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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Address | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T15:35:41.150655+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Postal codes === 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.
=== Postal alternatives to physical addresses === For privacy and other purposes, postal services have made it possible to receive mail without revealing one's physical address or even having a fixed physical address. Examples are post office boxes, service addresses and poste restante (general delivery).
== Address format ==
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:
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". 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."
== See also == Delivery point Fire sign (address) Geocode Handwritten Address Interpretation (HWAI) Human geography Japanese addressing system National Land and Property Gazetteer service d'adresse mondial (sedamo) or worldwide address service
== References ==
== Further reading == Mask, Deirdre (2020). The Address Book. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 9781250134790. Tantner, Anton (2015). House Numbers: Pictures of a Forgotten History. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 9781780235189.
== External links ==
Frank's compulsive guide to postal addresses Universal Postal Union Archived 24 July 2009 at the Portuguese Web Archive Postal addressing systems by country