Time required to start a business in Bulgaria

Bulgaria: Time required to start a business was 23 days in 2019. ▼ Falling

Latest (2019)
23 days
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
41st
of 188 countries
All-time high
56 days
in 2008
All-time low
23 days
in 2016
Years of data
17
2003–2019

Time required to start a business in Bulgaria, 2003–2019

02040602003201120192003: 39 days2004: 39 days2005: 39 days2006: 39 days2007: 39 days2008: 56 days2009: 25 days2010: 25 days2011: 25 days2012: 25 days2013: 25 days2014: 25 days2015: 25 days2016: 23 days2017: 23 days2018: 23 days2019: 23 days

Source: Doing Business project, World Bank (2025) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in days.

Analysis

In 2019, time required to start a business in Bulgaria stood at 23 days. That is the lowest value across all 17 years on record.

The figure is down 8.0% over ten years.

Over the whole period, time required to start a business in Bulgaria peaked at 56 days in 2008 and was at its lowest, 23 days, in 2016.

Bulgaria ranks 41st of 188 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 17 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 39.43 days 25 days 56 days 7
2010s 24.2 days 23 days 25 days 10

Countries ranked near Bulgaria

  1. 38 Peru 26 days compare
  2. 39 Czechia 24.5 days compare
  3. 40 Uganda 24 days compare
  4. 41 Costa Rica 23 days compare
  5. 41 Kenya 23 days compare
  6. 44 Nepal 22.5 days compare

See the full ranking of 188 places →

More reference data data for Bulgaria

All data for Bulgaria →

Frequently asked questions

What is time required to start a business in Bulgaria?
Time required to start a business in Bulgaria was 23 days in 2019, according to Doing Business project, World Bank (2025) – processed by Our World in Data.
What is the highest time required to start a business recorded in Bulgaria?
The highest recorded value was 56 days in 2008.
What is the lowest time required to start a business recorded in Bulgaria?
The lowest recorded value was 23 days in 2016.
How does Bulgaria rank for time required to start a business?
Bulgaria ranks 41st out of 188 countries with data for 2019.
Is time required to start a business rising or falling in Bulgaria?
Over the last ten years it is down 8.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Bulgaria data come from?
The figures come from Doing Business project, World Bank (2025) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Time required to start a business. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 17 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Time required to start a business
Unit
days
Source
Doing Business project, World Bank (2025) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
188 places, 2,945 data points, 2003–2019
Last refreshed

Number of calendar days needed to complete the procedures to legally operate a business.