As I have written about the
reasons for changes in countries and their
addressing and about the different "standard"
addresses used around the world in
previous
articles, I am sure many readers wanted to
know what the specifics of the changes that
have happened recently. Here are the details
of the changes, country by country. If you
want to know more about how we get this
information, see
"How
WorldVu Gets Addressing Information".
- Bahrain is now using a postal code of 3 or
4 digits placed to the right of the locality.
Valid postcodes are from 199 to 1299,
corresponding with the 12 administrative
subdivisions of the kingdom. They appear to
consist of the ISO region code, with the
leading zero removed, followed by two
additional digits. Both post office box and
street address delivery is used in Bahrain.
- Bangladesh had changed from a 4-digit to a
6-digit postal code from 2003 through 2006
and is again using a 4-digit code, placed to
the right of the locality. A dash usually
separates the city from the postal code,
although sometimes a comma is used. For
rural areas, the line containing the postal
code may be lengthy and include the names of
the village, post office and district.
- Barbados uses a 5-digit postal code,
preceded by "BB", is to the right of the
parish on the line below the town name.
- Brazil includes a two-letter abbreviation
for unidades da federação (units of the
federation) written to the right of the city
name, separated by a dash. The 8-digit
postal code appears alone on the line below
that.
- The postal code for the British Virgin
Islands always has "VG" preceding the 4
numbers. All mail delivery is to a Post
Office Box. The postal code should
correspond to the post office where the box
is located.
- Bulgaria's 4-digit postal code is now
placed to the left of the locality. In 2005,
they ceased using the inverted format. (The
inverted format, with the country name on the
top line and the individual's name on the
bottom line, is still sometimes seen.)
