For the purposes of directing mail, Sweden is divided into a number of
postcode areas. The Swedish postcode system is administered by the Swedish
Mail Service on behalf of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority.
History Until 1968, mail in Sweden was sorted
only according to geographic location, which meant that postal workers had to
learn all mail centers in Sweden, and what particular mail trains served those
places. In 1967, it was decided that postcodes would be introduced in Sweden
as of May 12, 1968. Since then, the postcode system has been essentially the
same, but a slight reform was carried out during the mid-1990s as all
remaining mail terminals were equipped with automatic mail sorting machines. In
2008, Sweden was divided into more than 16,100 postcode areas.
Format The Swedish postcode system is based on
a five-digit number combination, divided into two groups of three and two digits.
The principle of numbering is that the lower the postcode, the further south
the place is located. Excluded from the principle are postcodes beginning with
number 1, which represent the capital city, Stockholm. Mail delivery centers
are divided into two-, three-, and five-digit positioning groups depending
on the size of the geographical place. The two-position group has larger
varieties, whereas the smallest belongs to the five-digit positioning group.
According to the system, a space shall be inserted between the third and fourth
digit; as well as a double space between the postcode and the geographic
location. The geographic location shall be written in capital letters.
A typical address would look like this: Sven Nilsson
Roslagsgatan 10 113 51 STOCKHOLM
= Two-digit positioning = The two initial digits indicate city.
Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö are designated the two-digit series, one for
mailbox- and business addresses, and the second series for street addresses.
The post codes are sorted by geographical location. Numbers starting
with 10-19 are part of Stockholm; otherwise, the lower numbers are part of
the bigger city areas in the south, and increase northwards.
The third digit in the two-digit positioning indicate type of delivery,
in most cases. The fourth and fifth digit indicate the
geographic area. Postcodes with the same first four digits may represent a part
of a city or equivalent. = Three-digit positioning =
The first two digits indicate the geographical area in. Previously, these
figures indicated the mail terminal that sorted mail for the particular
geographic location. The third figure in combination with the
first two indicates the mail delivery location. The fourth figure is the type
of delivery. A five-digit positions location is a
small location for only a few zip codes are needed to smooth mail delivery.
Since the reform of the postcode system in the mid-1990s, only a few five-digit
positions locations remain. These locations are often so small and remote
that it is not practically possible to transfer all mail to a larger
three-digit locations. five-digit position locations are usually in the
archipelago and in the mountains. See also
List of postal codes in Sweden References
Swedish Postal Act, No. 1684 of December 22, 1993.
Postcode directories with external links The last printed postcode directory was
published by the Swedish Mail Service in 1996.
Postcodes may be searched on the Mail Service's website here.
Statistics Sweden has a detailed table of postcode, region, municipality and
city here. Postcode look-up and calculation of
distances / radius between postcodes in Sweden.