Postal codes in Taiwan

Structure and meaning of digits

The five-digit code is hierarchical. Broadly speaking:

• The first digit indicates a large postal zone that groups broad geographic areas such as northern, central, southern and eastern regions and offshore areas.
• The first three digits typically identify a specific township, district or county-controlled city; there are, in the official table, a fixed set of three-digit prefixes that correspond to these administrative units (commonly cited as 368 such sets).
• The final two digits subdivide the three-digit area into smaller delivery units such as neighborhoods, postal routes or individual post office jurisdictions, which supports automated sorting and finer routing.

Adjacent districts within the same municipality frequently share the same leading digits and differ only in the last two digits. In some compact cities a single three-digit prefix may be used for all internal districts; for example, certain cities such as Chiayi and Hsinchu have been noted as having a unified three-digit designation in some tables (see note on Chiayi and Hsinchu).

History and development

The postal code arrangement evolved to meet the needs of growing mail volumes and mechanized processing. Early addressing and numeric schemes were simpler; the adoption of a longer numeric format allowed postal authorities to represent a far larger number of delivery segments and to integrate codes with automated sorting equipment. Chunghwa Post periodically revises the published code table to reflect administrative changes, urban development and operational requirements.

Geographic scope and special cases

The official postal code table covers the main island and a range of outlying islands for which the postal administration provides service or publishes entries. This includes the offshore counties of Kinmen and Matsu (Kinmen & Matsu) and codes that correspond to remote or largely uninhabited island groups such as Dongsha (Pratas). The published list also contains entries associated with island groups that are the subject of international or cross‑administration dispute, including certain codes tied to the Nansha (Spratly) area (Nansha) and to the Diaoyutai (Senkaku) islands (Diaoyutai (Senkaku)), the latter currently administered by Japan according to contemporary facts on the ground. Some of these entries are largely formal or reserved and have different practical implications for actual delivery.

Usage, formatting and lookup

In domestic addressing practice the five-digit postal code is usually written together with or immediately before the recipient’s address to facilitate manual and automated handling. Many electronic forms and address‑entry systems require the code as a separate field to speed validation. Businesses, e-commerce platforms and logistics providers commonly integrate the official code table into address verification, shipping calculations and routing logic. For authoritative lookup, downloadable tables and mapping aids, users should consult the official postal search and related documents at Chunghwa Post postal code search or contact local post offices; additional background on terminology appears at official language references such as the entry for 郵遞區號 and its pinyin form Yóudì qūhào.

Maintenance, changes and practical notes

Postal codes may be adjusted when administrative boundaries change, when new delivery points are established, or when postal operations are reorganized. Users relying on older printed lists should verify codes against current online tables before large mailings or system integrations. International senders should follow the addressing conventions required by their national postal operators and provide the five‑digit code in the designated field when sending to addresses in Taiwan or to outlying areas administered by the Republic of China. For region‑specific questions—such as codes used for particular island groups or for administrative exceptions—consult official Chunghwa Post resources (postal code search) or inquire at a local post office.

Note: Official published lists include entries for many distinct localities and special cases; the authoritative table maintained by the postal authority is the recommended reference for precise, up‑to‑date code assignments.

Further reading and reference links: Chunghwa Post postal code search, Chinese term: 郵遞區號, pinyin: Yóudì qūhào, Taiwan, Republic of China, Chiayi and Hsinchu note, Nansha (Spratly), Diaoyutai (Senkaku), Japan, Kinmen & Matsu.