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Bolivia Country Guide
Explore Bolivia in South America
Bolivia with the capital city Sucre is located in South America (Central South America, southwest of Brazil). It covers some 1,098,580 square kilometres (slightly less than three times the size of Montana) with 9,247,000 citizens.
The terrain features rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin. The average density of population is approximately 8 per km². The notable climate conditions in Bolivia can be described as varies with altitude with humid and tropical to cold and semiarid. Potential natural disasters are flooding in the northeast (March-April).
To reach someone in Bolivia dial +591 prior to a number. There are 810,200 installed telephones. And there are 7,148,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks commonly support frequencies of 1900 MHz. Websites registered in this country end with the top level domain ".bo". If you want to bring electric equipment on your trip (e.g. laptop power supply), note the local power outlet of 220/230V - 50Hz.
About the flag and history of Bolivia
Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with the coat of arms centered on the yellow band; red stands for bravery and the blood of national heroes, yellow for the nation's mineral resources, and green for the fertility of the land note: similar to the flag of Ghana, which has a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band; in 2009, a presidential decree made it mandatory for a so-called wiphala - a square, multi-colored flag representing the country's indigenous peoples - to be used alongside the traditional flag.
Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and countercoups. Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982, but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug production. In December 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo MORALES president - by the widest margin of any leader since the restoration of civilian rule in 1982 - after he ran on a promise to change the country's traditional political class and empower the nation''s poor, indigenous majority. However, since taking office, his controversial strategies have exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous communities of the eastern lowlands. In December 2009, President MORALES easily won reelection, and his party took control of the legislative branch of the government, which will allow him to continue his process of change. In October 2011, the country held its first judicial elections to appoint judges to the four highest courts.
Geography Quick-Facts
| Summary | Continent: South America Neighbours: Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina Capital: Sucre |
| Size | 1,098,580 square kilometers (km² or sqkm) or 424,164 square miles (mi² or sqmi) slightly less than three times the size of Montana |
| Population | 9,247,000 |
| Currency | Name Boliviano, Currency Code:BOB |
| Country Top Level Domain (cTLD) | .bo |
| Telephone Country Prefix | +591 |
| Mobile Phone Connections | 7,148,000 |
| Landline Phone Connections | 810,200 |
Country Position in World Rankings
Information about single country attributes and how these compare against the rest of the world. The information below is compiled with data from 2013. As such, it may differ a bit to the Information above in the text (which is from 2010).
Geography
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 1,098,581 (sq km) | 28 |
People and Society
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 10,461,053 | 82 |
| Population growth rate | 1.63 (%) | 73 |
| Birth rate | 23.77 (births/1,000 population) | 67 |
| Death rate | 6.67 (deaths/1,000 population) | 143 |
| Net migration rate | -0.76 (migrant(s)/1,000 population) | 144 |
| Maternal mortality rate | 180.00 (deaths/100,000 live births) | 59 |
| Infant mortality rate | 39.76 (deaths/1,000 live births) | 58 |
| Life expectancy at birth | 68.22 (years) | 161 |
| Total fertility rate | 2.87 (children born/woman) | 67 |
| Health expenditures | 4.80 (% of GDP) | 147 |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 0.20 (%) | 95 |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 12,000 | 92 |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 1,000 | 67 |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 17.90 (%) | 109 |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 4.50 (%) | 92 |
| Education expenditures | 7.60 (% of GDP) | 16 |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | 9.20 (%) | 113 |
Economy
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| GDP (purchasing power parity) | 56,140,000,000 | 93 |
| GDP - real growth rate | 5.20 (%) | 57 |
| GDP - per capita (PPP) | 5,200 | 157 |
| Labor force | 4,718,000 | 83 |
| Unemployment rate | 5.50 (%) | 51 |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index | 53.00 | 14 |
| Investment (gross fixed) | 21.00 (% of GDP) | 83 |
| Taxes and other revenues | 45.90 (% of GDP) | 23 |
| Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) | 1.50 (% of GDP) | 24 |
| Public debt | 32.70 (% of GDP) | 107 |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 4.50 (%) | 127 |
| Central bank discount rate | 3.00 (%) | 103 |
| Commercial bank prime lending rate | 11.50 (%) | 71 |
| Stock of narrow money | 7,320,000,000 | 88 |
| Stock of broad money | 17,130,000,000 | 92 |
| Stock of domestic credit | 10,490,000,000 | 96 |
| Market value of publicly traded shares | 6,089,000,000 | 81 |
| Industrial production growth rate | 4.80 (%) | 62 |
| Current account balance | 271,800,000 | 51 |
| Exports | 11,770,000,000 | 88 |
| Imports | 8,180,000,000 | 107 |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | 13,690,000,000 | 68 |
| Debt - external | 4,200,000,000 | 125 |
| Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | 8,810,000,000 | 83 |
| Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | 8,000,000 | 91 |
Energy
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity - production | 6,940,000,000 (kWh) | 104 |
| Electricity - consumption | 6,301,000,000 (kWh) | 102 |
| Electricity - installed generating capacity | 1,317,000 (kW) | 117 |
| Electricity - from fossil fuels | 58.90 (% of total installed capacity) | 140 |
| Electricity - from hydroelectric plants | 39.30 (% of total installed capacity) | 56 |
| Electricity - from other renewable sources | 1.70 (% of total installed capacity) | 64 |
| Crude oil - production | 40,000 (bbl/day) | 65 |
| Crude oil - proved reserves | 209,800,000 (bbl) | 60 |
| Refined petroleum products - production | 314,700 (bbl/day) | 43 |
| Refined petroleum products - consumption | 45,840 (bbl/day) | 102 |
| Refined petroleum products - exports | 865 (bbl/day) | 113 |
| Refined petroleum products - imports | 14,150 (bbl/day) | 123 |
| Natural gas - production | 48,970,000,000 (cu m) | 20 |
| Natural gas - consumption | 8,590,000,000 (cu m) | 54 |
| Natural gas - exports | 40,280,000,000 (cu m) | 11 |
| Natural gas - proved reserves | 281,500,000,000 (cu m) | 42 |
| Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy | 13,290,000 (Mt) | 93 |
Communications
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Telephones - main lines in use | 879,000 | 83 |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 8,355,000 | 85 |
| Internet hosts | 180,988 | 75 |
| Internet users | 1,103,000 | 95 |
Transportation
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Airports | 865 | 7 |
| Railways | 3,652 (km) | 46 |
| Roadways | 80,488 (km) | 57 |
| Waterways | 10,000 (km) | 13 |
| Merchant marine | 18 | 98 |
Military
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Military expenditures | 0.90 (% of GDP) | 135 |
Data based on CIA facts book 2010 & 2013, wikipedia, national statistical offices and their census releases
List of current world heritage sites
| Name | Since |
|---|---|
| City of Potosí In the 16th century, this area was regarded as the world’s largest industrial complex. The extraction of silver ore relied on a series of hydraulic mills. The site consists of the industrial monuments of the Cerro Rico, where water is provided by an ... | 1987 |
| Fuerte de Samaipata The archaeological site of Samaipata consists of two parts: the hill with its many carvings, believed to have been the ceremonial centre of the old town (14th–16th centuries), and the area to the south of the hill, which formed the administrative and ... | 1998 |
| Historic City of Sucre Sucre, the first capital of Bolivia, was founded by the Spanish in the first half of the 16th century. Its many well-preserved 16th-century religious buildings, such as San Lázaro, San Francisco and Santo Domingo, illustrate the blending of local arc ... | 1991 |
| Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos Between 1696 and 1760, six ensembles of reducciones (settlements of Christianized Indians) inspired by the ‘ideal cities’ of the 16th-century philosophers were founded by the Jesuits in a style that married Catholic architecture with local traditions ... | 1990 |
| Noel Kempff Mercado National Park The National Park is one of the largest (1,523,000 ha) and most intact parks in the Amazon Basin. With an altitudinal range of 200 m to nearly 1,000 m, it is the site of a rich mosaic of habitat types from Cerrado savannah and forest to upland evergr ... | 2000 |
| Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre of the Tiwanaku Culture The city of Tiwanaku, capital of a powerful pre-Hispanic empire that dominated a large area of the southern Andes and beyond, reached its apogee between 500 and 900 AD. Its monumental remains testify to the cultural and political significance of this ... | 2000 |