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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.
General information and corrections: Linda Beek, Dan Olsson, Peter Russell, Ken Westmoreland, Gert Grenander, Marcy Strawmyer, Mark Brader.
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 [email protected].
When this document was first written for internal use (in the late 1980s or early 90s), the United States Postal Service (USPS) had no special guidelines for addressing international mail -- if it did, we'd have just used them. This included standard or recommended names for countries.
ISO International Standard 11180, "Postal Addressing" (1993), 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.
The situation has improved since then. A visit to the USPS website's "Postal Explorer":
http://pe.usps.gov/
turns up the International Mail Manual (IMM), including an "index of countries and localities", first discovered (by me) in 2000. Unfortunately a URL can't be given, since everything occurs within frames and PDF readers at this site. Full citation: United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual, Issue 28, January 2003 (or later; updated periodically).
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
The second most important line is the one just above the country name, that shows the town, and sometimes the major subdivision of the country, known as the state, province, county, district, land, shire, department, oblast, autonomous region, etc, depending on the country, and often a postal code to aid in automated sorting. We will call this the "City Line".
Americans should avoid referring to other countries' postal codes as Zip codes, and also should not call other countries' administrative subdivisions states. This is a common error 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.
Each country has its own format for the City Line. Usually it is one of the following (punctuation shown in the Format column is to be taken literally):
Format Examples town, province postalcode M�xico, China, India town province postalcode USA, Canada, Australia postalcode town-province Brazil postalcode town (provincia) Italy postalcode town Most other European countries & ex-USSR town postalcode Israel, Thailand, Japan, Singapore town, county Ireland (except Dublin) town Hong Kong, Syria, Iraq
In the formats above, "province" stands for whatever each country calls its subdivisions (e.g. "county" in Ireland), and often is abbreviated according to local postal standards.
In some countries (like the USA and Canada) the province (state, county, etc) is necessary, in others it is omitted, and in others it is either optional, or needed in some cases but omitted in others. In some countries (Ireland) punctuation must be used in the City Line, but in others (like the USA, Canada, and Australia), it should not be used.
The postal authorities of the USA, Canada, UK, and other countries recommend that the City Line (and preferably the entire address) be written in all uppercase.
Postal codes, in countries that have them, are usually numeric, sometimes containing a space or a hyphen. Most European postal codes have an alphabetic prefix, denoting the country, separated by a hyphen (such as DK-1234 in Denmark). Canadian and UK postal codes contain mixtures of digits and letters. In most countries where the postal code is on the right, we separate it by two (2) spaces (unless it is very short, as in "Dublin 4" although, strictly speaking, that's a postal zone, not a postal code).
For the lines above the city line, each country has its own standards, which are beyond the scope of this document (consult the postal authority websties of each country for details). For the purposes of international mail, the main thing is to get the country and city lines right so the mail is sent to appropriate country and city, where the local postal system will deal with the rest of the address.
When sending mail within the USA, of course we omit the country name. For all other countries, we write the country name as the last line, all uppercase, by itself. We use country names consistently; they are listed in Appendix II. Postal codes never go on the country line (Authority: USPS National ZIP Code Directory, "International Addresses").
When sending international mail:
ABC Holding B.V. Marijkestraat 11 NL-2518 BG Den Haag The Hague NETHERLANDS
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. 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.
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 "�" to "ae" -- see section on Germany).
Write addresses with the most specific item on top (usually the person's name), proceeding to the least specific item (the City Line or the Country Line) on the bottom. This is how the USPS expects mail to be addressed, even though it is opposite of the conventions used in some countries like Russia, which does it the other way around.
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.)
The USPS lists the following general guidelines for addressing domestic business mail at THIS WEBSITE (the link worked as of 16 Jan 2003; if it doesn't work for you, search the website for "addressing" or somesuch); most (but not all) of these points apply also to international mail:
In the absence of more specific guidelines, don't put more than seven lines in an international address, nor more than 40 characters in any line. 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 offical 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.
town ST nnnnn-nnnn
where ST is the official USPS 2-letter state abbreviation from the table below with no comma preceding it, followed by the ZIP or ZIP+4. If ZIP+4 is used, the two parts of the ZIP code must be separated by a single dash (and no spaces). 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/
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 Michican 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
For more about automatic sorting of US mail, see the Kermit News article, Kermit Helps Automate Mail Delivery.
Reference:
Links:
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. 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 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-�cosse NU (1) Nunavut Nunavut ON Ontario Ontario PE Prince Edward Island �le-du-Prince-�douard QC (2) Quebec Qu�bec SK Saskatchewan Saskatchewan YT Yukon Yukon
Notes:
http://www.nunavut.com/basicfacts/english/basicfacts_1territory.html
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
YELLOW KNIFE NT X1A 2P7
TALOYOAK NU X0E 1B0
NORTH POLE NT H0H 0H0 <-- ("Ho Ho Ho")
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, 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?
Links:
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)
M�xico has states (estados) like Jalisco, Sonora, etc, which are included in the address. The state for M�xico 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 M�xico City, San Jer�nimo, etc.)
Postal codes are 5 digits. Examples:
M�xico, DF 03100 (full form) San Jer�nimo, DF 10200 (full form) Zacatenco 07000 (state unknown) Culiacan, SIN (postal code unknown) Cuernavaca, MOR 62000 (full form) Ciudad Obregon, SON 85100 (full form)
The states of M�xico and their official abbreviations are:
AGS Aguascalientes MOR Morelos BCN Baja California Norte NAY Nayarit BCS Baja California Sur NL Nuevo Le�n CAM Campeche OAX Oaxaca CHIS Chiapas PUE Puebla CHIH Chihuahua QRO Quer�taro COAH Coahuila QROO Quintana Roo COL Colima SLP San Luis Potos� 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 M�xico (Estado de) YUC Yucat�n MICH Michoac�n ZAC Zacatecas
It is important to put "Calle" for Street and "Colonia" for District (when known) in Mexican addresses, for example:
(Person's Name) Calle Ave. Castillo Chapultepec No.47 Colonia Cd.Chapultepec Cuernavaca, MOR 62380 MEXICO
("Cd" is the abbreviation for Ciudad = City)
References:
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:
01000-000 S�o 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 PB Para�ba AL Alagoas PA Par� AP Amap� PE Pernambuco AM Amazonas PI Piau� BA Bah�a RN Rio Grande do Norte CE Cear� RS Rio Grande do Sul DF Distrito Federal RJ Rio de Janeiro ES Espirito Santo RO Rond�nia GO Goi�s RR Roraima MA Maranh�o SC Santa Catarina MT Mato Grosso SE Sergipe MS Mato Grosso do Sul SP S�o Paulo MG Minas Gera�s TO Tocantins PR Paran�
References:
Sr. H�ctor Garc�a Mariz� 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 = C�digo Postal (postal code)
After this line may be the Reparto (zone) and Municipio; that is, minor divisions, for example:
Sr. Jorge P�rez Rodr�guez Calle Mart� #24, apt. 4a., e/ Coromb� y 26 de Julio Rpto. Abel Santamar�a, 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 Mart� #24, apt. 4a., esq. Coromb�
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
Note that this 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 R�o CA Ciego de Avila CH Ciudad de La Habana CG Camag�ey HA La Habana LT Las Tunas MT Matanzas HO Holgu�n VC Villa Clara GR Granma CF Cienfuegos SC Santiago de Cuba SS Sancti Sp�ritus GT Guant�namo 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.
Bahia Blanca 8000 ARGENTINA Santiago 9 CHILE Bogota COLOMBIA Nival 4 GUATEMALA Asuncion 2968 PARAGUAY Lima 34 PERU Montevideo 11000 URUGUAY Caracas 1010-A VENEZUELA
References:
Abbrev Full Name Postboxes and
Large UsersStreet Addresses ACT Australian Capital Territory 0200-0299 2600-2639 NSW New South Wales 1000-1999 2000-2599, 2640-2914 NT Northern Territory 0900-0999 0800-0899 QLD Queensland 9000-9999 4000-4999 SA South Australia 5000-5799 5800-5999 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".
References:
Customer Service Centre New Zealand Post Private Box 39100 Wellington Mail Service Centre Wellington NEW ZEALAND
Addressing guidelines for business mail are a bit unusual: Upper and lower case may be used (but the first letter of each address line must be upper case); province names, district, regions and nearby cities should not be used in the address; post codes must be three to six spaces right of the city name.
One peculiarity of NZ addresses is the use of "suburb name" in addresses in Greater Auckland, as in:
J.P. Smith 6-123 Great South Rd Owairaka Auckland 1003 NEW ZEALAND
(Owairaka is the suburb name.) Also note that "6/123" means Flat 6 at 123 Great South Road. The following address, however, is in downtown Auckland and so does not have a suburb.
NZI Life 3 Shortland St Auckland 1001 NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand has Post Office Boxes, and they also have something special called "Private Bag" and "Private Box". If a Post Office Box is used, it must be abbreviated "P O" (space after P and after O):
Mr Martin Jollys Jewellery P O Box 324 Wellington 6015 NEW ZEALAND
Private Bag / Box addresses might or might not have a Bag or Box number. When there is a number, it must not contain any spaces or punctuation (example on the right):
Rt Hon Helen Clarke John Brown Leader of the Opposition Jabid Electrical Parliament Private Bag 39990 Private Bag Wellington 6332 Wellington 6020 NEW ZEALAND NEW ZEALAND
Older addresses in large cities might show a single-digit postal zone:, e.g. "Wellington 1". This is an old form ("1" means central city, "5" denotes eastern suburbs, etc). Postal zones have been superseded by 4-digit postal codes, but might still be seen occasionally.
Rural Delivery routes, like Post Office boxes, require spaces as in the following example:
Mr C Campbell Railway Road R D 10 Palmerston North 5321 NEW ZEALAND
The last two digits of NZ postcodes denote the mode of delivery. To take Palmerston North as an example:
5301 Street Delivery
5315 P O Box
5320 Private Bag
5321 Rural Delivery
References:
Most European countries write the postal code on the left, preceded by an alphabetic country code and a dash, and then the town/city on the right. Postal code formats are as follows (n means a digit, 0-9, L means a letter):
Austria AT-nnnn Iceland IS-nnn Belgium BE-nnnn Italy I-nnnnn Cyprus CY-nnnn (1) Luxembourg LU-nnnn Czech Republic CZ-nnn nn Netherlands NL-nnnn LL Denmark DK-nnnn Norway NO-nnnn Estonia EE-nnnn Poland PL-nnn nn Faroe Islands FO-nnn (2) Portugal PT-nnnn-nnn (3) Finland FIN-nnnnn (7) Romania RO-nnnn France FR-nnnnn (6) Spain ES-nnnnn (4) Germany DE-nnnnn Sweden SE-nnn nn Greece GR-nnn nn Switzerland CH-nnnn Greenland DK-nnnn (2) Yugoslavia YU-nnnnn (5) Hungary HU-nnnn
Notes:
Receveur du bureau de poste de Saint-Pierre
BP 4330, Place du Général de Gaulle
F-97500 Saint Pierre
SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON
Quiz Question 1: What other parts of North America were controlled by Axis powers in World War II?
The country abbreviations originally used in postal codes were not ISO 3166 abbreviations, but rather "car (or road) distinguishing signs", from an annex to the 1949/68 United Nations Conventions on Road Traffic, adopted in part by the the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), applying to European countries and to some Mediterranean countries in Africa. These codes were not accepted by the Universal Postal Union as a world standard, but were widely used anyway. Since 1994, usage was supposed to migrate to ISO 3166 Alpha-2 codes, but reportedly has not proceeded to any great extent outside of Scandinavia.
Country ISO Alpha 2-Code CEPT-code Remarks Austria AT A Belgium BE B Croatia HR HR HR = Republika Hrvatska Cyprus CY ?? Denmark DK DK Estonia EE EE Finland FI FIN See Note 7 above. Was SF (Suomi Finland). France FR F Germany DE D Great Britain GB GB Not used in postal addresses Greece GR GR Hungary HU H Ireland IE IRL Not used in postal addresses Italy IT I Latvia LV LV Liechtenstein LI FL Luxembourg LU L Monaco MC MC Shares numeric codes with France Netherlands NL NL Norway NO N Poland PL PL Portugal PT P Romania RO RO Russia RU RU Serbia-Montenegro YU YU Slovak Republic SK SK Slovenia SI SI Was SLO Spain ES E Sweden SE S Switzerland CH CH CH = Confœderatio Helvetica Turkey TR TR Yugoslavia YU YU (See note 5 above)
References:
For postal authorities of European and other countries, see APPENDIX II.
I-57023 Cecina (LI) ITALY I-50016 S. Domenico di Fiesole (FI) ITALY I-20041 Agrate Brianza (MI) ITALY I-38014 Gardolo (TN) ITALY I-20064 Gorgonzola (MI) ITALY I-20010 San Pietro All'Olmo (MI) ITALY
The Provincia notation is not actually needed for delivery (which is based on postal code) but is commonly used nevertheless so readers of an address can have an idea of the location. Also note that Province and Regioni are not the same. For example, in:
GE Fanuc Automation Italia S.r.l Largo Brugnatelli - Angolo Via Volta I-20090 BUCCINASCO (MI) ITALY
the town of Buccinasco is near Milano, in the Provincia of Milano and the Regione of Lombardia. Regioni are not used in postal addresses. Here's a table of Province:
Agrigento AG Genoa GE Potenza PZ Alessandria AL Gorizia GO Prato PO Ancona AN Grosseto GR Ragusa RG Aosta AO Imperia IM Ravenna RA Arezzo AR Isernia IS Reggio di Calabria RC Ascoli Piceno AP L'Aquila AQ Reggio nell'Emilia RE Asti AT La Spezia SP Rieti RI Avellino AV Latina LT Rimini RN Bari BA Lecce LE Rome RM Belluno BL Lecco LC Rovigo RO Benevento BN Livorno LI Salerno SA Bergamo BG Lodi LO Sassari SS Biella BI Lucca LU Savona SV Bologna BO Macerata MC Siena SI Bolzano BZ Mantua MN Sondrio SO Brescia BS Massa-Carrara MS Syracuse SR Brindisi BR Matera MT Taranto TA Cagliari CA Messina ME Teramo TE Caltanissetta CL Milan MI Terni TR Campobasso CB Modena MO Trapani TP Caserta CE Naples NA Trento TN Catania CT Novara NO Treviso TV Catanzaro CZ Nuoro NU Trieste TS Chieti CH Oristano OR Turin TO Como CO Padua PD Udine UD Cosenza CS Palermo PA Varese VA Cremona CR Parma PR Venice VE Crotone KR Pavia PV Verbano-Cusio-Ossola VB Cuneo CN Perugia PG Vercelli VC Enna EN Pesaro e Urbino PS Verona VR Ferrara FE Pescara PE Vibo Valentia VV Florence FI Piacenza PC Vicenza VI Foggia FG Pisa PI Viterbo VT Forli-Cesena FO Pistoia PT Frosinone FR Pordenone PN
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).
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, 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.)
References:
NL-3514 BN Utrecht NETHERLANDS NL-3563 AW Utrecht NETHERLANDS NL-6500 HB Nijmegen NETHERLANDS NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam NETHERLANDS NL-3000 DR Rotterdam NETHERLANDS
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 South Holland Zuid-Holland ZH Rotterdam, Leiden, Dordrecht, the Hague Utrecht Utrecht UT Zeeland Zeeland ZLD
Diversion: CLICK HERE to read about Dutch enclaves in Belgium, and Belgian enclaves in the Netherlands, Dutch enclaves inside Belgian enclaves, etc etc.
References:
Alex Bochannek adds, "As part of the 1993 PLZ conversion, the trailing postal district number was dropped. For example, 1000 Berlin 20 covered part of the Berlin district of Spandau. After the 1993 conversion a finer granularity was possible and 13591 Berlin was assigned to an even smaller part of Spandau.
"Prior to conversion, trailing zeroes in the postal code were commonly omitted, so people would often write 1 Berlin 20 for 1000 Berlin 20. This was more obvious with large cities that had three zeroes, but even smaller cities with only one trailing zero could have that digit dropped. So you could say that while the postal code had four digits, they were written as one to four digits.
"While the first German postal codes date from 1943, the 4-digit codes in West Germany were introduced on March 23, 1962. East Germany followed suit soon thereafter, but did not use postal district numbers after the city name, but instead incorporated them into the postal code. Therefore, there was a 1000 Berlin in the west and 1XXX numbers for the eastern parts of Berlin.
"The postal district numbers (at least in the big cities that actually used them) had a certain sociopolitical connotation. In Berlin the famed (notorious?) district Kreuzberg used to also be known as SO36 (S�d-Ost [South East] 36) after their old postal district. I think the SO part actually predated the numbering and I suspect that it was probably used in parallel for a while, possibly to indicate mail distribution centers. But that is pretty much speculation on my part since I never actually saw the letter designation used on contemporary mail - only the digits."
You can look up German postal codes here:
http://www.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/dienste/plz.html
or in Frank's copy of the Deutsche Bundespost Postleitzahlenbuch ( onsite only :-)
Also note the following transliteration rules for German, to be used in cases where you can't print the special German characters:
Vowel with Umlaut (like �) => Vowel followed by "e" (like ae), e.g. K�ln => Koeln German sharp s (�) => ss (e.g. Stra�e [street] => Strasse)
Before the end of the Second World War, parts of what are now the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and other countries were German. Old addresses referring to German town names such as Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland), Danzig (now Gdansk in Poland), Pre�burg (now Bratislava in Slovakia), Budweis (now České Budějovice in the Czech Republic), Carlsbad (now Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic), Königsberg (now Kaliningrad in Russia), etc, obviously must be adjusted.
In the postal oddities department, Ken Westmoreland reports on Germany's enclave in Switzerland: "Mail can be sent via Germany to D-78266 Büsingen, or via Switzerland to CH-8238 Büsingen:
http://www.borderlandtv.com/photos_1.html
"This must be the only place in the world that is part of two countries' postcode systems. Interestingly, while France and Spain operate postal services side by side in Andorra, neither have postcodes for the Principality." (Also see the section on Italy for more countries or pieces of countries inside of other countries).
Reference:
Links:
CZ 1?? ?? CZ 3?? ?? CZ 6?? ?? SK 9?? ?? CZ 2?? ?? CZ 4?? ?? CZ 7?? ?? SK 0?? ?? CZ 2?? ?? CZ 5?? ?? SK 8?? ??
Prague and some of the other Czech cities also put district numbers after the city name. Examples:
CZ-602 00 Brno CZECH REPUBLIC CZ-370 06 České Budějovice CZECH REPUBLIC CZ-547 01 Nachod CZECH REPUBLIC CZ-130 00 Prague 3 CZECH REPUBLIC CZ-763 14 Zlin 12 CZECH REPUBLIC SK-8?? ?? Bratislava SLOVAK REPUBLIC
References:
Country Code Some cities or towns in the new country Bosnia-Herzegovina BA Sarajevo, Tuzla Croatia HR Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, Medari Macedonia MK Skopje Serbia-Montenegro YU Belgrade, Novi Sad (Serbia); Kotor (Montenegro) Pristina (Kosovo). Slovenia SI Ljubljana, Novo Mesto, Litija, Slovenj Gradec
"Bosnia and Herzegovina" sounds like two countries but really is one, since the war in Bosnia, with three parts: a Serbian part (Republika Srpska), a Croation part, and a Muslim part. It has 5-digit postal codes:
BA-71000 Sarajevo BOSNIA-HERZOGOVINA
The Repupblics of Serbia and Montenegro together form a "super-country" which they call, controversially, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (or at least that's what they called it until recently), and which the USPS calls SERBIA-MONTENEGRO. Serbia, in turn, contains a Muslim part called Kosovo, but it is not addressed separately. As far as I know, the YU postal-code prefix is still used:
YU-11000 Belgrade SERBIA-MONTENEGRO
Slovenia uses the SI prefix (although SLO has also been seen):
SI-61000 Ljubljana SLOVENIA
Croatia uses the HR (Hrvatska) prefix:
HR-10000 Zagreb CROATIA HR-21001 Split CROATIA HR-55432 Medari CROATIA
I don't know about the others.
Also, be aware that Macedonia is another controversial name, claimed also by Greece. And note that usage of Cyrillic versus Latin alphabet is in flux. Croatian in written with Latin letters; Serbian can be written with Cryillic or Latin. Macedonian was written in Cyrillic; I'm not sure if it still is.
References:
ARMENIA KAZAKHSTAN RUSSIA AZERBAIJAN KYRGYZSTAN TAJIKISTAN BELARUS LATVIA TURKMENISTAN ESTONIA LITHUANIA UKRAINE GEORGIA MOLDOVA UZBEKISTAN
These are the preferred names. See Appendix II.
Most of these countries write addresses backwards from how we write them, e.g. with country name on top, the city line as the second line, the street line next, and finally the person. When addressing mail to these countries, write addresses in the normal USA order, because the USPS looks at the bottom of the address, not the top, for the city line and country name.
A piece of Russia, the Kaliningradskaya Oblast', lies on the Baltic coast, about 500km west of "contiguous Russia", with Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus in between, and sharing a border with Poland. The city of Kaliningrad is the former Königsberg, once capital of East Prussia and later part of Germany, and was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1945, becoming the USSR's only Baltic port. It remains Russia's only Baltic port. Government addresses are listed as:
Person's name City Hall Pl. Pobedy 1 RU-236 040 Kaliningrad RUSSIA
However, since Kaliningrad is cut off from the rest of Russia, it is not clear to me how the mail is delivered, given the new difficulties with visas, access, etc.
Another piece of Russia, the villages of Sankova and Medvezhe, lies inside Belarus.
Links:
Although the Cyrillic alphabet was used throughout most of the Soviet Union, some of the former Soviet republics are converting to Roman or Arabic script. Georgia and Armenia each have their own unique script.
The USPS IMM lists only the short names, CHINA and TAIWAN. It does not recognize Peoples Republic or Republic as part of the country name. This appears to be a general rule (which is proved by several exceptions).
The Peoples Republic of China has provinces like Shanxi, and address are written like this:
Wuhan, Hubei CHINA (postal code unknown) Taiyuan, Shanxi CHINA (ditto) Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027 CHINA (full address line) Beijing 100081 CHINA (big city) Shanghai 200052 CHINA (ditto)
Republic of China addresses go like this:
Taipei 10636 TAIWAN Hsin-Chu 31015 TAIWAN
The provinces of Peoples China include:
Anhui Henan Jilin Sichuan Fujian Hubei Liaoning Xingjiang Uygur Guangdong Hunan Qinghai Xizang Guanxi Zhuangzu Jiangsu Shandong Yunnan Guizhou Jiangxi Shanxi Zhejiang
Note that there has been a big "spelling reform" (for Romanization of Chinese names) in Peoples China but not in the ROC. The provinces listed above are in the new spelling. Some examples:
Old: Peking New: Beijing
Szechuan Sichuan
Mao Tse Tung Mao Zedong
For postal purposes, Tibet is a province of China called Xizang, but this is a very touchy political issue.
The proper addressing for Hong Kong after July 1, 1997, is not yet known, but prior addresses should still work, e.g.:
(Name) (Company) 10/F Tower One, Cheung Sha Wan Plaza Kowloon HONG KONG
Hong Kong is still listed in the USPS IMM, and in fact (as of January 2003) Hong Kong Post still lists its own address as:
HongkongPost Headquarters 2 Connaught Place Central HONG KONG
References:
Person's Name Dept of Info Systems and Computer Science National University of Singapore Lower Kent Ridge Road SINGAPORE 119081
But the USPS does not want postal codes on the country line, so instead we pretend that Singapore is the city name as well as the country name:
Lower Kent Ridge Road Singapore 119081 SINGAPORE
Singapore postal codes were changed from 4 to 6 digits in 1995. All the street signs also had to be changed, since they had 4-digit postcodes on them. Under the new system, each building in Singapore has its own unique postcode.
References:
HYDERABAD 500 032 BANGALORE 560 012
India Post recommends using BLOCK CAPITAL letters for the postal town. The state names are not used. According to Yateendra Joshi of New Delhi, "State names are totally redundant and are not required in the address at all. The post code and the delivery post office go together, as in Hyderabad 500 032 or Bangalore 560 012. Nothing but a space, ideally a dash, should come between the two. If you need to specify the state, it should come after the postal code, as in Hyderabad 500 032 Andhra Pradesh (or AP)." This was explained in more detail at the Maharashtra Postal Circle site (now vanished), which showed contradictory examples such as these:
Of course when addressing mail to India from the USA, write INDIA as the final line. For the record, India has the following states (postal abbreviation shown):
AP Andhra Pradesh MNP Manipur AR Arunachal Pradesh MEG Meghalaya AS Assam MIZ Mizoram BR Bihar NLD Nagaland ?? Chhattisgarh GOA Goa OR Orissa GUJ Gujarat PU Punjab HR Haryana RAJ Rajasthan HP Himachal Pradesh SKM Sikkim JK Jammu and Kashmir TN Tamil Nadu ?? Jharkhand KRN Karnataka TRP Tripura KER Kerala ?? Uttaranchal MP Madhya Pradesh UP Uttar Pradesh MAH Maharashtra WB West Bengal
(the blank spots are because the number of Indian states increased from 25 to 28; the new ones are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Uttaranchal; I'll fix the formatting later) plus the following union territories:
AN Andaman and Nicobar Islands CHD Chandigarh DNH Dadra and Nagar Haveli DD Daman and Diu DEL Delhi LKP Lakshadweep PDY Pondicherry
References:
27000 Mostaganem ALGERIA 2 0142 Naishi KENYA
Postal code after the city:
Jerusalem 95501 ISRAEL Kingston 10 JAMAICA Tokyo 107 JAPAN Amman 844088 JORDAN Seoul 134-701 KOREA Besiktas-Istanbul 80700 TURKEY Bangkok 10400 THAILAND East Rand 1462 SOUTH AFRICA Garki Abuja 900001 NIGERIA (*) Lusaka 10101 ZAMBIA Valletta VLT 06 MALTA Tehran nnnnn nnnnn IRAN (**)
No postal code (as far as I can tell):
Mosul IRAQ Aleppo City SYRIA Maputo MOZAMBIQUE Ha Noi VIETNAM Harare ZIMBABWE
Nigeria Postal Service PMB 12537 Garki Abuja 900001 FCT NIGERIA
A significant minority of Nigerian citizens are now quoting their postcode as part of their address. [But the Web link to NIPOST seems to be defunct, even though it is still listed on the Nigerian Government Directory].
Quiz Question 2: If a person from Nigeria is a Nigerian, then what do we call someone from Niger?
King George, You Have Mail!
Where to find the most confusing addresses on earth...
What should be the name of this section? THE UNITED KINGDOM AND IRELAND (as it was once labeled), while technically correct if IRELAND is taken as the name of the country and not the island, can easily be misconstrued. THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND would not be correct since there is no country whose name is REPUBLIC OF IRELAND. THE UNITED KINGDOM AND ÉIRE is correct (two non-overlapping countries) but it contains a mixture of languages. Hence BRITAIN AND IRELAND (two non-overlapping islands) -- perhaps not quite adequate either since it might not encompass the various associated outlying islands.
Let's begin by reviewing the terminology:
town, county postalcode ENGLAND
But more recently:
"The UK Post Office no longer uses county names in postal addresses. Since local councils have been mucked about with a lot since the mid 1970s it can be very confusing when people still try to use such names. UK postal addresses are at http://pol.royalmail.com" (Peter Reynolds, 30 Jan 2002), meaning much of the following material is dated, yet worth keeping for historical reasons and for decoding "old" addresses.
England is divided into counties, like Berkshire, etc, similar (in some ways but not others) to our states. These are often abbreviated, like "Berks" for Berkshire, "Leics" for "Leicestershire", "Bucks" for Buckinghamshire, and are listed in Appendix I. When a county is included in a postal address, it refers to the post town, and not necessarily to the point of delivery.
English addresses tend to have lots of parts that we are not used to seeing, like:
Person's Name Eden Cottage May's Green, Harpsden Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 4AJ ENGLAND
Eden Cottage (Name of House) is in May's Green, which is a Hamlet (or in Royal Mail terminology, a Double Dependent Locality Name: a collection of 5-20 houses) in the Village of Harpsden, which is served by the Postal Town, Henley, which is on the river Thames, in the County of Oxfordshire (Appendix I), and the Post Code is RG9 4AJ. The postal town should be written in uppercase and, as noted above, current practice seems to favor omitting the county, since counties are a moving target anyway. (It's difficult for Americans to comprehend the constant reshuffling of British counties, given the immutability of our own states, not to mention the fanatical cultural nationalism surrounding statehood :-) Thus the previous address might be written au courant as:
Person's Name EDEN COTTAGE MAY'S GREEN, HARPSDEN HENLEY-ON-THAMES RG9 4AJ ENGLAND
All sorts of whimsy might be encountered in the parts of the address above the postal town, like:
Spofforths, Snaggley Lane, Popsworth Green, near Scumble, Worcs, WN3 7JP
According to the foregoing taxonomy, it probably OK to translate this to:
SPOFFORTHS SNAGGLEY LANE, POPSWORTH GREEN SCUMBLE WN3 7JP
When an English address is hopeslessly confusing, most of the middle parts can usually be omitted. For residential addresses it is reportedly sufficient to include only the person's name, house name and/or number, and postal code (but don't do this -- if all else fails, visit the website listed below).
Some towns have the same name as their enclosing county, or are so big or famous that everybody knows where they are, and so, even prior to counties going out of style, were written without a county:
LONDON postal-code OXFORD postal-code CAMBRIDGE postal-code (the one in Cambridgeshire)
England and the other countries of the UK (and several other places outside the UK) all share the same postal code system. A UK-style postal code follows these patterns (N = Digit, L = Letter):
LN NLL LLN NLL LNN NLL LLNN NLL LLNL NLL
Note that all start with a letter, have at least one number in the first part, and all end with a space and then NLL. Besides these, there is one oddity:
GIR 0AA
(i.e. LLL NLL) for a national bank conceived in the 1960s/1970s called GiroBank. Well, maybe two:
Father Christmas Reindeerland SAN TA1
Here is your secret decoder ring for UK postal codes, courtesy of "George D":
There are a couple of exceptions worth mentioning. London postal codes have starting letters which use the points of the compass (eg N4 6BQ for an address in the north of the city or SW1 4AB for one in the south-west). Also, what the post office calls large users have their own postcodes - mainly organisations which get 50+ items of mail per day - although these look like normal postcodes. (end quote)
Mark Brader adds, "There are 8 of these, but not the eight 45-degree points. S and NE are not used (and those codes were given to Sheffield and Newcastle instead); EC and WC (east/west central) are used."
Ben Watson adds, "The reason London postcodes 'areas' are based on points of the compass is not because the city is so large, but because postally, London has been divided this way for well over a hundred years. Around London, you can see that some of the very old street name signs have NW or whatever after or below the street name (modern London street signs state the full postal district - eg. NW1)."
Mark Brader observes that "the system has been extended twice -- from the original NW to NW1 in the first half of the 20th century, then to NW1 1AB in the second half as your other submitters have mentioned. Some of the street signs with 'NW1' would date from before there were postal codes."
Ben Watson continues, "As an aside, the numbering of districts within a postal area (at least in London) looks illogical, as NW1 may not be adjacent to NW2. However, there some sort of logic behind it! The district of the main office in an area is always 1, then the rest of the numbers were assigned sequentially to an alphabetically ordered list of the rest of the districts in the area..
"Related to this, another assumption of mine is that the reason the UK national postcode system is somewhat weird is that when they introduced postcodes across the country in the sixties, they basically adopted the London system as-is (or as-was) and expanded it across rest of the country."
Which is confirmed by Hugh Dunne: "When British postal codes were first introduced, they only covered London and were of the form W1, SE9, etc -- but this was in the 1800s. Thus 'London W1', although seen in literature, is archaic and should not be encountered in modern addresses."
Mark Brader states, however, that "This is wrong. There were no numbers back then. The term for notations like 'London NW1' and 'New York 22', where the coded part is meaningful only with respect to the particular city, is 'postal zone', not 'postal code'. In some places when postal codes were introduced they were designed to incorporate the existing postal zones, such as London. I believe some other UK cities had numbered postal zones and these became the numerical part of the postal code, e.g. Birmingham 2 would now have B2 as the first part of all its codes, but this is partly only my conjecture. Similarly, I believe New York 22, N.Y. became NEW YORK NY 10022; I don't know about other US cities with postal zones. In Canada, all postal zones were obsoleted when postal codes came into use."
Traditional English addressing (i.e. before about 2001, when counties were included in the address):
London WC2R 1JP ENGLAND (no need for a county) Manchester M27 2OO ENGLAND (no need for a county) Oxford OX2 7DE ENGLAND (no need for a county) Colchester, Essex CO4 3SQ ENGLAND (full form) Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF ENGLAND (full form) Coventry, West Midlands CV6 5RW ENGLAND (full form) Hayle, Cornwall TR27 4LN ENGLAND (full form) Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 1PW ENGLAND (full form) Harpenden, Herts AL5 1PW ENGLAND (abbreviated) Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG4 3AJ ENGLAND (full form) Nottingham, Notts NG4 3AJ ENGLAND (abbreviated)
Updated examples, in which the Postal Town is uppercase and the County is omitted:
LONDON WC2R 1JP ENGLAND MANCHESTER M27 2OO ENGLAND OXFORD OX2 7DE ENGLAND COLCHESTER CO4 3SQ ENGLAND CANTERBURY CT2 7NF ENGLAND COVENTRY CV6 5RW ENGLAND HAYLE TR27 4LN ENGLAND HARPENDEN AL5 1PW ENGLAND NOTTINGHAM NG4 3AJ ENGLAND
The British armed forces have their own mail delivery system and addressing conventions (British Forces Post Office), just as the US armed forces do (APO, FPO). See the links below.
Links:
More Links:
Quiz Question 3: What is the Flag of England?
According to Finlay Smith, "Scottish postal codes are based on postal towns: EH (Edinburgh) G (Glasgow) IV (Inverness) AB (Aberdeen) PH (Perth) PA (Paisley) KW (Kirkwall) DG (Dumfries) TD (Tweeddale) FK (Falkirk) and HS (Harris), which cover the whole of Scotland except a small part near the border which has a CA (Carlisle) postcode which annoys the locals (especially when they shut the local sorting office and their mail started to be franked with a Carlisle frank). These regions can cover vast areas and are not necessarily close to the named town." (Scotland also includes the Outer Hebrides, which also have UK postal codes.)
Ken Westmoreland adds, "Berwick-upon-Tweed in England is covered by the Scottish postcode area TD, much to the annoyance of locals there."
Although Scotland and Wales have counties just like England does (e.g. Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire, West Lothian, etc, in Scotland), we don't necessarily write them. They are not essential for addressing, and in Scotland especially, using a county name might do more harm than good, since there are old and new county names and boundaries and much confusion about which town is in which county. From Chris Cooke in Scotland:
"The big thing to realise about counties is that in 1974, most English and Welsh counties were changed, and Scottish and Northern Irish counties were abolished completely. The Northern Ireland counties were later reinstated I think, but Scotland remained divided into "regions" (yeuch) until 1996, when they were all abolished and the counties reinstated - but with different boundaries to the pre-1974 ones! England kept its counties throughout, but in 1974 and 1987 (?) and 1996 there were quite a few changes."
As to Wales, Alan Perry reports, "Your information on Wales needs to be updated. There was yet another change to county names in Wales [in 1994]; places like Gwynedd and South Glamorgan etc no longer exist! The former 8 counties have been replaced by 22 county borough councils (and a few newly-named county councils)" (see Appendix I). Addressing conventions from the Royal Mail Postal Address Book for Wales indicates addresses should be:
name of street name of town name of county borough council post code
name of street name of town name of county council post code
Alan says, "Most folk use the full address for a county borough but often leave out the county council name in the second case. I don't know why."
Examples for Scotland and Wales:
ABERDEEN AB1 1HG SCOTLAND EDINBURGH EH8 9AG SCOTLAND GLASGOW G2 7AD SCOTLAND DUNDEE DD5 1NY SCOTLAND ABERYSTWYTH SY23 3HH WALES CARDIFF CF23 6DS WALES
Quiz Question 4: Who is the queen of Scotland?
According to IMM, the country names are:
GUERNSEY (or JERSEY, SARK, etc) CHANNEL ISLANDS
and:
ISLE OF MAN
Ken Westmoreland reports: The Channel Islands and Isle of Man didn't have their own postal administrations until the late 1960s, when the UK let them set up their own ones. Previously they were covered by the UK's GPO, just as Puerto Rico, USVI, etc, are still covered by the USPS. Guernsey now has blue pillar boxes, the only British territory I know that does. Hence they didn't become part of the UK postcode system until the early 1990s. Channel Islands and Isle of Man postcodes are as follows:
JE Jersey GY Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark IM Isle of Man
Here is a sample Isle of Man address:
Communications Commission Winchester Court, Second Avenue, ONCHAN IM9 5DS ISLE OF MAN
More info on the Crown Dependencies:
http://www.gov.je (Jersey Government) http://www.jerseypost.com/home.html (Jersey Post) http://www.gov.gg (Guernsey Government) http://www.guernseytouristboard.com/ (Guernsey Tourist Board) http://www.guernseypost.com/ (Guernsey Post) http://www.gov.im (Isle of Man Government) http://www.isle-of-man.com/ (Isle of Man Tourism) http://www.iompostoffice.com/ (Isle of Man Post)
Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce 1 Gibraltar Plaza P.O. Box 758 Imossi House 1/5 Irish Town GIBRALTAR
The Falklands are also claimed by Argentina, who call them the Malvinas; a war was fought over these islands in 1982. About 2200 people live there plus lots of penguins. Gibraltar is claimed by Spain and negotiations are presently underway as to its future.
Ken Westmoreland says, "Bermuda has its own postcode system, totally separate from the UK. Its postcodes are alphanumeric like British ones (Hamilton HM12), and mail is collected from red pillar boxes, just like the UK, which is really quaint for American tourists, just like having to drive on the left. Cheer up, at least Bermudians watch American TV networks and use the greenback."
"Bermuda street and PO Box addresses are as follows:
56 Church Street Hamilton HM 12 BERMUDA PO Box HM 100 Hamilton HM AX BERMUDA
"The UK also has British Forces Post Office (BFPO) numbers. Gibraltar is BFPO 52, but obviously unless you know anyone in HM Forces, that's academic."
Links:
http://www.gibraltar.gi/ (Gibraltar) http://www.falklands-malvinas.com/ (Falklands) http://www.bermudapostoffice.com/postcodes.htm (Bermuda)
Quiz Question 5: Which countries have a picture of the Queen on their money?
Northern Ireland has six counties. County names can be included, as in the country of Ireland (next section), in which case the word "County" (abbreviated "Co.") appears before the county name in the address. The county name is optional, however; usually just the postal town and postal code are sufficient, provided the postal code is on the city line.
Even though Northern Ireland is part of the UK, you should write its name as if it were its own country, rather than writing UNITED KINGDOM, to avoid offending those who oppose its current status (NORTHERN IRELAND can be offensive too, but this is the designation used in the USPS International Mail Manual so at least it gets US mail delivered to the right part of the island).
Examples:
Belfast BT6 9HQ NORTHERN IRELAND (No county needed) Craigavon, Co. Armagh BT67 0EY NORTHERN IRELAND (full form)
The counties of Northern Ireland are Down, Antrim, Armagh, Londonderry, Tyrone and Fermanagh (6) plus Belfast as a County Borough. Derry -- the city -- is the principal town in Co. Londonderry but until recently it was also called Londonderry. Since the removal of "London" is a political issue an apolitical vernacular compromise name is now Stroke City (as in Derry / Londonderry).
Rural townland names predate modern postal thinking. In Fermanagh for many years the Council refused to allocate roadnames or postcodes and insisted in retaining these traditional names. Naturally these townlands also had little relationship to the road layout, and houses had no actual numbers -- the address was like:
Mr William Jones Ballysomething (Bally meaning Townland of....) Kesh (the nearest main village) Co. Fermanagh
This approach supposes that the postman knows the people rather than their address, which would have been the case in low population rural areas until the 1950's.
By the way, contrary to popular belief, "Ulster" is not a proper name for Northern Ireland; it is a region (formerly a kingdom) containing all of Northern Ireland, plus Counties Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan in Ireland (next section).
IRELAND
According to the Irish constitution, "The name of the state shall be �ire or, in the English Language, Ireland" (another form is �irinn). We use the English-language name, as we do for all other countries, so our post office will recognize it (in fact, the USPS IMM lists EIRE as an alternative name, and EIRE appears on Irish postmarks). Note that there is no country called the Republic of Ireland (this name was once used, but was abolished long ago; now it is the name of a football team). I have received every assurance that mail addressed to IRELAND is always delivered, even if it should somehow arrive at London or Belfast, rather than Dublin or Cobh.
Addresses in Ireland are similar to those in Northern Ireland, except that Ireland has no postal codes (but Dublin has postal zones). Thus an Irish address looks like:
town, Co. name-of-county
Or for Dublin:
Dublin zone
Dublin postal zones are numbers 1-24, plus a special one, "6W". Examples:
Galway IRELAND (no county needed) Dublin 4 IRELAND (no county needed) Dublin 6W IRELAND (no county needed) Athlone, Co. Westmeath IRELAND (full form) Bandon, Co. Cork IRELAND (full form) Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny IRELAND (full form) Cobh, Co. Cork IRELAND (full form) Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin IRELAND (full form) Monivea, Co. Galway IRELAND (full form) Shannon Airport, Co. Clare IRELAND (full form) Tipperary Town IRELAND (*)
(*) Tipperary Town means "Tipperary, County Tipperary".
The 26 counties of Ireland are:
Carlow Galway Limerick Offaly Wexford Cavan Kerry Longford Roscommon Wicklow Clare Kildare Louth Sligo Cork Kilkenny Mayo Tipperary Donegal Laois Meath Waterford Dublin Leitrim Monaghan Westmeath
Reference: http://www.anpost.ie/
In England, county names are not prefixed by the word "county" (as they are in Ireland), with one exception: County Durham, to distinguish the county from the city of the same name. The "shire" suffix is also used for this purpose, e.g. to distinguish the city of Nottingham from the county of Nottinghamshire, but in some cases the suffix is optional, e.g. Devon[shire].
Name Abbreviation Remarks (Avon) Defunct as of 1 Apr 96 => Somerset, Glos, and Bristol Bedfordshire Beds Berkshire Berks Bristol Buckinghamshire Bucks Cambridgeshire Cambs Cheshire (Cleveland) Cleve Defunct 1 Apr 96 => Durham and North Yorkshire Cornwall County Durham Cumbria Derbyshire Derbys Devon Or Devonshire Dorset East Riding of Yorkshire East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Glos Greater Manchester Hampshire Hants (1) Hereford & Worcester Split into Hereford and Worcestershire 1 Apr 1998 Hertfordshire Herts (Humberside) Defunct 1 Apr 96 => Lincolnshire or East Riding of Yorkshire (Huntingtonshire) Hunts Defunct => Huntingdonshire and Peterborough => Cambridgeshire Isle of Wight Kent Lancashire Lancs Leicestershire Leics Lincolnshire Lincs Lincolnshire is the former [South] Humberside London Merseyside Middlesex Middx Defunct government unit still used for postal addresses Norfolk Northamptonshire Northants Northumberland Northumb North Yorkshire N. Yorks Nottinghamshire Notts Oxfordshire Oxon (2) Shropshire Salop (3) Somerset South Yorkshire S. Yorks Staffordshire Staffs Suffolk Surrey (Sussex) Now East Sussex, West Sussex Tyne & Wear Warwickshire Warks West Midlands West Sussex West Yorkshire W. Yorks Wiltshire Wilts (Yorkshire) Yorks => Humberside, North Yorks, Cleve, Durham, South Yorks, Cumbria, ...
Former Counties
(prior to 1994)Current Counties New County Boroughs
(since 1994)Clwyd Denbighshire
FlintshireWrexham
Aberconwy and ColwynDyfed Ceredigion (was Cardiganshire)
Carmarthenshire (Carms)
Pembrokeshire (Pembs)Gwent Monmouthshire Blaenau Gwent
Newport
TorfaenGwynedd Anglesey
Caernarfonshire and MerionethshireMid Glamorgan Bridgend
Caerphilly
Merthyr Tydfil
Rhondda, Cynon, TaffPowys Powys South Glamorgan Cardiff The Vale of Glamorgan West Glamorgan Swansea Neath and Port Talbot
Liam McGee (formerly of Cardigan, in the county of Ceredigion) says, "Dyfed was indeed split in 1994 into the counties of Carmarthenshire (Carms), Pembrokeshire (Pembs) and Cardiganshire (no abbreviation, strangely). But the name 'Cardiganshire' lasted only a month or two (long enough to reprint all the letterheads), before being changed to 'Ceredigion', which is the current county name. Derived from the old Welsh name from the area, derived from the name 'Caradoc' from the word 'caredig' (caring).
"Non-Welsh-speakers often lose their nerve when addressing letters to Welsh destinations, believing that they have mis-spelled the address, especially when they include words like 'Cnwc', 'Bwlch' or, even better, 'Eglwyswrw'. In Welsh, 'w' or 'y' are regarded as perfectly acceptable vowels, and addresses with them in place of more familiar 'a's, 'e's and so on, are indeed correct." (Of course 'y' can be a vowel in English too.)
County Code Status, Alternative Name, etc. Aberdeenshire ABD Angus ANS Forfarshire Argyllshire ARL Ayrshire AYR Banffshire BAN Berwickshire BEW Borders BOR Bute BUT Buteshire Caithness CAI Central CEN Clackmannanshire CLK Dumfries-shire DFS Dumfries and Galloway DGY Dunbartonshire DNB Dumbartonshire East Lothian ELN Fife FIF Kingdom of Fife (one of the 7 Pictish kingdoms) Grampian GMP Highland HLD Inverness-shire INV Kincardine KCD Kinross KRS Kinross-shire Kirkcudbrightshire KKD Lanarkshire LKS Lothian LTN Midlothian MLN Morayshire MOR Nairn NAI Nairnshire Orkney OKI Orkney Islands Peebles-shire PEE Perth PER Perthshire Renfrewshire RFW Ross and Cromarty ROC Roxburghshire ROX Selkirkshire SEL Shetland SHI Shetland Islands Strathclyde STD Stirlingshire STI Sutherland SUT Sutherlandshire Tayside TAY West Lothian WLN Western Isles WIS Wigtownshire WIG
Name to Use ISO Other or Old Names (don't use, even if correct) AFGHANISTAN AF Islamic State of Afghanistan ALBANIA AL Shqiperia, Republika e Shqiperise, Republic of Albania ALDERNEY -- Channel Islands, Address through Guernsey ALGERIA DZ People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Al Jaza'ir AMERICAN SAMOA AS (Use USA address) (Also see Samoa) ANDORRA AD Principality of Andorra, Principat d'Andorra ANGOLA AO Republic of Angola, Republica de Angola ANGUILLA AI ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA AG ARGENTINA AR Argentine Republic, República Argentina ARMENIA AM Armenian SSR ARUBA AW ASCENSION AC AUSTRALIA AU Commonwealth of Australia, Oz AUSTRIA AT (Republik) �sterreich (Oesterreich), Republic of Austria AZERBAIJAN AZ Azerbaijani SSR BAHAMAS BS The Bahamas BAHRAIN BH State of Bahrain, Dawlat al Bahrayn, Al Bahrayn BANGLADESH BD People's Republic of Bangladesh, East Pakistan BARBADOS BB BELARUS BY Belorussia, B{i,y}elorus(sia), Belorussian SSR, White Russia BELGIUM BE (Koninkrijk) België, (Royaume de) Belgique, Kingdom of Belgium BELIZE BZ British Honduras BENIN BJ Dahomey, Republic of Benin, R�publique du Benin BERMUDA BM BHUTAN BT Kingdom of Bhutan BOLIVIA BO Republica de Bolivia, Republic of Bolivia BOSNIA-HERZOGOVINA BA (Part of former Yugoslavia) BOTSWANA BW Botswanaland, Republic of Botswana, Bechuanaland BRAZIL BR (Republica Federativa do) Brasil, Federative Republic of Brazil BRUNEI DARRUSALAM BN Brunei, Negara Brunei Darussalam BULGARIA BG Republic of Bulgaria, Peoples Republic of Bulgaria BURKINA FASO BF Upper Volta BURUNDI BI Republic of Burundi, Republika y'u Burundi CAMBODIA KH Kampuchea, Khmer Republic CAMEROON CM Republic of Cameroon, French Cameroon CANADA CA Dominion of Canada CAPE VERDE CV (Republica de) Cabo Verde, Republic of Cape Verde CAYMAN ISLANDS KY CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC CF R�publique Centrafricaine, Ubangi-Shari, Central African Empire CHAD TD Republic of Chad, (R�publique du) Tchad CHILE CL República de Chile CHINA CN Peoples Republic of China, Mainland China COLOMBIA CO República de Columbia, Republic of Columbia COMOROS KM Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, R�publique Federale Islamique des Comores CONGO -- See: Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo COSTA RICA CR Républica de Costa Rica, Republic of Costa Rica C�TE D'IVOIRE CI République de Côte d'Ivoire, Ivory Coast (1) CROATIA HR Republika Hrvatska, part of former Yugoslavia CUBA CU Rep�blica de Cuba, Republic of Cuba CURACAO AN Cura��o, Netherlands Antilles CYPRUS CY Republic of Cyprus, Greek Cyprus (Mail to northern Cyprus must go through Turkey) CZECH REPUBLIC CZ Česko, Česka Republika, Czechia, Czech part of Former Czechoslovakia DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO CD R�publique Democratique du Congo, DROC, Congo/Kinshasa, Zaire, Belgian Congo, Congo/Leopoldville DENMARK DK Danmark DJIBOUTI DJ Territory of the Afars and the Issars, French Somaliland DOMINICA DM Commonwealth of Dominica DOMINICAN REPUBLIC DO República Dominicana, Quisqeyana ECUADOR EC República del Ecuador, Republic of Ecuador EAST TIMOR TL (Democratic Republic of) Timor-Leste, Timor Lorosae, Portuguese Timor EGYPT EG Arab Republic of Egypt, Misr, Jumhuriyat Misr al-Arabiyah, United Arab Republic EL SALVADOR SV República de El Salvador, Republic of El Salvador ENGLAND UK United Kingdom, Great Britain, Britain, UK EQUATORIAL GUINEA GQ (República de) Guinea Ecuatorial, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Spanish Guinea ERITREA ER State of Eritrea, (Hagere) Ertra ESTONIA EE Eesti, Estonian SSR ETHIOPIA ET Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia FALKLAND ISLANDS FK Malvinas FAROE ISLANDS FO Faeroe Islands, F�roya FIJI FJ French Polynesia FINLAND FI Republic of Finland, Suomen Tasavalta, Suomi FRANCE FR Républic Française FRENCH GUIANA GF Department of Guiana, Guyane GABON GA Gabonese Republic GAMBIA GM Republic of the Gambia, The Gambia GEORGIA GE Republic of Georgia, Sak'art'velo, Georgian SSR GERMANY DE (Bundesrepublik) Deutschland, Federal Republic of Germany GHANA GH Republic of Ghana GIBRALTAR GI GREECE GR Ellas, Hellas GREENLAND GL Kalaallit Nunaat GRENADA GD GUADELOUPE GP Departement de la Guadeloupe (France), French West Indies GUAM GU (Use USA address) GUATEMALA GT República de Guatemala GUERNSEY GG Channel Islands GUINEA GN Guinee, Republic of Guinea, République de Guinea, French Guinea GUINEA-BISSAU GW Republica da Guine-Bissau, Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Portuguese Guinea GUYANA GY Co-operative Republic of Guyana, British Guyana, British Guiana HAITI HT R�publique d'Haiti, Republic of Haiti HONDURAS HN Républica de Honduras, Republic of Honduras HONG KONG HK Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Xianggang, Xianggang Tebie Xingzhengqu HUNGARY HU Republic of Hungary, Magyarorszag, Magyar Koztarsasag ICELAND IS Republic of Iceland, Lýðveldið Ísland, Ísland INDIA IN Republic of India INDONESIA ID Republic of Indonesia, Republik Indonesia, Dutch/Netherlands East Indies IRAN IR Islamic Republic of Iran, Persia IRAQ IQ Republic of Iraq, Al Iraq, Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah IRELAND IE �ire, Eire, Irland, Irish Free State, Republic of Ireland ISLE OF MAN IM Ellan Vannin ISRAEL IL State of Israel, Yisra'el, Medinat Yisra'el ITALY IT Italia, Repubblica Italiana, Italian Republic, JAMAICA JM JAPAN JP Nippon JERSEY JE Channel Islands JORDAN JO The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Trans-Jordan KAZAKHSTAN KZ Kazakstan, Kazachistan, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakh SSR KENYA KE Republic of Kenya, British East Africa KIRIBATI KI Gilbert, Canton, and Christmas Islands KOREA KR South Korea, Republic of Korea, ROK; Also see: North Korea KUWAIT KW State of Kuwait, Al Kuwayt, Dawlat al Kuwayt KYRGYZSTAN KG Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyz Respublikasy, Kyrgyz SSR LAOS LA Lao Peoples Democratic Republic LATVIA LV Republic of Latvia, Latvijas Republika, Latvija, Lettland, Latvian SSR LEBANON LB Liban, Lubnan, Al Jumhuriyah al Lubnaniyah, R�publique Libanaise, Lebanese Republic LESOTHO LS Kingdom of Lesotho, Basutoland LIBERIA LR Republic of Liberia LIBYA LY Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Al Jumahiriyah al Arabiyah al Libiyah ash Shabiyah al Ishtirakiyah al Uzma LIECHTENSTEIN LI Fuerstentum Liechtenstein, Principality of Liechtenstein LITHUANIA LT Lietuva, Lietuvos Respublika, Republic of Lithuania, Lithuanian SSR LUXEMBOURG LU Luxemburg, Grande-Duché de Luxembourg, Letzeburg MACAU MO Macao, Mac�o (Now part of China) MACEDONIA MK Makedonia (also in Greece), Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. MADAGASCAR MG R�publique de Madagascar MALAWI MW Nyasaland MALAYSIA MY Federation of Malaysia, Malaya MALDIVES MV Republic of Maldives, Dhivehi Raajje, Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa MALI ML R�publique de Mali, French Sudan MALTA MT Repubblika ta' Malta, Republic of Malta MARSHALL ISLANDS MH (Use USA address) MARTINIQUE MQ Departement de la Martinique, Department of Martinique (France), French West Indies MAURITANIA MR Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Al Jumhuriyah al Islamiyah al Muritaniyah MAURITIUS MU Republic of Mauritius MEXICO MX M�xico, M�jico, Estados Unidos Mexicanos MICRONESIA FM (Use USA address) MOLDOVA MD Moldavia, Republic of Moldova, Republica Moldoveneasca, Moldavian SSR MONACO MC Principaute de Monaco MONGOLIA MN Mongol Uls, Peoples Republic of Mongolia, Outer Mongolia MOROCCO MA Kingdom of Morocco, Al Maghrib, Al Mamlakah al Maghribiyah MOZAMBIQUE MZ (Republica de) Mo�ambique, Republic of Mozambique, Portuguese East Africa MYANMAR MM Union of Myanmar, (Pyidaungzu) Myanma Naingngandaw, Burma NAMIBIA NA Republic of Namibia, German Southwest Africa NEPAL NP Kingdom of Nepal NETHERLANDS NL Kingdom of the Netherlands, (Koninkrijk der) Nederland(en), "Holland" NETHERLANDS ANTILLES AN Dutch West Indies NEW CALEDONIA NC Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies, (Territoire des) Nouvelle-Caledonie (et Dependances) NEW ZEALAND NZ Aotearoa NICARAGUA NI República de Nicaragua NIGER NE Republic of (the) Niger, R�publique du Niger NIGERIA NG Federal Republic of Nigeria NORTH KOREA KP Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, DPRK NORTHERN IRELAND UK United Kingdom, "Ulster" NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS MP (Use USA address) NORWAY NO Kingdom of Norway, (Kongeriket) Norge OMAN OM Sultanate of Oman PAGO PAGO AS (See American Samoa) PAKISTAN PK Islamic Republic of Pakistan PALAU PW (Use USA address) PALISTINIAN TERRITORY PS Palestine, West Bank, Gaza Strip PANAMA PA República de Panama PAPUA NEW GUINEA PG New Guinea PARAGUAY PY República del Paraguay, Republic of Paraguay PERU PE República del Peru, Republic of Peru PHILIPPINES PH Philipine Islands, Republic of the Philipines, Republika ng Pilipinas PITCAIRN ISLAND PN POLAND PL (Rzeczpospolita) Polska, Republic of Poland PORTUGAL PT Republica Portuguesa PUERTO RICO PR Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Borinquen (Use USA address) QATAR AQ State of Qatar, Dawlat Qatar REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO CG R�publique du Congo, Congo/Brazzaville, Middle Congo, REUNION RE Réunion ROMANIA RO Rumania, Roumania RUSSIA RU Russian Federation, Rossiya, Rossiyskaya Federatsiya, RSFSR, CIS RWANDA RW Ruanda, Republika y'u Rwanda SAINT CROIX VI (See US Virgian Islands) SAINT JOHN VI (See US Virgian Islands) SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS KN Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis SAINT LUCIA LC SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON PM SAINT THOMAS VI (See US Virgian Islands) SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES VC SAMOA WS Independent State of Samoa, Western Samoa SAN MARINO SM Repubblica di San Marino (inside Italy) SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE ST São Tome e Principe, Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Republica Democratica de São Tome e Principe SARK -- Channel Islands, Address through Guernsey SAUDI ARABIA SA Kingdom of Saudi Arabia SCOTLAND UK Alba, United Kingdom, Great Britain SENEGAL SN R�publique du S�n�gal SERBIA-MONTENEGRO YU (Federal Replublic of) Yugoslavia, (Savezna Republika) Jugoslavija, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo (2) SEYCHELLES SC Republic of Seychelles SIERRA LEONE SL Republic of Sierra Leone SINGAPORE SG Republic of Singapore SLOVAK REPUBLIC SK Slovakia, Republic of Slovakia, Slovensko, Slovenská Republica SLOVENIA SI Slovenija, Republic of Slovenia SOLOMON ISLANDS SB British Solomon Islands SOMALIA SO Somali Democratic Republic SOUTH AFRICA ZA Republic of South Africa, Union of South Africa SPAIN ES Kingdom of Spain, Espa�a SRI LANKA LK Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Ceylon SUDAN SD Republic of the Sudan, (Jumhuriyat) As-Sudan SURINAME SR Republiek Suriname, Dutch Guiana SWAZILAND SZ Kingdom of Swaziland SWEDEN SE (Konungariket) Sverige, Kingdom of Sweden SWITZERLAND CH Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera, Confœderatio Helvetica SYRIA SY Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Republic TAHITI PF Polyn�sie Fran�aise, French Polynesia TAIWAN TW Republic of China, ROC, Formosa TAJIKISTAN TJ Tajik SSR TANZANIA TZ United Republic of Tanzania, Tanganyika and Zanzibar THAILAND TH Kingdom of Thailand, Siam TINIAN MP (See Northern Mariana Islands) TOGO TG République Togolaise, Togolese Republic, French Togoland TONGA TO Kingdom of Tonga, Friendly Islands TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO TT Republic of Trinidad and Tobago TRUK FM (See Micronesia) TUNISIA TN Tunis, Al Jumhuriyah at Tunisiyah TURKEY TR Turk�ye (Cumhuriyeti), Republic of Turkey TURKISH REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN CYPRUS -- (Address through Turkey) TURKMENISTAN TM Turkmen SSR TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS TC TUVALU TV Ellice Islands UGANDA UG Republic of Uganda UKRAINE UA Ukrainia, The Ukraine, Ukrayina, Ukrainian National Republic, Ukrainian SSR, CIS UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AE Al Imarat al Arabiyah al Muttahidah, Trucial Oman UNITED KINGDOM UK See: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland URUGUAY UY República Oriental del Uruguay (ROU) US VIRGIN ISLANDS VI (Use USA address) USA US United States, United States of America, EEUU, США UZBEKISTAN UZ O'zbekiston (Respublikasi), Uzbek SSR VANUATU VU Republic of Vanuatu, New Hebrides VATICAN CITY VA Holy See, Santa Sede, (Stata della) Citta del Vaticano VENEZUELA VE República Bolivariana de Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela VIETNAM VN Việt Nam, Socialist Replublic of Viet Nam, Indochina, Annam WALES UK Cymru, United Kingdom, Great Britain YEMEN YE Republic of Yemen ZAMBIA ZM Republic of Zambia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland ZIMBABWE ZW Republic of Zimbabwe, Southern Rhodesia
The Union Flag is:
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