Local short name form

Official name

Area

Population

Capital

Currency

International telephone access code

ISO 3166 country codes

Car nationality plate code

Internet country code

GRC Country Code

   1.234,45

(where , indicates the decimal separator and . the thousands separator)

   Note: This section last updated 8th April 2021

   dd/mm/yyyy

   14:32 

The official language is Spanish . 78 other, mainly Indian, languages are spoken. The most widespread of these are: Cuaiquer (20 000 speakers); Cubeo (6 000 speakers); Embera-Baudó (5 000 speakers); Emberá-Catío (15 000 speakers); Emberá-Chamí (11 000 speakers); Northern Embará (15 000 speakers); Guahibo (15 000 speakers); Guambiano (9 000 speakers); Ica (5 272 speakers); Inga (10 000 speakers); Jungle Inga (5 000 speakers); Kogui (5 000 speakers); Páez (68 467 speakers); Wayuu (150 000 speakers) and Western Caribbean Creole English (15 000 speakers).

The abbreviation for Señorita used on Colombia is Srta. All mature women, whether married or not, will be addressed as Señora.

Each person usually has a given name followed by two family names, that of the father followed by that of the mother, for example:

   Barbara Betancourt Perez

Upon marriage, females may choose to take their husband’s name as a further given name, in this way:

   Barbara Betancourt Perez de Lopez

where the de indicates “(wife) of”. De usually indicates a married female, but may also be part of a name. Many females in Colombia now do not take their husband’s name upon marriage.

Professional people are often referred to by their qualification, followed by the given name and paternal family name (and sometimes the maternal family name):

Arquitecto (m) / Arquitecta (f)	Architect
Doctor (m) / Doctora (f) (Dr/Dra)	Doctor
Ingeniero (m) / Ingeniera (f) (Ing.)	Engineer
Profesor (Prof.)	Professor

Except for the title “Doctor”, this form is preceded by the standard form of address in this way:

   Señor Ingeniero Juan Domínguez

   Tables of names can be acquired: given names , surnames/family names , family name prefixes , forms of address , job titles 

   Note: This section last updated 18th June 2016

The following company type may be found:

   Ca. (Compañia) - company
   Comandita por acciones (SCA)
   EU (Empresa Unipersonal) - sole proprietorship
   Limitada (Ltda)
   SA (Sociedad Anónima)
   SAS (Sociedades anónimas simplificadas or Sociedad por Acciones Simplificada)
   S. en C. – Sociedad en Comandita – limited partnership
   Suc. de Descendants - successors of a previous company
   Unipersona

   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http://www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm 

   Note: This section last updated 4th December 2022

Addresses are written in the following format:

   Form of address
   Recipient name
   {thoroughfare type[]}Thoroughfare name[, ]house number{[, ]floor etc. indicators}
   SETTLEMENT[ ]postal code
   {PROVINCE}

For example:

For urban deliveries, where a (sub-)locality or urban district may be included in the address, the postal code may follow the (sub-)locality in this way:

   Calle 32a Sur Transversal 68b #5 
   Alqueria La Fragua 
   Localidad de Kennedy 110841 
   BOGOTA DC 

The province, or its abbreviated form, is not strictly required as it can be deduced from the postal code. It may also still be found written on the same line as the postal code in this way:

Colombian addresses often have numbered streets and may contain directionals:

           calle 18 sur no. 19-29 

Calles, where numbered, increase in number from south to north. Carreras increase in number from east to west. In examples like the one above, 18 is the calle number, 19 is the carrera number (usually preceded by a version of “numéro” or #), and 29 is the house number, usually preceded by a hyphen.

When addresses are written in Spanish, calle, the Spanish word for street, is rarely written except when the thoroughfare is numbered rather than named. The Spanish thoroughfare type, when included, is written before, and separately from, the thoroughfare name. It should be written with the first letter in lower case.

For further information about address components, please refer to the chapter on Spain.

The province name may be included for addresses for smaller settlements. The provinces, with standard abbreviation, are:

Province	Abbreviation (if different)	Postal code range
Amazonas		91
Antioquia	ANT	05
Arauca		81
Atlántico	ATL	08
Bolívar	BOL	13
Boyaca	BOY	15
Caldas	CAL	17
Caquetá	CAQ	18
Casanare		85
Cauca		19
César		20
Chocó		27
Córdoba	CORD	23
Cundinamarca	CUND	25
Distrito Especial / Distrito Capital de Bogotá	DE	11
Guainía		94
Guaviare		95
Huila	HUIL	41
La Guajira	GUAJIRA	44
Magdalena	MAG	47
Meta		50
Nariño	NAR	52
Norte de Santander	NS	54
Putumayo		86
Quindio	QUIND	63
Risaralda	RIS	66
San Andrés y Providencia	SAN ANDRES	88
Santander	SANT	68
Sucre		70
Tolima	TOL	73
Valle del Cauca	VALLE	76
Vaupés		97
Vichada		99

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

The word for post office box is Apartado Postal, or AP; or Apartado Aéreo or AA.

   Note: This section last updated 7th June 2020

Colombia has introduced a postal code (Código Postal) of 6 digits in this format:

   999999

The first two digits represent the national department. The third and fourth digits represent a postal zone, whereby 00 indicates the capital of the department, 01-89 are for street addresses, and 90-99 for post office boxes. The final two numbers indicate further postal sub-districts.

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

Colombia - Postal code format graphic

Colombia - Postal code format

Colombia - Postal code specifics

Colombia - Postal code regular expression

Colombia - Postal code level of coverage

Colombia - Postal code map

   Note: This section last updated 28th July 2014

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

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

   Other language place name data can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/otherlanguageplace.htm 

Any one of the 32 province names or 1 capital district name may be found in addresses. Please see the section ‘Address format’.

Administrative districts graphic

   Note: This section last updated 11th November 2020

All subscriber numbers in Colombia has 10 digits and commence with '60'. Mobile numbers commence 603.

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