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Global Sourcebook for International Data Management

                                         by Graham Rhind

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Bulgaria

Global Sourcebook | Index | Properties

BULGARIA
BULGARIA

For supplementary information, see links to post office home pages here External, to postal code pages here External and to other personal name and addressing issues pages here External.

Table of Contents

Bulgaria - Country information

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Local short name form

Official name

Area

Population

6 519 789 (2021) [1]

Capital

Currency

1 Lev (Lv) (ISO 4217=BGN) = 100 stotinki. The plural of lev is leva, the singular of stotinki is stotinka

International telephone access code

359

ISO 3166 country codes

Car nationality plate code

BG

Internet country code

BG

GRC Country Code

BUL

Bulgaria - Number format

   1 234,45

(where , indicates the decimal separator and a space the thousands separator)

Bulgaria - Date and time formats

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   Note: This section last updated 1st April 2021
   dd.mm.yyyy
   14:32

Bulgaria - Languages

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Bulgarian External is the official language spoken by 85% of the population. Turkish External is spoken by 9% of the population and Romani External by 2%. There are also 1 000 Gheg Albanian External-speakers; 6 000 Crimean Turkish External-speakers; 12 000 Gagauz External-speakers and there are some 300 000 Macedonian External-speakers on the borders of Macedonia, Serbia and Greece.

Personal names and forms of address in Bulgaria

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   Note: This section last updated 9th January 2019

Bulgarians have two family names, the first a patronymic showing filiality with the father, followed by the inherited family name. Thus the son of Ivan Mitev Radoukov might be:

   Zahari Ivanov Radoukov

The patronymic is not usually used except in official papers.

Women may choose whether or not to take their husband’s name upon marriage. If they do, they are likely to feminise the name. Thus the wife of Petrov would be Petrova; the wife of Dobrovski would be Dobrovska and so on:

Male Female
-ov -ova
-ev -eva
-ski/-sky -ska
-in -ina

A man may also choose to take his wife’s family name.

Bulgarian’s may use a patronymic derived from the grandfather instead of a family name.

Forms of address include:

   Капитан/кап./Kapitan (Captain)
   Доктор/д-р./Doktor (Doctor)
   Доцент/доц./Dotsent (Lecturer)
   Генерал/ген./General (General)
   Митрополит/мит./Mitropolit (Orthodox Bishop)
   Професор/роф./Profesor (Professor)
   Свети/Св./Sveti (Saint)
   Tables of names can be acquired: given names External, surnames/family names External, family name prefixes External, forms of address External, job titles External

Bulgaria - Company legal forms

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   AD / АД (Aktionierno drushestwo / акционерно дружество) - limited liability company
   ADSITz / АДСИЦ (aktsionerno druzhestvo sus spetsialna investitsionna tsel / акционерно дружество със специална инвестиционна цел) -real estate investment trust
   EAD / ЕАД (ednolichno aktsionerno druzhestvo / еднолично акционерно дружество) - single member limited liability company
   EOOD / ЕООД (ednolichno druzhestvo s ogranichena otgovornost / еднолично дружество с ограничена отговорност) - single member limited company 
   ET / ЕТ (ednolichen turgovetz / едноличен търговец) - sole proprietorship
   KD / КД (Komanditno drushestwo / омандитно дружество) – partnership
   KDA / КДА (Komanditno drushestwo s akzii / командитно дружество с акции) – partnership with shares
   ocD (Drushestwo s orgranitschena otgowornost) – limited liability company, privately held
   OOD / ООД (drujestvo s ogranichena otgovornost / дружество с ограничена отговорност) - limited company
   SD / СД (subiratelno druzhestvo / събирателно дружество) -  general partnership.
   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm External

Bulgaria - Addresses

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   Note: This section last updated 26th June 2019

Addresses are written in the following format:

   Recipient name
   {Block number, Entrance number, Floor number, Apartment number}
   Thoroughfare[ ]number
   {Suburb/district/housing complex}
   postal code[ ]TOWN NAME

For example:

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Some Bulgarians write their addresses with the line order reversed, like this:

   postal code[ ]TOWN NAME
   {Suburb/district/housing complex}
   Thoroughfare[ ]number
   {Block number, Entrance number, Floor number, Apartment number}
   Recipient name

When an envelope is written, rather than typed, Bulgarians may place their postal code on the left of the envelope away from the address block.

No or Nº may be found before the building number in the address.

   A table containing information about the relevant position of elements within address blocks can be acquired External

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Bulgaria - (Sub-)Building & Thoroughfare types

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   Note: This section last updated 9th January 2019

Common Bulgarian (sub-)building and thoroughfare types include:

   apartament (ap.) (Apartment)
   Блок/бл./blok (Block)
   Булевард/бул./bulevard (Boulevard)
   Квартал/кв./kvartal (District)
   Площад/пл./ploshtad (Square)
   Улица/ул./ulica (Street)
   Вход/vhod/vkhod (Entrance)
   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm External

Bulgaria - Post office box

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   Note: This section last updated 26th June 2019

Post office box, in Bulgarian, is Poshtenska Kutiya or P.K., Пощенска кутия or П.К. Transliteration variations may alter the spelling of this string in Latin script.

Bulgaria - Postal codes

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   Note: This section last updated 26th May 2020

Postal codes (пощенски кодове) consist of a block of 4 digits. The first digit indicates the zone, the second the area and the last two the locality. The first digit cannot be 0.

   Metadata containing postal code formatting rules, exceptions and regular expressions can be acquired External

Bulgaria - Postal code format graphic

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Bulgaria - Postal code format

Bulgaria - Postal code specifics

Bulgaria - Postal code regular expression

\A[1-9]\d{3,3}\Z

Bulgaria - Postal code level of coverage

2

Bulgaria - Postal code map

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Place names in Bulgaria

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   Note: This section last updated 4th August 2015

Refer to Exonyms in Bulgaria for full lists of place names in Bulgaria in other languages.

   Alternate place name forms/postal code tables can be acquired at http:www.grcdi.nl/settlements.htm External
   Other language place name data can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/otherlanguageplace.htm External

Bulgaria - Administrative districts

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   Note: This section last updated 26th May 2020

Bulgaria has 28 provinces External (oblasti, singular - oblast), not used in addresses:

Province Postal code range*
Blagoevgrad External 27-29
Burgas External 80-85
Dobrich External 93-96
Gabrovo External 53-54
Khaskovo External 63-65
Kurdzhali External 66-69
Kyustendil External 25-26
Lovech External 55-57
Montana External 34-36
Pazardzhik External 44-46
Pernik External 23-24
Pleven External 58-59
Plovdiv External 40-43
Razgrad External 72-74
Ruse External 70-71
Shumen External 97-99
Silistra External 75-76
Sliven External 88-89
Smolyan External 47-49
Sofiya External 20-22
Sofiya-Grad External 10-18
Stara Zagora External 60-62
Turgovishte External 77-79
Varna External 90-92
Veliko Turnovo External 50-52
Vidin External 37-39
Vratsa External 30-33
Yambol External 86-87

*Though sources and maps suggest that there is a correlation between postal code zones and provinces, we do not have confirmation that the borders of of both correlate exactly.

Administrative districts graphic

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Telephone numbers in Bulgaria

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   Note: This section last updated 22nd January 2014

Bulgarian numbers, when called from abroad, have a total length of between 8 and 9 digits. Mobile numbers have the area codes 430, 437-439, 48, 87-89 or 98-99.

   Tables of telephone number information/formats can be acquired – see http://www.grcdi.nl/telephone.htm External 

References

  1. ^ citypopulation.de/en/bulgaria/admin/ External 20230118

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All information copyright Graham Rhind 2024. Any information used should be acknowledged and referenced.