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Global Sourcebook for International Data Management

                                         by Graham Rhind

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Colombia

Global Sourcebook | Index | Properties

COLOMBIA
COLOMBIA

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

Colombia - Country information

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Local short name form

Official name

Area

Population

50 372 424 (2020 projection) [1]

Capital

Currency

International telephone access code

57

ISO 3166 country codes

Car nationality plate code

CO

Internet country code

CO

GRC Country Code

CLO

Colombia - Number format

   1.234,45

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

Colombia - Date and time formats

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   Note: This section last updated 8th April 2021
   dd/mm/yyyy
   14:32 

Colombia - Languages

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

Colombia - Personal names and forms of address

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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 External, surnames/family names External, family name prefixes External, forms of address External, job titles External

Colombia - Company legal forms

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   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 External

Colombia - Address format

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   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:

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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:

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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.

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

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

Colombia - Post office box

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

Colombia - Postal codes

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   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 External

Colombia - Postal code format graphic

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Colombia - Postal code format

Colombia - Postal code specifics

n/a

Colombia - Postal code regular expression

\A((05|08|11|13|15|17|18|19|20|23|25|27|41|44|47|50|52|54|63|66|68|70|73|76|81|85|86|88|91|94|95|97|99)\d{4,4})\Z

Colombia - Postal code level of coverage

2

Colombia - Postal code map

imageClick on image for a larger version

Place names in Colombia

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

Colombia - Administrative districts

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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

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Telephone numbers in Colombia

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   Note: This section last updated 11th November 2020

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

Properties with value Colombia

References

  1. ^ citypopulation.de/en/colombia/admin/ External 20230110

Every effort is made to keep this resource updated. If you find any errors, or have any questions or requests, please don't hesitate to contact the author.

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