I am not aware that the total number of codes is published anywhere. One could calculate it by counting postal code listings from the post office, but by the time you finished the count another code would probably have been issued. The number of active postal codes changes continuously, as the population of the country grows. The postal code system can handle over 17,000,000 unique codes, approximately one for every two citizens. The format is: LNL NLN (L = letter, N = number). Some letters are not used in certain places in the code, reducing the number of possible codes. The first letter is a provincial identifier and new codes are issued moving from east to west in the country. 'A' is the province of Newfoundland and Labrador; the more populous Ontario uses K through P. The postal code identifies a delivery location to within a few hundred metres or less. For example, a large apartment building will usually have its own postal code. The street on which I live uses two postal codes to cover 25 homes, a different code for each side of the street. ---------------------------------------- Re: "even Santa's code is an original going through the province of Quebec" Although H-prefix postal codes are used for the province of Québec, specifically the island of Montréal and its environs, the H0H 0H0 postal code is a rarity - a reserved postal code. It belongs to the Claus family, who live somewhere north of Toronto. The location of Santa's workshop remains a mystery, except to a privileged few inside postal workers and letter carriers. The magnetic pole lies within the boundaries of Nunavut and the physical pole lies at the intersection of the (projected) borders of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and the Yukon Territory. Since both poles are at sea, so to speak, the physical location of Santa's workshop must lie elsewhere. One could assume that H0H 0H0 is a rogue postal code that escaped to the James or Ungava Bay regions of Québec. Unfortunately, both these regions are too far to the south. In spite of the mystery, letters addressed to H0H 0H0 are all directed to Santa's workshop, where the elves answer them. It is quite unlikely that the workshop is physically located on the island of Montréal, even if one is of the opinion that the best gifts of all come from Dunn's Famous Delicatessen. Mmmm... latkes and smoked meat at two in the morning. (Should I be somewhat less prosaic and say that the letters are answered at several regional postal terminals across the country?) ---------------------------------------- Re: "it couldn't be Montréal" That would be true of any other address in Canada. However, it was a small group of postal workers in Montréal that started answering letters in 1974. I first heard about it in the local news. It became an official Canada Post program in 1983. There's a short article on the subject on the Tourisme Montréal website: http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/Media_Target/HotTopics/EN/HTML/405_EN.asp .