As housing and business premises are built, demolished or renovated across the UK, Postcode geography and national address databases have to adapt to reflect these constant changes. Keeping this information up to date is an essential task that Royal Mail undertake on a continual basis and we use this information to ensure all of our products are regularly maintained.

With the release of our latest UK Postcode Address File from Royal Mail, we have compiled and summarised the latest statistics for Postcodes and addresses in the UK. This information is up to date as at February 2015.

In summary there have been 5,356 Postcode changes and 119,698 delivery point changes since the previous update underlining the importance of keeping Postcode and address databases up to date with the latest Royal Mail information.

Definitions

"Postcode Area" means the outward part of the Postcode made up of the first one or two alphabetic text only characters. For example, 'OX' from OX7 5LJ and 'B' from B1 3ND.

"Postcode District" means the outward part of the Postcode. For example, 'OX7' from OX7 5LJ and 'B1' from B1 3ND.

"Postcode Sector" means the outward part of the Postcode plus the first numeric digit from the inward part of the Postcode. For example, 'OX7 5' from OX7 5LJ and 'B1 3' from B1 3ND.

"Postcode" means the full Postcode. For example OX7 5LJ and B1 3ND

"Small User Postcode" is a Postcode containing a collection of (usually) adjacent addresses. A single small user postcode may contain up to 100 addresses, but 15 is a more typical number.

"Large User Postcode" are allocated to single addresses receiving at least 500 mail items per day (e.g. business addresses).

"PO Box" is a numbered box in a Post Office assigned to a person or organization, where letters for them are kept until called for.

"Delivery Point" is a complete postal address (business or residential), including a Postcode. to which mail is delivered.