In data modeling for an Address entity, which set of fields should be included to support international addresses and ensure data quality?

• A. Include street1, street2, city, country_code, postal_code.
• B. Include street1, street2, city, administrative_area, country_code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2), postal_code, locality, sub_administrative_area, and optional building_number and PO_box; store canonical and local forms.
• C. Use only city and country without postal code.
• D. Store addresses as a single free-text field.

Answer: (B)

Handling international addresses well requires a structured, multi-field model that covers the components that vary by country and supports both machine processing and human readability. The best approach includes street1 and street2 for the street address, an optional building_number and PO_box, a locality and a city field to accommodate different naming conventions, an administrative_area for state or province, a sub_administrative_area for counties or districts, a postal_code, and a country_code using ISO 3166-1 alpha-2. Storing both a canonical form and a local form enables consistent data quality while preserving the exact user-facing wording. The country code provides a standardized reference that simplifies validation and cross-system integration, and the postal code is essential for routing and validation in many countries. By including both local and canonical representations, you can deduplicate and normalize records without losing the original formatting used by customers. Using only city and country omits key address elements needed for delivery and analytics; a single free-text field prevents reliable validation, search, and deduplication; and offering only a subset of fields does not cover the international variety of address structures.