czechoslovakia SLOVENIA (*) SI SLO See The Former Yugoslavia SPAIN (*) ES E nnnnn 28070 MADRID SPITSBERGEN SJ Address through NORWAY SWEDEN SE S nnn nn town 105 00 STOCKHOLM SWITZERLAND CH CH nnnn town 8037 ZÜRICH UKRAINE UA UA town
nnnnnKIEV
01055VATICAN CITY (*) VA V nnnnn town 00120 CITTÀ DEL VATICANO
When addressing mail to a European country, don't write EUROPE under or next to the country name.
AX-22111 MARIEHAMN
"The Islands originally sought incorporation into Sweden, but the League of Nations decided to uphold Finland's territorial integrity. However, as part of Finland the Islands have far more autonomy than they would have had as part of Sweden, including having their own postal service since 1984. Note that in Swedish, an official language in the rest of Finland, the country is known as Republiken Finland. (Easier to guess than 'Suomen Tasavalta')." USPS IMM Issue 29, July 2003, Updated With Postal Bulletin Revisions Through March 4, 2004, lists ALAND ISLAND as a valid country-name for postal delivery; I do not recall seeing it previously (prior to May 2004, the advice given here was to address through Finland, which probably still works, as I expect that mail addressed to ALAND ISLAND from the USA goes to Finland anyway). The UPU says (07/2003) "it is necessary to add the code 'AX' before the postcode", as in the example.
Links:
The Italian postal code system is called CAP (Codice di Avviamento Postale, Post Delivery Code). Italian postal codes have a prefix of "I-" (or "IT-", or none at all, depending on where the mail originates) followed by five digits. The UPU advises leaving off the country prefix for internal mail and using the ISO Alpha-2 form ("IT") for mail to Italy, but the Car Code "I" is often seen. In practice, sometimes "I" is written in lowercase to avoid confusion with the digit "1", but I don't know whether or how this affects automatic scanning.
Italy is divided into 20 Regioni (regions) listed in the following table, which shows the region name in Italian (and German or French where applicable), then in English (if different), then an unofficial abbreviation (from the Gwillim Law book) for the region name used in the subsequent provincia table.
Abruzzo Abruzzi AB Basilicata BC Calabria CI Campania CM Emilia-Romagna ER Friuli-Venezia Giulia FB Lazio LZ Liguria LG Lombardia Lombardy LM Marche MH
Molise ML Piemonte Piedmont PM Puglia Apulia PU Sardegna Sardinia SD Sicilia Sicily SC Toscana Tuscany TC Trentino-Alto Adige / Trentino-Südtirol TT Umbria UM Valle d'Aosta / Vallée d'Aoste Valle d'Aosta VD Veneto VN
The regione is not used in the postal address, but the provincia is included as the 2-letter abbreviation of the province's capital. Thus in the following address:
GE Fanuc Automation Italia S.r.l Largo Brugnatelli - Angolo Via Volta IT-20090 BUCCINASCO (MI) ITALY
the town of Buccinasco is in the provincia of Milano; the regione of Lombardia is not included in the address.
The provincia abbreviation is called sigla automobilistica (automobile acronym), and is composed of the first letter of the name of the province's capital town, plus a second letter from the name. (The only exception is "KR" for Crotone: that is because when the Crotone province was established, all the possible regular combinations where already used: CR=Cremona, CO=Como, CT=Catania, CN=Cuneo, CE=Caserta. So, the acronym was based on the ancient Greek name of the town: "Kroton".)
These acronyms are called sigle automobilistiche because, up to a few years ago, each province had its own registry of vehicles, and the car registration plates had this two-letter province abbreviation preceding the actual number. (This had the side effect that "stranger" cars could be immediately identified when traveling in other parts of Italy. As a consequence, Italian drivers always had to be very well informed about soccer matches, as it was not advisable to park a car with a "Turin" registration plate in Rome the day after Torino F.C defeated Roma A.C...)
Traditionally, the 2-letter provincia abbreviation was given in parentheses after the city, e.g.:
IT-00144 Roma (RM) IT-57023 Cecina (LI) IT-50016 S. Domenico di Fiesole (FI) IT-20041 Agrate Brianza (MI) IT-38014 Gardolo (TN) IT-20064 Gorgonzola (MI) IT-20010 San Pietro All'Olmo (MI)
Italian Post now recommends the parentheses be omitted for the sake of automatic scanning and sorting (but the parenthesized form is still widely used):
I-00144 Roma RM I-57023 Cecina LI I-50016 S. Domenico di Fiesole FI I-20041 Agrate Brianza MI I-38014 Gardolo TN I-20064 Gorgonzola MI I-20010 San Pietro All'Olmo MI
Strictly speaking, the provincia abbreviation is redundant, since it is also embodied in the postal code, which has three fields:
Here's a table of province, in which the first column is the provincia name, second the provincia abbreviation, third the first two digits of the CAP, and fourth the regione abbreviation keyed to the previous table.
Agrigento AG 92 SC Alessandria AL 15 PM Ancona AN 60 MH Aosta / Aoste AO 11 VD Arezzo AR 52 TC Ascoli Piceno AP 63 MH Asti AT 14 PM Avellino AV 83 CM Bari BA 70 PU Belluno BL 32 VN Benevento BN 82 CM Bergamo BG 24 LM Biella BI 13 PM Bologna BO 40 ER Bolzano / Bolzen BZ 39 TT Brescia BS 25 LM Brindisi BR 72 PU Cagliari CA 09 SD Caltanisetta CL 93 SC Campobasso CB 86 ML Caserta CE 81 CM Catania CT 95 SC Catanzaro CZ 88 CI Chieti CH 66 AB Como CO 22 LM Cosenza CS 87 CI Cremona CR 26 LM Crotone KR 88 CI Cuneo CN 12 PM Enna EN 94 SC Ferrara FE 44 ER Firenze FI 50 TC Foggia FG 71 PU Forlì FO 47 ER Frosinone FR 03 LZ
Genova GE 16 LG Gorizia GO 34 FV Grosseto GR 58 TC Imperia IM 18 LG Isernia IS 86 ML L'Aquila AQ 67 AB La Spezia SP 19 LG Latina LT 04 LZ Lecce LE 73 PU Lecco LC 22 LM Livorno LI 57 TC Lodi LO 20 LM Lucca LU 55 TC Macerata MC 62 MH Mantova MN 46 LM Massa-Carrara MS 54 TC Matera MT 75 BC Messina ME 98 SC Milano MI 20 LM Modena MO 41 ER Napoli NA 80 CM Novara NO 28 PM Nuoro NU 08 SD Oristano OR 09 SD Padova PD 35 VN Palermo PA 90 SC Parma PR 43 ER Pavia PV 27 LM Perugia PG 06 UM Pesaro-Urbino PS 61 MH Pescara PE 65 AB Piacenza PC 29 ER Pisa PI 56 TC Pistoia PT 51 TC Pordenone PN 33 FB
Potenza PZ 85 BC Prato PO 50 TC Ragusa RG 97 SC Ravenna RA 48 ER Reggio di Calabria RC 89 CI Reggio nell'Emilia RE 42 ER Rieti RI 02 LZ Rimini RN 47 ER Roma RM 00 LZ Rovigo RO 45 VN Salerno SA 84 CM Sassari SS 07 SD Savona SV 17 LG Siena SI 53 TC Siracusa SR 96 SC Sondrio SO 23 LM Taranto TA 74 PU Teramo TE 64 AB Terni TR 05 UM Torino TO 10 PM Trapani TP 91 SC Trento TN 38 TT Treviso TV 31 VN Trieste TS 34 FV Udine UD 33 FV Varese VA 21 LM Venezia VE 30 VN Verbania VB 28 PM Vercelli VC 13 PM Verona VR 37 VN Vibo Valentia VV 88 CI Vicenza VI 36 VN Viterbo VT 01 LZ
Here is a UPU example of an Italian address, in which the CAP lacks a country prefix (as required for internal mail and perhaps for mail from certain countries but definitely not for others):
By the way, Italy surrounds at least two other small countries: Vatican City and San Marino, which are properly treated by the USPS as separate countries -- VATICAN CITY and SAN MARINO -- and by some accounts also a third, the Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme di Rodi e di Malta, or Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), consisting of a single building on a Roman street, the Palace of Malta in the Via dei Condotti 68 (you're probably better off using the Roman street address).Sig. Mario Rossi Viale Europa, 22 00144 ROMA RM ITALY
Not only are countries to be found inside Italy, but a piece of Italy can be found inside another country: Campione d'Italia in Switzerland on Lake Lugano. It chose to stay part of Lombardy, and hence Italy, when Ticino became a Swiss Canton in 1798. It uses the Swiss postcode CH-6911 (as well as Italian CAP 22060), the Swiss telephone code +41 91, and has Italian police driving in Swiss-registered automobiles. But it's Italy. (Also see the section on Germany, another country with a piece inside Switzerland.)
Links:
In the NETHERLANDS, a 2-letter delivery code follows the numeric part of the postal code -- this is not a state/province abbreviation, just an indication of a "subzone" within the area indicated by the number. The four-digit number never begins with 0; the subzone letters never include F, I, O, Q, U, or Y, or the combinations SA, SD, and SS. The "NL-" prefix is not used within the Netherlands, but can be used for mail to the Netherlands.
NL-3514 BN Utrecht NL-3563 AW Utrecht NL-6500 HB Nijmegen NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam NL-3000 DR Rotterdam
Don't refer to the Netherlands as Holland. Holland is only one part of the Netherlands. "Dutch" is another misnomer -- it really means "German", but in English we don't have any other word that REALLY means Dutch... Postbus means PO Box.
The provinces of the Netherlands are generally not used in postal addresses, but in case it's ever of any use, here is the list, also showing some well-known towns:
English Dutch Abbr Towns Drenthe Drenthe DR Flevoland Flevoland FLD Friesland Friesland FR Gelderland Gelderland GLD Apeldorn, Arnhem, Nijmegen Groningen Groningen GN Lemburg Limburg LB North Brabant Noord-Brabant NB Eindhoven, Breda North Holland Noord-Holland NH Amsterdam, Haarlem Overijssel Overijssel OV