Republic of Bolivia

National name: República de Bolivia

President: Evo Morales (2006)

Land area: 418,683 sq mi (1,084,389 sq km); total area: 424,164 sq mi (1,098,580 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 8,989,046 (growth rate: 1.5%); birth rate: 23.3/1000; infant mortality rate: 51.8/1000; life expectancy: 65.8; density per sq mi: 21

Historic and judicial capital (2003 est.): Sucre, 204,200; Administrative capital: La Paz, 1,576,100 (metro. area), 830,500 (city proper)

Other large cities: Santa Cruz, 1,168,700; Cochabamba, 815,800; El Alto, 728,500; Oruro, 211,700

Monetary unit: Boliviano

Languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara (all official)

Ethnicity/race: Quechua 30%, mestizo 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%

Religion: Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%

Literacy rate: 87% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $23.73 billion; per capita $2,700. Real growth rate: 3.4%. Inflation: 4.9%. Unemployment: 8% in urban areas with widespread underemployment. Arable land: 3%. Agriculture: soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber. Labor force: 4.22 million; agriculture n.a., industry n.a., services n.a. Industries: mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing. Natural resources: tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower. Exports: $2.371 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin. Imports: $1.845 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): petroleum products, plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans. Major trading partners: Brazil, U.S. Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, China, Japan (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 600,100 (2003); mobile cellular: 1,401,500 (2003). Radio broadcast stations: AM 171, FM 73, shortwave 77 (1999). Television broadcast stations: 48 (1997). Internet hosts: 7,080 (2003). Internet users: 270,000 (2002).

Transportation: Railways: total: 3,519 km (2004). Highways: total: 60,282 km; paved: 3,979 km; unpaved: 56,303 km (2002). Waterways: 10,000 km (commercially navigable) (2004). Ports and harbors:Puerto Aguirre (on the Paraguay/Parana waterway, at the Bolivia/Brazil border); also, Bolivia has free port privileges in maritime ports in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay. Airports: 1,065 (2004 est.).

International disputes: Chile rebuffs Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, offering instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile for Bolivian natural gas and other commodities.


 

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