Imagine trying to send a letter to someone with no street name, house number, or postal code. For millions around the world, that’s everyday life. Roughly half of the global population lacks a formal street address.
Especially in rural areas, informal settlements, and developing nations, there are no street addresses. Yet people still receive packages, pay bills, and stay connected. From digital mapping apps to creative local systems, these countries have found innovative ways to make mail delivery work without traditional addresses.
When “Near the Big Tree” Counts as an Address
In many parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, directions often rely on landmarks and community knowledge instead of street numbers. A typical address might read: “Second house past the mosque, near the big mango tree.” In small towns or villages, postal workers know residents personally and navigate by memory rather than maps.
In Ghana, for example, the government launched a national digital address system in 2017, assigning every five-by-five-meter square a unique code based on GPS coordinates. This allows delivery services and emergency responders to locate any location, even in areas without a formal street grid.
Mongolia took a similar high-tech approach by adopting What3words, a geocoding system that divides the planet into 57 trillion three-word combinations. Instead of “14 Elm Street,” your address might be something like “arrow.lamp.shade.” The system is now used for everything from e-commerce deliveries to disaster response.
See How Maps Shape the Way We See the World for how projections shape what we consider “on the map.”
The Challenges of Being “Unaddressed”
Lack of an address is more than an inconvenience. It can mean being invisible to the system. Without a recognized location, people may struggle to open bank accounts, receive government services, or even register to vote. Deliveries can get lost, emergency aid can miss targets, and businesses may avoid areas they can’t easily reach.
In countries like India and Nigeria, where rapid urban growth has outpaced infrastructure, informal settlements often spring up faster than postal systems can adapt. Tech companies and startups have stepped in, using GPS, mobile apps, and crowdsourced data to fill the gap. Local couriers in cities like Lagos or Mumbai rely on phone calls and neighborhood networks, sometimes delivering based on verbal directions rather than written addresses.
Meanwhile, in remote regions—from deserts to islands—mail often travels via creative means: boats, motorcycles, or even drones. In parts of Rwanda and Nepal, drone networks now deliver medical supplies and small packages where traditional routes can’t reach. It’s a glimpse into how the future of addressing may rely less on paper maps and more on satellites.
Explore What Happens to Your Data When You Die? for a look at the long-term concerns about location data.
Mapping the Future of Delivery
The global move toward digital addressing could transform the lives of billions. Tech-driven systems like What3words, Google Plus Codes, and national GPS registries are redefining what it means to have an address. Instead of streets, coordinates are becoming the universal language of location.
For governments, this shift means better census data and emergency response. For individuals, it means new access to banking, healthcare, education, and e-commerce. Addressing the unaddressed may be one of the most powerful tools for global inclusion in the 21st century.
While traditional street names may never vanish in cities like New York or London, the world’s next generation of addresses might sound more like poetry than directions, containing three little words, or a plus code bringing countries without street addresses fully online.
Check out The Weird World of Digital Timekeeping to explore how precise time signals keep modern deliveries synced.
