Postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

s in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, known as ''postcodes'', are

alphanumeric Alphanumericals or alphanumeric characters are any collection of number characters and letters in a certain language. Sometimes such characters may be mistaken one for the other. Merriam-Webster suggests that the term "alphanumeric" may often ...

, consisting of four digits followed by two

uppercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''#Majuscule, majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally ''#Minuscule, minuscule'') in the written representation of certain langua ...

letters. The letters 'F', 'I', 'O', 'Q', 'U' and 'Y' were originally not used for technical reasons, but almost all existing combinations are now used as these letters were allowed for new locations starting 2005. The letter combinations ' SS', ' SD' and ' SA' are not used because of their associations with the

Nazi occupation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of '' Fall Gelb'' (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal f ...

. The first two digits indicate a city and a region, the second two digits and the two letters indicate a range of house numbers, usually on the same street. Consequently, a postal address is uniquely defined by the postal code and the house number. On average, a Dutch postal code comprises eight single addresses. There are over 575,000 postal codes in the Netherlands . Stadsregio Amsterdam Postbus 626 1000 AP Amsterdam

Caribbean Netherlands

The three BES-islands, which became part of the country in 2010, do not as yet have postal codes. The address, the town and the island are sufficient for sending post to either island (with "Caribbean Netherlands" as country when sent from abroad). The Dutch government has plans for introducing postal codes on the islands that would be similar to the postal codes used in the

European Netherlands , informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; i ...

References

External links

Postal code search engine
{{Europe in topic, Postal codes in, UK_only=yes

Postal system of the Netherlands