Administrative Hierarchy describes the structured way locations are broken down into progressively smaller geographic or administrative units — from country level down to an individual building or premises. While the broad concept is consistent globally (for example: country → region or state → city or locality → street → premise), the naming, order, and meaning of each layer varies significantly by country, and not all countries use every level.

Because of this variation, raw address data is often inconsistent, incomplete, or ordered differently depending on its source. Fetchify normalises address results into a consistent administrative hierarchy, applying country-specific rules so addresses are returned in a predictable structure. This makes addresses easier to store, compare, validate, and use reliably across systems — regardless of how they were originally entered.

Example 1: United Kingdom

Flat 3 Sub-Premise

12 High Street Premise Name / Number + Street

Reading City / Town / Locality

Berkshire County / Province

RG1 1AA Postal Code

United Kingdom Country

Example 2: Ireland

Teach na Coille Premise Name / Number + Street

Ballymore City / Town / Locality

Co. Galway County / Province

H91 X4K8 Postal Code - known as Eircode in Ireland

Ireland Country

Irish addresses may lack street names or numbers entirely, especially in rural areas, and instead rely on premise names and Eircodes for precision.