Bolivia

Find a country's flag, map or national anthem here. Click on a letter to find the country:

Bolivia

General Information
Geography
Government
Economy
Population
Health
Communications and media
Chronology


GENERAL INFORMATION

National name República de Bolivia/Republic of Bolivia Area 1,098,581 sq km/424,162 sq mi Capital La Paz (seat of government), Sucre (legal capital and seat of the judiciary) Language Spanish (official) (4%), Aymara, Quechua Religion Roman Catholic 90% (state-recognized) Time difference GMT -4 Major holidays 1 January, 1 May, 6 August, 1 November, 25 December; variable: Carnival, Corpus Christi, Good Friday


GEOGRAPHY

Major towns/cities Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Oruro, El Alto, Potosí, Tarija Physical features high plateau (Altiplano) between mountain ridges (cordilleras); forest and lowlands (llano) in east; Andes; lakes Titicaca (the world's highest navigable lake, 3,800 m/12,500 ft) and Poopó Airports two international airports and 28 other airports; total passengers carried: 1.8 million (2003 est) Railways total length: 3,700 km/2,299 mi; total passenger journeys: 367,000 (2003) Roads total road network: 60,762 km/37,756 mi, of which 7.1% paved (2003 est); passenger cars: 9.7 per 1,000 people (2003 est)


GOVERNMENT

Head of state and government Evo Morales from 2006 Political system liberal democracy Political executive limited presidency Administrative divisions nine departments Political parties National Revolutionary Movement (MNR), right of centre; Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), left of centre; Nationalist Democratic Action Party (ADN), right wing; Solidarity and Civic Union (UCS), populist, free market; Patriotic Conscience Party, populist Death penalty abolished for ordinary crimes in 1997; laws provide for the death penalty for exceptional crimes, such as crimes committed in wartime Armed forces 33,000; plus paramilitary forces of 37,100 (2006est) Conscription selective conscription for 12 months at the age of 18 Defence spend (% GDP) 1.9 (2005 est) Education spend (% GDP) 6.3 (2003 est) Health spend (% GDP) 4.3 (2004)


ECONOMY

Currency boliviano GDP (US$) 9.3 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 4.1 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 9.3 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 2,740 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 4.1% (2006 est) Unemployment 8% (2005 est) Labour force 5% agriculture, 28% industry, 67% services (2001) Foreign debt (US$) 6.2 billion (2005 est) Major trading partners Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, USA, Chile, UK Resources petroleum, natural gas, tin (world's fifth-largest producer), zinc, silver, gold, lead, antimony, tungsten, copper Industries mining, food products, petroleum refining, tobacco, textiles Exports petroleum, natural gas, zinc, soybeans, wood. Principal market: Brazil 35.3% (2005) Imports raw materioals and semi-manufactures, industrial materials, machinery and transport equipment, consumer goods. Principal source: Brazil 21.9% (2005) Arable land 2.8% (2006 est) Agricultural products coffee, coca, soybeans, sugar cane, rice, chestnuts, maize, potatoes; livestock products (beef and hides); forest resources


POPULATION

Population 9,353,800 (2006 est) Population growth rate 1.8% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 17 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 64 (2003 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 38%, 15–59 55%, 60+ 7% (2005 est) Ethnic groups 30% Quechua Indians, 25% Aymara Indians, 25–30% mixed, 5–15% of European descent Life expectancy 63 (men); 68 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 69 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 8 Literacy rate 93% (men); 81% (women) (2004 est)


HEALTH

Physicians (per 10,000 people) 7.3 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 1 (2003 est) HIV infection (% of population aged 15–49) 0.1 (2005 est) AIDS deaths <500 (2005 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 95 (urban); 68 (rural) (2002)


COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Landline telephones (per 100 people) 7.1 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 26.4 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 676 (1998) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 134 (2004 est) Personal computer users (per 100 people) 2.5 (2004 est) Internet users (per 100 people) 5.2 (2005 est)


CHRONOLOGY

c. AD 600 Development of sophisticated civilization at Tiahuanaco, south of Lake Titicaca. c. 1200 Tiahuanaco culture was succeeded by smaller Aymara-speaking kingdoms. 16th century Became incorporated within westerly Quechua-speaking Inca civilization, centred in Peru. 1538 Conquered by Spanish and, known as ‘Upper Peru’, became part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, whose capital was at Lima (Peru); Charcas (now Sucre) became the local capital. 1545 Silver was discovered at Potosí in the southwest, which developed into chief silver-mining town and most important city in South America in the 17th and 18th centuries. 1776 Transferred to the Viceroyalty of La Plata, with its capital in Buenos Aires. late 18th century Increasing resistance of American Indians and mestizos to Spanish rule; silver production slumped. 1825 Liberated from Spanish rule by the Venezuelan freedom fighter Simón Bolívar, after whom the country was named, and his general, Antonio José de Sucre; Sucre became Bolivia's first president. 1836–39 Bolivia became part of a federation with Peru, headed by Bolivian president Andres Santa Cruz, but it dissolved following defeat in war with Chile. 1879–84 Coastal territory in the Atacama, containing valuable minerals, lost after defeat in war with Chile. 1903 Territory lost to Brazil. 1932–35 Further territory lost after defeat by Paraguay in Chaco War, fought over control of the Chaco Boreal. 1952 After military regime overthrown in Bolivian National Revolution, Dr Victor Paz Estenssoro of centrist National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) became president and introduced social reforms. 1964 Army coup led by Vice-President Gen René Barrientos. 1967 Peasant uprising, led by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara; put down with US help; Guevara killed. 1969 Barrientos killed in plane crash; replaced by Siles Salinas; he was deposed in army coup. 1971 Col Hugo Bánzer Suárez came to power after military coup. 1974 Attempted coup prompted Bánzer to postpone promised elections and ban political and trade-union activity. 1980 Inconclusive elections followed by the country's 189th coup. Allegations of corruption and drug trafficking led to cancellation of US and European Community (EC) aid. 1982 Economy worsened; military junta handed power over to civilian administration headed by Siles Zuazo. 1983 US and EC economic aid resumed as austerity measures introduced. 1985 Inflation rate of 23,000%. 1993 Foreign investment encouraged as inflation fell to single figures. 1997 Hugo Bánzer elected president. 2000 Government lost support due to widespread poverty and stagnation of the economy; violent clashes between security forces and protesters, who called for resignation of President Bánzer. 2001 Bánzer's 1970s government linked to cross-border ‘dirty war’. Vice-President Jorge replaced Banzer as president. Banzer died in 2002. 2002 Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada became president for the second time. 2003 Demonstrators protested in La Paz against planned tax rises and clashed with army soldiers; more than 30 people were killed and over 100 injured; President Lozada suspended tax increases and ordered withdrawal of troops; he later resigned and was succeeded by Carlos Mesa. 2004 Protesters demanded Mesa's resignation after he signed a natural gas export deal with Argentina, pre-empting a July referendum on gas exports, in which voters approved greater state involvement in the industry and export of the resource. 2005 Rising fuel prices triggered large-scale antigovernment protests, bringing capital and government to a standstill. Mesa resigned and caretaker president sworn in. Socialist leader Evo Morales won December elections, becoming Bolivia's first indigenous president. 2006 Presidential decree put energy industry under state control; gas nationalization programme completed. Land reform bill, aimed at expropriating up to one-fifth of Bolivia's land for redistribution to the landless poor, narrowly approved by Senate. 2007 Morales initiated protest campaign after FIFA, the international governing body of football, banned international games at high altitudes (including Potosi and La Paz).


© Research Machines plc 2008. All rights reserved. Helicon Publishing is a division of Research Machines plc.