Bolivia

Location

• Central South America, southwest of Brazil
• landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru

Population

Notable Population Centers

City	Population	Note
La Paz	2,004,652
Santa Cruz de la Sierra	1,831,434
Cochabamba	841,276
Sucre	224,838	Capital
Oruro	208,684
Sacaba	180,726
Quillacollo	172,405
Tarija	159,269
Potosí	141,251
Riberalta	99,070

Size

• 424,162 square miles
• 1,098,580 square kilometers
• slightly less than three times the size of Montana

History

Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simón BOLÍVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825. Much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of coups and countercoups, with the last coup occurring in 1980. Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982, but leaders have faced problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug production. In 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo MORALES as president -- by the widest margin of any leader since 1982 -- after he ran on a promise to change the country's traditional political class and empower the poor and indigenous majority. In 2009 and 2014, MORALES easily won reelection, and his party maintained control of the legislative branch. In 2016, MORALES narrowly lost a referendum to approve a constitutional amendment that would have allowed him to compete in the 2019 presidential election. A subsequent Supreme Court ruling stating that term limits violate human rights provided the justification for MORALES to run despite the referendum, but rising violence, pressure from the military, and widespread allegations of electoral fraud ultimately forced him to flee the country. An interim government, led by President Jeanine AÑEZ Chávez, held new elections in 2020, and Luis Alberto ARCE Catacora was elected president.

Climate

varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid

Terrain

rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin

Languages

Spanish (official) 68.1%, Quechua (official) 17.2%, Aymara (official) 10.5%, Guarani (official) 0.6%, other 1.5%, unspecified 2.1%; note - Spanish and all Indigenous languages are official (2012 est.)major-language sample(s): La Libreta Informativa del Mundo, la fuente indispensable de información básica. (Spanish)The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

Religions

Roman Catholic 65%, Protestant 19.6% (Evangelical (non-specific) 11.9%, Evangelical Baptist 2.1%, Evangelical Pentecostal 1.8%, Evangelical Methodist 0.7%, Adventist 2.8%, Protestant (non-specific) 0.3%), Believer (not belonging to the church) 0.9%, other 4.8%, atheist 1.7%, agnostic 0.6%, none 6.1%, unspecified 1.3% (2023 est.)

Government

presidential republic

• Constitution: history: many previous; latest drafted 6 August 2006 to 9 December 2008, approved by referendum 25 January 2009, effective 7 February 2009amendment process: proposed through public petition by at least 20% of voters or by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly; passage requires approval by at least two-thirds majority vote of the total membership of the Assembly and approval in a referendum
• Political Parties and Leaders: n/a
• Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory
• Legal System: civil law system with influences from Roman, Spanish, canon (religious), French, and ethnic groups' pre-colonial law
• Executive Branch: chief of state: President Luis Alberto ARCE Catacora (since 8 November 2020)head of government: President Luis Alberto ARCE Catacora (since 8 November 2020)cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the presidentelection/appointment process: president and vice president directly elected on the same ballot one of 3 ways: candidate wins at least 50% of the vote, or at least 40% of the vote and 10% more than the next highest candidate; otherwise, a second round is held and the winner determined by simple majority vote; president and vice president are elected by majority vote to serve a 5-year term; no term limitsmost recent election date: 17 August 2025election results: 2025: First round election results: percent of vote - Rodrigo PAZ Pereira (PDC) 32.1%, Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramírez (LIBRE) 26.7%, Samuel DORIA MEDINA Auza (UN) 19.7%, Andrónico RODRÌGUEZ Ledezma (AP) 8.5%, Manfred REYES Villa (APB Súmate) 6.8%, Eduardo DEL CASTILLO (MAS) 3.2%, other 3%; note - PAZ and QUIROGA advance to a run-off election set for 19 October 2025 2020: Luis Alberto ARCE Catacora elected president; percent of vote - Luis Alberto ARCE Catacora (MAS) 55.1%; Carlos Diego MESA Gisbert (CC) 28.8%; Luis Fernando CAMACHO Vaca (Creemos) 14%; other 2.1%2019: Juan Evo MORALES Ayma reelected president; percent of vote - Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (MAS) 61%; Samuel DORIA MEDINA Arana (UN) 24.5%; Jorge QUIROGA Ramirez (POC) 9.1%; other 5.4%expected date of next election: 2030note: the president is both chief of state and head of governmentnote: elections were held in successive years in 2019 and 2020 because Juan Evo MORALES resigned from office on 10 November 2019 over alleged election rigging; Jeanine ANEZ Chavez served as interim president until the 8 November 2020 inauguration of Luis Alberto ARCE Catacora, who won the 18 October 2020 presidential election
• Judicial Branch: highest court(s): Supreme Court or Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (consists of 12 judges organized into civil, penal, social, and administrative chambers); Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (consists of 7 primary and 7 alternate magistrates); Plurinational Electoral Organ (consists of 7 members and 6 alternates); National Agro-Environment Court (consists of 5 primary and 5 alternate judges; Council of the Judiciary (consists of 3 primary and 3 alternate judges)judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court, Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal, National Agro-Environmental Court, and Council of the Judiciary candidates pre-selected by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly and elected by direct popular vote; judges elected for 6-year terms; Plurinational Electoral Organ judges appointed - 6 by the Legislative Assembly and 1 by the president of the republic; members serve single 6-year termssubordinate courts: National Electoral Court; District Courts (in each of the 9 administrative departments); agro-environmental lower courts
• Legislative Branch: legislature name: Plurinational Legislative Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional)legislative structure: bicameral

Demographic Profile

n/a

Economy

• resource-rich economy benefits during commodity booms; has bestowed juridical rights to Mother Earth, impacting extraction industries; increasing Chinese lithium mining trade relations; hard hit by COVID-19; increased fiscal spending amid poverty increases; rampant banking and finance corruption
• Budget: revenues: $11.796 billion (2019 est.)expenditures: $14.75 billion (2019 est.)
• Credit Rating: n/a
• Natural Resources: lithium, tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower
• Industries: mining, smelting, electricity, petroleum, food and beverages, handicrafts, clothing, jewelry
• Agricultural Products: sugarcane, soybeans, maize, potatoes, sorghum, rice, milk, chicken, plantains, beef (2023)note: top ten agricultural products based on tonnage
• Land Use: agricultural land: 35.8% (2022 est.)arable land: 5.1% (2022 est.)permanent crops: 0.2% (2022 est.)permanent pasture: 30.5% (2022 est.)forest: 46.5% (2022 est.)other: 17.6% (2022 est.)
• Labor Force by Occupation: n/a
• Imports
• Imported Commodities: refined petroleum, cars, pesticides, trucks, plastics (2023)note: top five import commodities based on value in dollars
• Import Partners: China 22%, Brazil 18%, Chile 13%, USA 7%, Peru 5% (2023)note: top five import partners based on percentage share of imports
• Exports
• Exported Commodities: gold, natural gas, precious metal ore, zinc ore, soybean meal (2023)note: top five export commodities based on value in dollars
• Export Partners: Brazil 15%, India 13%, China 11%, Argentina 11%, UAE 8% (2023)note: top five export partners based on percentage share of exports