Abstract Background Official statistics in Bulgaria, as well as a number of empirical studies, show wide spreading of behaviour risk factors and their associated diseases in Bulgarian population. Legislative measures and health promotion programs aim to curb the unhealthy behavior and to incite conscious healthy choices. The purpose of this report is to investigate the attitude of active age people to behaviour change and the barriers they encounter in its implementation. Methods Data were collected by direct individual self-administered questionnaire, within a larger research project on health of active population in Bulgaria. It includes 326 employees in a study representing different branches, companies and professions. Questions have asked about distribution of risk factors and attitude to potential behavior change. Data processing was performed by SPSS v.24. Results Number of people willing, considering or already making a change depends on the factor studied. Respondents ready to make a change in their diet are 44.6%. Over ¼ of them have already started or trying to confirm this change. In the last 12 months 56.3% have made efforts to improve their physical activity, but in 75.7% of cases the activities were irregular, low-intense and don't fully comply with WHO recommendations. The desire to improve physical activity is significantly higher in people performing intellectual work (p < 0.05). Although 47.5% of the study subjects identify themselves as smokers, 64.1% of them don't have a sense of risky behavior and have no intention to eradicate this habit, 9.8% consider that negative effects will not affect them and 26.1% define behavior change as a long, difficult, expensive and inconvenient process they can't cope with. Conclusions Study results confirm high distribution of behavior risk factors in Bulgarian active population. A conscious readiness for behavior change is closely related to the factor, professional characteristics of people and their health knowledge. Key messages There is a wide spreading of life-style risk factors in active age population in Bulgaria. Behavior change and adoption of healthy behavior is a necessity and a conscious choice for many people. A conscious readiness for adoption of healthy habits depends on the factor, knowledge about its harmful effect, profession, as well as difficulties that people face in the process of behavior change.