IVF in Bulgaria
Last updated: March 2026
Bulgaria is not the most talked-about IVF destination in Europe, but the numbers are hard to ignore. IVF cycles from €1,380. Donor egg cycles for €3,500–€5,900. Anonymous donation by law. A 3-hour flight from London. For patients who’ve priced the same cycle in Spain or Greece, Bulgaria can look like a significant arbitrage. For many it is, if you go to the right clinic.
The country has one of the highest ART birth rates in Europe: 6.5% of all Bulgarian births in 2024 were via assisted reproduction, up from 1.2% in 2004 (Bulgarian Ministry of Health, 2024). That’s not a tourist statistic. It reflects a well-established domestic fertility sector that also treats international patients at prices locals pay.
Why Bulgaria
Price. A complete ICSI cycle at Dr. Shterev (one of Sofia’s main international clinics) costs €1,540, medications excluded. Add €600–€1,000 for drugs and you’re looking at a total well under €3,000. The same cycle in Spain typically runs €5,000–€7,000 all-in. For donor eggs, the gap is similar: €3,500–€5,900 in Bulgaria vs. €6,500+ in Spain or Greece.
Anonymous donation. Bulgaria has anonymous donation by law. No open-ID framework exists. For UK patients in particular, this matters: the UK has required open-ID donation since 2005, which has created donor shortages and waiting lists. Bulgaria, like Spain and Czech Republic, sidesteps this entirely.
No waiting lists. All clinics contacted by EuroFertile report no waiting list for international patients. Donor availability is not an issue. Bulgaria has a functioning national donor register with a 5-child cap per donor, managed by the Executive Agency for Transplantations.
Costs
| Treatment | Bulgaria | Czech Republic | Spain |
|---|---|---|---|
| IVF (own eggs) | €825–€2,400 | €720–€2,500 | €4,000–€6,000 |
| ICSI | €1,200–€2,500 | €900–€2,800 | €4,500–€6,500 |
| Donor egg IVF | €3,500–€5,900 | €4,500–€7,000 | €5,500–€9,000 |
| IUI | €300–€800 | €350–€800 | €800–€1,500 |
| Egg freezing | €700–€1,500 | €900–€1,800 | €2,500–€4,000 |
Dr. Shterev confirmed prices (from their website): IVF package €1,380; ICSI €1,540; IMSI adds €200. Medications not included. Budget an additional €600–€1,000 for a standard stimulation cycle.
Medications are excluded from almost every Bulgarian clinic’s quoted package price. This is consistent across the sector. Always get the all-in estimate including drugs before comparing.
State funding: Bulgaria funds up to BGN 6,000 (~€3,060) per fresh cycle for Bulgarian residents, up to 4 cycles, with 99% approval rate and ~94-day wait (2024 figures). Not available to foreign nationals.
Top Clinics
Dr. Shterev Hospital, Sofia
The most internationally visible fertility clinic in Bulgaria. Founded in 2004, with a dedicated international team, English-language website (international.shterevhospital.com), airport pickup, and translation services. Pricing is published: IVF €1,380, ICSI €1,540, meds excluded. No published success rates.
Nadezhda Women’s Health Hospital, Sofia
The highest-volume clinic in the country. Claims 60,000+ IVF cycles and 25,000+ babies born, running approximately 5,000 cycles per year. Staff speak English, French, German, Spanish, and Russian. Open 7 days a week. Treats patients with donor eggs up to age 53. Pricing via WhatClinic shows IVF from ~€3,365, higher than Shterev and likely a more comprehensive package. Strong independent reviews (4.9/5 from 36 verified WhatClinic reviews), including positive accounts from single women and same-sex couples.
Acibadem City Clinic Tokuda, Sofia
Part of the Turkish Acibadem international hospital group and the largest hospital in Bulgaria. Floor 9 is a dedicated IVF center using AI-based embryo evaluation. Strong international infrastructure. Prices not published. Likely at the higher end for Bulgaria. Better suited to patients who prioritise large-institution reliability over lowest cost.
New Life Clinic
Multiple branches across Bulgaria: Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv, and Burgas. English-facing international pages. The multi-city presence is useful for follow-up monitoring visits outside Sofia. Verify current pricing directly.
The Law
Bulgaria’s fertility legislation sits in the Health Act (Articles 129–136) plus Ministry of Health Order No. 28 (2007), aligned with EU Tissue and Cells Directive 2004/23/EC.
| IVF / ICSI / IUI | Legal |
| Egg donation | Legal, anonymous |
| Sperm donation | Legal, anonymous |
| Embryo donation | Legally unclear; sources conflict. Verify with clinic. |
| PGT-A / PGD | Legal |
| Gender selection | Illegal (except medical reasons) |
| Surrogacy | Prohibited |
| Egg freezing | Legal |
| Single women | Access expanded in 2023/2024 legislative update. Confirm in writing before booking. |
| Same-sex female couples | Access expanded in 2023/2024. Confirm in writing. No parental recognition for non-birth partner. |
| Age limit (own eggs) | State funding to age 43; clinics may treat older |
| Age limit (donor eggs) | Up to 51–53 depending on clinic |
| Donation anonymity | Anonymous by law; no future disclosure |
A note on access: As of the 2022 ESHRE legislation survey, Bulgaria restricted treatment to heterosexual couples. Multiple clinics have since indicated (and recent patient accounts confirm) that access was expanded to single women and female same-sex couples following a 2023/2024 legislative change. The official text of this amendment has not been independently verified by EuroFertile. If you are a single woman or part of a same-sex couple: contact the clinic, get written confirmation of what they can offer under current law, and consider independent legal advice before traveling.
Same-sex couples, parental rights: Even where treatment is available, Bulgaria does not legally recognise both parents in a same-sex couple. Only the birth mother is a legal parent. Second-parent adoption is not available under Bulgarian law. Get independent legal advice before proceeding.
Success Rates
Bulgaria reports IVF outcomes to the national MAR registry and to ESHRE, but clinic-level data is not publicly accessible. Unlike in the UK, the HFEA publishes per-clinic live birth rates. Bulgaria has no equivalent.
The most recent ESHRE aggregate data for Bulgaria (2019, covering 36 reporting clinics):
- IVF delivery rate per aspiration: 17.4%
- ICSI delivery rate per aspiration: 15.4%
These are below the EU average for that year. However, these are aggregate national figures across all clinics, all ages, and all patient profiles. The same caveat applies to any country-level number. The 2024 national press figure of 30% successful pregnancies per cycle suggests improvement since 2019, but that figure is not from a published registry source. (ESHRE European IVF Monitoring, 2019; Bulgarian Ministry of Health, 2024)
What this means in practice: You cannot compare Bulgarian clinics on published success rates the way you can compare UK clinics. Ask clinics directly for their data: live birth rate per embryo transfer, broken down by patient age group. Any clinic that refuses or provides only pregnancy rates should be treated with scepticism.
What to Watch Out For
No public success rate transparency. This is the biggest structural gap in the Bulgarian system. Budget for a consultation where you explicitly ask for the clinic’s own data.
Legal access uncertainty. If you are single or in a same-sex couple, the 2023/2024 legal change has not been officially documented in English. Confirm in writing with the clinic before booking anything.
Parental rights for same-sex couples. Not a fertility issue but a life issue. The non-birth parent has no legal standing in Bulgaria. Get a lawyer’s opinion on your home-country recognition of the birth before you start.
Anonymous-only donation. Children conceived with donated eggs or sperm in Bulgaria have no legal route to donor identity disclosure. Consistent with Spain and Czech Republic, but differs from the UK, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
Embryo donation. The law is unclear. If you have surplus embryos and are considering donating or adopting embryos, verify the current position in writing with the clinic and a local lawyer.
Package price vs. total cost. Bulgarian clinic prices almost universally exclude medication. Budget €600–€1,000 for drugs on top of the quoted cycle price.
Getting There
Sofia is the main hub. Sofia Airport has direct connections from 7+ UK airports (London Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Luton, Manchester, Edinburgh, and others) and 11 German cities. London to Sofia is approximately 2h45m–3h.
Varna (on the Black Sea coast) has a secondary fertility cluster with direct summer connections from several UK airports, though fewer year-round routes than Sofia.
For a donor egg cycle: most patients do 2 short trips. One for initial consultation and screening (or remote via your local gynaecologist), then 2–3 days in Sofia for the transfer. Monitoring is done at home with scans at your local clinic.
For a fresh own-egg cycle: plan 5–7 days in Sofia for stimulation monitoring, egg retrieval, and transfer. Some clinics allow remote monitoring for the stimulation phase with only the retrieval and transfer in Bulgaria.
Browse all Bulgaria clinics → | Compare costs across Europe → | All country guides → | Find your clinic →