---
id: "be_postcode"
kind: "pattern"
status: "stable"
is_pii: true
categories: ["geo", "pii", "common"]
country: ["BE"]
langs: ["nl", "fr", "de"]
quality: 90
url: "http://registry.apicrafter.io/datatype/be_postcode"
---

# Belgian postal code (`be_postcode`)

Four-digit postal code used in Belgium since 1969; it never starts with 0. The first digit mostly shows the province, though some ranges are shared: 1xxx covers Brussels, western Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant, 3xxx eastern Flemish Brabant and Limburg, 6xxx parts of Hainaut and Luxembourg. The main town of an area has the round number, as in 8000 (Bruges) and 8500 (Kortrijk). Some institutions such as the EU institutions, NATO and the broadcasters have codes of their own. bpost asks not to write a country prefix such as B- before the code.

- Pattern of: `postindex`
- Personal data (PII): yes
- Categories: Geographic identifiers (geo), Personally identifiable information (pii), Common (common)
- Countries: Belgium (BE)
- Languages: Dutch (nl), French (fr), German (de)
- Classification: categorical

## Detection

Regular expression (Python `re`):

```
^[1-9]\d{3}$
```

## Examples

- `1000` — Brussels
- `2000` — Antwerp
- `8500` — Kortrijk
- `9000` — Ghent
- `B-8500` (invalid example) — Country prefix is not part of the code
- `85000` (invalid example) — Five digits
- `0850` (invalid example) — Codes do not start with 0

## Supported by tools

- `talend`

## Translations

- nl: Postcode: Viercijferige Belgische postcode (sinds 1969); het eerste cijfer geeft meestal de provincie aan.
- fr: Code postal: Code postal belge à quatre chiffres (depuis 1969); le premier chiffre indique le plus souvent la province.
- de: Postleitzahl
- ru: Почтовый индекс Бельгии: Четырёхзначный почтовый индекс Бельгии (с 1969 года); первая цифра обычно обозначает провинцию.

## Sources

- wikipedia: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_codes_in_Belgium>
- wikipedia: <https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_van_postcodes_in_Belgi%C3%AB>

## Quality

Score 90/100. Missing: mapping (Wikidata, Schema.org, ...).

JSON: <http://registry.apicrafter.io/api/v1/datatypes/be_postcode.json> · Edit: <https://github.com/apicrafter/metacrafter-registry/edit/main/data/datatypes/BE/geo/be_postcode.yaml>