NACE.BG: National Classification of Economic Activities in Bulgaria
NACE.BG (In Bulgarian: Класификация на икономическите дейности) is Bulgaria's official system for classifying economic activities, identical to the EU’s NACE system. It has a four-level hierarchical structure—Sections, Divisions, Groups, and Classes—used for statistics, business registration, and regulation. The latest version, NACE.BG 2025, reflects structural economic changes, including information and intermediation services. NACE.BG ensures alignment with EU standards while serving Bulgaria's domestic needs in economic analysis and policymaking.
Metadata
| Publisher type | National |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Jurisdictions | Bulgaria |
Versions
NACE.BG-2025 (Current)
NACE.BG-2025 took effect in Bulgaria on 1 January 2025. It is identical to the European Union's NACE Rev. 2.1.
Changes Between NACE.BG-2008 and NACE.BG-2025
NACE.BG-2025 maintained the structure of NACE.BG-2008 while expanding in detail with the addition of 36 new classes. Changes include the splitting of Section J of NACE.BG-2008 into two new sections in NACE.BG-2025: Section J (Publishing, broadcasting, and content production and distribution activities) and Section K (Telecommunications, Computer and Information Service Activities). The new section J considers the fact that the activities that make up this section are usually carried out together. Consequently, all other NACE.BG-2008 sections from section K onwards were moved one letter forward in NACE.BG-2025. NACE.BG-2025 also recognized the importance of intermediation services with the creation of several new groups and classes across sections. In transportation for example, these include 52.31 (Intermediation service activities for freight transportation) and 52.32 (Intermediation service activities for passenger transportation).
Structure of NACE.BG-2025
NACE.BG-2025 is structured into four levels, as follows:
Section: 22 sections identified by the letters A to V.
Division: 87 divisions identified by two-digit numerical codes.
Group: 287 groups identified by three-digit numerical codes.
Class: 651 classes identified by four-digit numerical codes.
The table below shows the number of divisions, groups, and classes in each of the 22 sections of NACE.BG-2025.
Section | Title | Divisions | Groups | Classes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
A | Agriculture, fishing and forestry | 3 | 14 | 39 |
B | Mining and quarrying | 5 | 10 | 15 |
C | Manufacturing | 24 | 92 | 232 |
D | Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply | 1 | 4 | 12 |
E | Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities | 4 | 6 | 11 |
F | Construction | 3 | 11 | 26 |
G | Wholesale and retail trade | 2 | 18 | 83 |
H | Transportation and storage | 5 | 17 | 30 |
I | Accommodation and food service activities | 2 | 9 | 11 |
J | Publishing, broadcasting and content production and distribution activities | 3 | 7 | 15 |
K | Telecommunication, computer programming, consulting, computing infrastructure and other information service activities | 3 | 8 | 9 |
L | Financial and insurance activities | 3 | 10 | 20 |
M | Real estate activities | 1 | 3 | 5 |
N | Professional, scientific and technical activities | 7 | 16 | 22 |
O | Administrative and support service activities | 6 | 18 | 32 |
P | Public administration and defense; compulsory social security | 1 | 3 | 9 |
Q | Education | 1 | 6 | 12 |
R | Human health and social work activities | 3 | 9 | 20 |
S | Arts, sports and recreation | 4 | 10 | 20 |
T | Other service activities | 3 | 12 | 24 |
U | Activities of households as employers, and undifferentiated goods and service-producing activities of households for own use | 2 | 3 | 3 |
V | Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 87 | 287 | 651 |
Resources
NACE.BG-2008 (Legacy)
NACE.BG-2008 was in force from 2008 to 2024. It is identical to the European Union's NACE Rev. 2.
Changes Between NACE.BG-2003 and NACE.BG-2008
The revisions from NACE.BG-2003 to NACE.BG-2008 mirror those between NACE Rev. 1.1 and NACE Rev. 2. Although the classification scope and rules were updated, the fundamental structure of the system was maintained. At the highest level, four new sections were introduced, incorporating elements from various existing sections, which reduced comparability between the two versions. A notable change was the combination of NACE.BG-2003 sections A (Agriculture, hunting and forestry) and B (Fishing) into a single, more detailed Section A (Agriculture, forestry and fishing) in NACE.BG-2008. Other new sections are Section E (Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities) and Section J (Information and communication), reflecting the increasing significance of recycling and information technology.
Structure of NACE.BG-2008
NACE.BG-2008 is structured into four levels, as follows:
Section: 21 sections identified by letters A to U.
Division: 88 divisions identified by two-digit numerical codes.
Group: 272 groups identified by three-digit numerical codes.
Class: 615 classes identified by four-digit numerical codes.
Resources
NACE.BG-2003 (Legacy)
NACE.BG-2003 was used in Bulgaria from 2003 to 2007. It is identical to the European Union's NACE Rev. 1.1.
Changes between NACE.BG-2001 and NACE.BG-2003
The revisions from NACE.BG-2001 to NACE.BG-2003 mirror those between NACE Rev. 1 and NACE Rev. 1.1. This was a minor update focused on updating industry definitions. There was a slight increase in detail across in all but the first level of the system.
Structure of NACE.BG-2003
NACE.BG-2003 is structured into four levels, as follows:
Section: 17 sections identified by letters A to Q and 31 subsections identified by two letters (AA-QA).
Division: 62 divisions identified by two-digit numerical codes.
Group: 224 groups identified by three-digit numerical codes.
Class: 514 classes identified by four-digit numerical codes.
Resources
NACE.BG-2001 (Legacy)
NACE.BG-2001 was used in Bulgaria from 2001 to 2002. It is identical to the European Union's NACE Rev. 1.
Changes between NACE.BG-1998 and NACE.BG-2001
The update from NACE.BG-1998 to NACE.BG-2001 restructured the Bulgarian classification system to align with the European NACE standard, adopting a four-level hierarchy as given below.
Structure of NACE.BG-2001
NACE.BG-2001 is structured into four levels, as follows:
Section: 17 sections identified by letters A to Q.
Division: 60 divisions identified by two-digit numerical codes.
Group: 222 groups identified by three-digit numerical codes.
Class: 503 classes identified by four-digit numerical codes.
Resources
NACE.BG-1998 (Legacy)
NACE.BG-1998 (official name: Национална отраслова класификация - HOK) was used in Bulgaria from 1998 to 2000. Although based on NACE Rev. 1, NACE.BG-1998 has a three-level structure, whereas NACE Rev. 1 has four levels. Moreover, the number of industries at each level differs between the two systems.
Structure of NACE.BG-1998
NACE.BG-1998 is structured into three levels, as follows:
Section: 78 sections identified by two-digit numeric codes.
Group: 280 groups identified by three-digit numerical codes.
Class: 599 classes identified by four-digit numerical codes.
Classifications Prior to NACE.BG-1998
Before switching to the NACE-based system in 1998, KOHC-86 was used in Bulgaria from 1986 to 1997.
Resources
Where is it used?
Bulgaria's national statistical institute (NSI) is the main user of the NACE.BG classification system, as the base of several key economic indicators, indices, and surveys conducted by the NSI. The system is also used by other public agencies for different analytical and administrative purposes.
Like other national industrial classification systems, NACE.BG codes could be added to databases of Bulgarian companies and used for different forms of market and investment research.
In academic research, NACE-BG codes have been used in the study of the local economic effects of multinational enterprises in Bulgaria, among other topics across disciplines.