Country Facts - Bolivia

The People

Nationality
Bolivian(s)

Ethnic Composition

Quechua	30%
Mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry)	30%
Aymara	25%
Caucasian	15%

Religious Composition

Roman Catholic	95%
Protestant (Evangelical Methodist)	5%

Languages Spoken

Spanish, Quechua, Aymara - (all official)

Education and Literacy

Adult literacy is 83.1 percent. Primary education, which lasts for eight years, is compulsory and free of charge.

Labor Force

Total: 2.5 million
By occupation:

Services	57%
Industry	26%
Agriculture	17%

Geography

Land Mass Total

424,164 sq mi (1,098,580 sq km)

Land

418,685 sq mi (1,084,390 sq km)

Water

5,478 sq mi (14,190 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 4,189mi (6,743 km)

Border countries: Argentina 516mi (832 km), Brazil 2,112 mi (3,400 km),
Chile 535 mi (861 km), Paraguay 466 mi (750 km), Peru 559 mi (900 km)

Coastline

Landlocked

Maritime claim

None

Climate/Weather

Varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid.

Terrain

Rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), rolling hills to lowland plains of the Amazon Basin.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Rio Paraguay 295ft (90 m)
Highest: Nevado Sajama 21,463 ft (6,542 m)

Natural Resources

Tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower.

Land use

Arable land	2%
Permanent crops	0%
Other	98%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Cold, thin air of high plateau is an obstacle to efficient fuel combustion, as well as to physical activity by those unaccustomed to it from birth; flooding in the northeast (March-April).

Environment - current issues

The clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the international demand for tropical timber are contributing to deforestation; soil erosion from overgrazing and poor cultivation methods (including slash-and-burn agriculture); desertification; loss of biodiversity; industrial pollution of water supplies used for drinking and irrigation.

Geography Note

landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru

Demographics

Population

8,445,134 (July 2002)

Age structure

0-14 years:	37.8%	Male; 1, 626,596	Female: 1,626,596
15-64 years:	57.7%	Male: 2,383,852	Female: 2,491,823
65 years and over:	4.5%	Male: 169,583	Female: 208,156

Growth Rate

1.69% (2002)

Life Expectancy

64.42 years (2002)
female: 67.1 years
male: 61.86 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$2,600 (2001)

Infant Mortality

57.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.82 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.98 male(s)/female

Net migration rate

1.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

Bolivia, long one of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries, has made considerable progress toward the development of a market-oriented economy. Successes under President Sanchez de Lozada (1993-97) included the signing of a free trade agreement with Mexico and becoming an associate member of the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur), as well as the privatization of the state airline, telephone company, railroad, electric power company, and oil company. Growth slowed in 1999, in part due to tight government budget policies, which limited needed appropriations for anti-poverty programs, and the fallout from the Asian financial crisis. In 2000, major civil disturbances in April, and again in September and October, held down overall growth to 2.5 percent. Bolivia's GDP failed to grow in 2001 due to the global slowdown and laggard domestic activity. Growth was expected to pick up in 2002, but the fiscal deficit and debt burden remained high. Currently, 63 percent of the population lives in poverty. The IMF has approved a US$1.5 billion debt relief program to be spread over fifteen years. However, Bolivia's debt is over 50 percent of its GDP, which will require additional foreign funding and economic belt-tightening to correct.

Unemployment

7.6% (2000)
Note: widespread underemployment

Inflation Rate

2% (2001)

Industries

Mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing.

Exports

US$1.2 billion (2001)

Imports

US$1.5 billion (2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
US$21.4 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

US 32%, Colombia 18%, UK 15%, Brazil 15%, Peru 6% (2000)

Top Import Partners

US 24%, Argentina 17%, Brazil 15%, Chile 9%, Peru 5 (2000)

Top Exports

Soybeans, natural gas, zinc, gold, wood

Top Imports

Capital goods, raw materials and semi-manufactures, chemicals, petroleum, food

Debt - external

US$5.8 billion (2001)

Economic aid

Recipient: US$588 million (1997)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	9a.m. to noon and from 2:30p.m. to 6:30p.m.	Some industrial concerns and companies work on Saturdays from 9a.m. to 1p.m.
Retail	9a.m. to 12:30p.m. and 3p.m. to 7:30p.m.	Saturday 10a.m. to 3p.m.
Banks	9a.m. to 11:30a.m. and 2:30p.m. to 6:30p.m.	Closed
Government	9a.m. to 5p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Carnival¹	February 26 to March 4	February 18 to 24	February 5 to 8
Good Friday	March 29	April 18	April 9
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Corpus Christi³	June 19	June 10	May 26
Independence Day	August 6	August 6	August 6
All Saints' Day	November 1	November 1	November 1
Christmas Day*¹	December 25	December 25	December 25
Bank Holiday	December 31	December 31	December 31

¹	Carnival takes place one week before the beginning of Lent. Mainly a Catholic observance.
²	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
³	Western Catholic feast commemorating the Eucharist, takes place 60 days after Easter, and is typically the time when believers take their first communion.
*¹	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press