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Bolivia-GROWTH AND STRUCTURE OF THE ECONOMY





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Bolivia Index

The Spanish arrived in what is present-day Bolivia in 1532 and replaced an Inca economic system based on collective agriculture, the ayllu (see Glossary), and economic tributes to a socio-religious hierarchy with a system dominated by the conquistadors and the Spanish crown. They organized the Indians into an encomienda (see Glossary) system in which they again paid tributes, now to conquistadors, and toiled in the silver mines of Potosí under a compulsory labor system called the mita (see Glossary). Through the exploitation of Indian labor, the Spanish by the mid-1600s had converted Potosí into South America's most populated metropolis (see The Economy of Upper Peru , ch. 1).

Independence in 1825 did little to improve the economic lot of Bolivia's Indian majority. Indeed, the already unfair distribution of land, a legacy of the encomienda system, was worsened when the government abolished the land tenure system of the Indian communities in 1866. The system that emerged was dominated by nearly feudal peonage rather than wage labor.

By the late 1800s, the silver industry had suffered a sharp decline and was replaced by tin mining. The tin industry benefited from the new rail access linking the country's mines to Pacific Ocean ports for the first time. The rail access to ocean ports had become crucial to the Bolivian economy by the early 1880s because Chile had seized the country's outlets to the sea during the War of the Pacific, 1879-80 (see From the War of the Pacific to the Chaco War, 1879-1935 , ch. 1).

Bolivia's tin industry boomed in the early twentieth century as the invention of the vacuum-packed tin can and the assembly of the automobile raised world demand for tin. By the end of World War I, the country was the world's second-leading producer, mining a fifth of global output. The unprecedented international demand for tin, the high concentrations of easily accessed tin in the new mines, low taxation, and cheap labor made the industry highly lucrative. The nation's tin industry and the economy at large became completely dominated during the 1920s by the Patiño, Hochschild, and Aramayo tin-mining families, who, along with the lawyers who defended them, were collectively known as the rosca (see Glossary). The rosca not only dominated economic affairs but politics as well, and it constituted a formidable elite in conjunction with the landed oligarchy that had developed since 1866. This class contrasted sharply with most of the country's poor citizenry who worked the marginal agricultural plots of the highlands or labored under appalling conditions in underground tin mines.

The Great Depression in 1929 and the devastating Chaco War (1932-35) with Paraguay marked the beginning of a period of growing disdain for the country's elite. The Great Depression caused tin prices to plunge, thereby hardening the plight of miners and lowering the profits of the rosca. During the Chaco War, highland Indians were enlisted to defend Bolivia's vast Chaco lowlands, with its rumored oil reserves (see The Chaco War , ch. 1). The war exposed highlanders for the first time to their nation's vast tracts of land. As Indians and organized labor began to play a more prominent role in national life after the Chaco War, mining and landed interests could no longer stop the momentum for social, economic, and political reforms.

The principal economic goals of the 1952 Revolution were land reform and the nationalization of the tin mines, both of which were swiftly enacted. Even before the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento Nationalista Revolucionario--MNR) could implement its Agrarian Reform Law on August 2, 1953, the long- oppressed Indians began to seize the latifundios. Two years into the reform program, the government accommodated 49 percent of all farming families who had claimed their traditional land.

The state also expropriated underutilized arable land. On October 31, 1952, the government nationalized most of the tin mines and legally transferred them to the Mining Corporation of Bolivia (Corporación Minera de Bolivia -- Comibol), which dominated mining activity until 1985. Much of the elite fled the country or resettled in the underpopulated department of Santa Cruz.

The MNR's postrevolutionary economic policies focused on the public sector, especially Comibol and the Bolivian State Petroleum Company (Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos-- YPFB), as the spearhead of economic growth. The MNR also promoted cooperatives, particularly in mining and agriculture, as an alternative to the latifundios. The government enacted social reforms, such as universal suffrage, and forged a greater role for organized labor in society. Although most of its economic policies were not conventional, the revolutionary government did accept a stabilization plan backed by the IMF in 1956 and 1957 in an effort to reverse negative growth and serious inflation.

Economic growth averaged 4.5 percent from 1965 to 1980, lower than the growth rate in most Latin American economies. Minerals still dominated the nation's economy, however; tin accounted for 40 percent of exports and 15 percent of government revenues as late as 1980. Natural gas and oil reduced that dependency somewhat beginning in the early 1970s, but not enough to insulate the economy from commodity price swings. Protracted disputes between the government and labor also characterized this period.

Economic growth accelerated during the 1970s, averaging 5.5 percent a year, one of the fastest rates of expansion in Bolivian history. This expansion resulted primarily from higher export commodity prices. Large public sector spending also spurred economic output as external financing cushioned budget deficits. The brisk rise in output also occurred in part because of sharp restrictions on organized labor imposed by the military government of Hugo Banzer Suárez (1971-78). Political stability and higher commodity prices in turn favored greater foreign investment, which also improved national accounts. Moreover, the government announced large reserves of oil during the 1970s. Although revised downward years later, the oil discoveries improved Bolivia's creditworthiness with foreign commercial banks.

The economic expansion of the 1970s also contributed to rapid growth of the Santa Cruz area. Partly because the government favored that region, but also because of increased colonization, higher cotton and soybean prices, and infrastructure developments, the area flourished. For a time, the city of Santa Cruz threatened to overtake La Paz as the nation's most important financial center.

By the 1980s, the public sector had ballooned to encompass 520 agencies, including 120 federal agencies and 50 state-owned enterprises or financial institutions. Comibol accounted for 65 percent of all mineral production, YPFB produced 80 percent of all oil and natural gas, and the government owned over half of the banking system's assets. The government also controlled the manufacture of glass, textiles, cement, dairy products, oils, and sugar, mostly through the Bolivian Development Corporation (Corporación Boliviana de Fomento--CBF), then the nation's principal development bank. Public sector corruption had become common, and certain government agencies increased their scope solely to expand their influence in the bureaucracy.

Bolivia's minor "economic miracle" of the 1970s began to weaken in 1978 when political instability returned in force. Several foreign commercial banks reassessed Bolivia's ability to service its nearly US$3 billion debt, most of which had been acquired by the Banzer government. External financing from private sources came to a complete halt by the early 1980s; in the absence of external financing to cover increasingly large budget deficits, the government opted for the inflationary policy of printing more money. The value of the peso dropped rapidly, and high international interest rates multiplied the debt.

By 1985 the nation's per capita income had fallen below 1965 levels, and rampant hyperinflation ravaged the Bolivian economy. Prices escalated so rapidly that inflation reached over 24,000 percent by 1985. Barter flourished as money was seen as virtually worthless. The coca and cocaine industry propped up the economy and flooded the financial system with United States dollars. In order to restore public confidence in the national currency, the Hernán Siles Zuazo government (1982-85) announced a "dedollarization" decree that outlawed the dollar deposits and loans used by 90 percent of the economy. The policy caused massive capital flight, burdened the banking system by forcing it to convert into greatly overvalued and essentially worthless pesos, and destroyed the nation's deposit base. From 1979 to 1985, successive Bolivian heads of state negotiated six tentative stabilization programs (paquetes económicos) with the IMF, but none was implemented because of the lack of political continuity and the strength of the political opposition (see Political Dynamics , ch. 4).

In August 1985, President Paz Estenssoro promulgated Bolivia's New Economic Policy (Nueva Política Económica--NPE). The NPE's main feature was the floating of the peso with the United States dollar (see Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies , this ch.). The plan also liberalized import policies by introducing a uniform tariff of 20 percent. In addition, the NPE called for a radical restructuring of the public sector, including the dismantling of the CBF, the laying off of 20,000 of Comibol's 27,000 employees, the partial privatization of the Mining Bank of Bolivia (Banco Minero de Bolivia -- Bamin), the reduction by one-third of YPFB's work force, and a virtual spending freeze for all state-owned enterprises. The policy also deregulated the economy, legalized dollars, eliminated subsidies, and lifted price controls. Although drastic, the NPE succeeded in suffocating rampant hyperinflation; within a few months, inflation had dropped to an annual rate of 10 to 20 percent.

The international tin market collapsed in October 1985, adding to Bolivia's problems with hyperinflation, recession, and austere stabilization. Declaring an end to the tin era, the government further encouraged the diversification and privatization of the economy. It also enacted a major tax reform measure in May 1986 that lowered the country's highest tax bracket from 30 to 10 percent and simultaneously instituted a general value-added tax (VAT--see Glossary). Economists generally perceived the 1986 tax reform as an important policy tool in continuing to stabilize the economy.

The crash of the tin market and the NPE's austerity program led to an estimated unemployment rate of 21.5 percent by 1987 (the unemployment rate had risen steadily from 5.5 percent in 1978 to 10.9 percent in 1982, 15.5 percent in 1984, and 20 percent in 1986.) In response, the government promulgated the Reactivation Decree in July 1987. Under the decree, the government created the Emergency Social Fund--financed in part by West European and Latin American governments as well as the World Bank (see Glossary) --to develop public works projects to activate the unemployed. The decree also fostered export activity by introducing tax rebates for exporters and by establishing the National Institute for Export Promotion. In addition, the 1987 reactivation measures included sophisticated financing schemes aimed at eliminating the country's debt with commercial banks (see Balance of Payments; Debt , this ch.).

Data as of December 1989



BackgroundBolivia, 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.
LocationCentral South America, southwest of Brazil
Area(sq km)total: 1,098,581 sq km
land: 1,083,301 sq km
water: 15,280 sq km
Geographic coordinates17 00 S, 65 00 W
Land boundaries(km)total: 6,940 km
border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,423 km, Chile 860 km, Paraguay 750 km, Peru 1,075 km

Coastline(km)0 km (landlocked)

Climatevaries with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid

Elevation extremes(m)lowest point: Rio Paraguay 90 m
highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m
Natural resourcestin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower
Land use(%)arable land: 2.78%
permanent crops: 0.19%
other: 97.03% (2005)

Irrigated land(sq km)1,320 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources(cu km)622.5 cu km (2000)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)total: 1.44 cu km/yr (13%/7%/81%)
per capita: 157 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazardsflooding in the northeast (March-April)
Environment - current issuesthe 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
Environment - international agreementsparty to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Life Conservation
Geography - notelandlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru
Population9,775,246 (July 2009 est.)
Age structure(%)0-14 years: 35.5% (male 1,767,310/female 1,701,744)
15-64 years: 60% (male 2,877,605/female 2,992,043)
65 years and over: 4.5% (male 193,196/female 243,348) (2009 est.)
Median age(years)total: 21.9 years
male: 21.3 years
female: 22.6 years (2009 est.)
Population growth rate(%)1.772% (2009 est.)
Birth rate(births/1,000 population)25.82 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Death rate(deaths/1,000 population)7.05 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population)-1.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Urbanization(%)urban population: 66% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 2.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
Sex ratio(male(s)/female)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: 0.79 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births)total: 44.66 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 48.56 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 40.57 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth(years)total population: 66.89 years
male: 64.2 years
female: 69.72 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate(children born/woman)3.17 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Nationalitynoun: Bolivian(s)
adjective: Bolivian
Ethnic groups(%)Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%

Religions(%)Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%
Languages(%)Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census)

Country nameconventional long form: Plurinational State of Bolivia
conventional short form: Bolivia
local long form: Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia
local short form: Bolivia
Government typerepublic; note - the new constitution defines Bolivia as a "Social Unitarian State"
Capitalname: La Paz (administrative capital)
geographic coordinates: 16 30 S, 68 09 W
time difference: UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
note: Sucre (constitutional capital)
Administrative divisions9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija
Constitution7-Feb-09

Legal systembased on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; the 2009 Constitution incorporates indigenous community justice into Bolivia's judicial system

Suffrage18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21 years of age, universal and compulsory (single)
Executive branchchief of state: President Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (since 22 January 2006); Vice President Alvaro GARCIA Linera (since 22 January 2006); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (since 22 January 2006); Vice President Alvaro GARCIA Linera (since 22 January 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for a single five-year term; election last held 6 December 2009 (next to be held in 2014); note - per the new constitution, presidents can serve for a total of two consecutive terms
election results: Juan Evo MORALES Ayma elected president; percent of vote - Juan Evo MORALES Ayma 64%; Manfred REYES VILLA 26%; Samuel DORIA MEDINA Arana 6%; Rene JOAQUINO 2%; other 2%

Legislative branchbicameral Plurinational Legislative Assembly or Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (36 seats; members are elected by proportional representation from party lists to serve five-year terms) and Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130 seats; 76 members are directly elected from their districts [7 or 8 of these are chosen from indigenous districts] and 54 are elected by proportional representation from party lists to serve five-year terms).
elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held 6 December 2009 (next to be held in 2015)
election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - MAS 26, PPB-CN 10; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - MAS 89, PPB-CN 36, UN 3, AS 2

Judicial branchSupreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms); District Courts (one in each department); Plurinational Constitutional Court (five primary or titulares and five alternate or suplente magistrates elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms; to rule on constitutional issues); Plurinational Electoral Organ (seven members elected by the Assembly and the president; one member must be of indigenous origin to six-year terms); Agro-Environmental Court (judges elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms; to run on agro-environmental issues); provincial and local courts (to try minor cases)

Political pressure groups and leadersBolivian Workers Central or COR; Federation of Neighborhood Councils of El Alto or FEJUVE; Landless Movement or MST; National Coordinator for Change or CONALCAM; Sole Confederation of Campesino Workers of Bolivia or CSUTCB
other: Cocalero groups; indigenous organizations (including Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Bolivia or CIDOB and National Council of Ayullus and Markas of Quollasuyu or CONAMAQ); labor unions (including the Central Bolivian Workers' Union or COB and Cooperative Miners Federation or FENCOMIN)
International organization participationCAN, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNASUR, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Flag descriptionthree equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with the coat of arms centered on the yellow band
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

Economy - overviewBolivia is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America. Following a disastrous economic crisis during the early 1980s, reforms spurred private investment, stimulated economic growth, and cut poverty rates in the 1990s. The period 2003-05 was characterized by political instability, racial tensions, and violent protests against plans - subsequently abandoned - to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large northern hemisphere markets. In 2005, the government passed a controversial hydrocarbons law that imposed significantly higher royalties and required foreign firms then operating under risk-sharing contracts to surrender all production to the state energy company. In early 2008, higher earnings for mining and hydrocarbons exports pushed the current account surplus to 9.4% of GDP and the government's higher tax take produced a fiscal surplus after years of large deficits. Private investment as a share of GDP, however, remains among the lowest in Latin America, and inflation remained at double-digit levels in 2008. The decline in commodity prices in late 2008, the lack of foreign investment in the mining and hydrocarbon sectors, and the suspension of trade benefits with the United States will pose challenges for the Bolivian economy in 2009.
GDP (purchasing power parity)$43.38 billion (2008 est.)
$40.88 billion (2007 est.)
$39.08 billion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate)$16.6 billion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate(%)6.1% (2008 est.)
4.6% (2007 est.)
4.8% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP)$4,500 (2008 est.)
$4,300 (2007 est.)
$4,200 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector(%)agriculture: 11.3%
industry: 36.9%
services: 51.8% (2008 est.)
Labor force4.454 million (2008 est.)

Labor force - by occupation(%)agriculture: 40%
industry: 17%
services: 43% (2006 est.)
Unemployment rate(%)7.5% (2008 est.)
7.5% (2007 est.)
note: data are for urban areas; widespread underemployment
Population below poverty line(%)60% (2006 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share(%)lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 44.1% (2005)
Distribution of family income - Gini index59.2 (2006)
44.7 (1999)
Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP)18% of GDP (2008 est.)
Budgetrevenues: $8.039 billion
expenditures: $7.5 billion (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%)14% (2008 est.)
8.7% (2007 est.)

Stock of money$3.998 billion (31 December 2008)
$3.032 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of quasi money$6.339 billion (31 December 2008)
$4.729 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of domestic credit$5.433 billion (31 December 2008)
$4.759 billion (31 December 2007)
Market value of publicly traded shares$NA (31 December 2008)
$2.263 billion (31 December 2007)
$2.223 billion (31 December 2006)
Economic aid - recipient$582.9 million (2005 est.)

Public debt(% of GDP)45.2% of GDP (2008 est.)
46.3% of GDP (2007 est.)
Agriculture - productssoybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber
Industriesmining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing

Industrial production growth rate(%)10.6% (2008 est.)

Current account balance$2.015 billion (2008 est.)
$1.984 billion (2007 est.)
Exports$6.448 billion (2008 est.)
$4.49 billion (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities(%)natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin
Exports - partners(%)Brazil 60.1%, US 8.3%, Japan 4.1% (2008)
Imports$4.641 billion (2008 est.)
$3.24 billion (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities(%)petroleum products, plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans
Imports - partners(%)Brazil 26.7%, Argentina 16.3%, US 10.5%, Chile 9.5%, Peru 7.1%, China 4.8% (2008)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold$7.722 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$5.318 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt - external$5.931 billion (31 December 2008)
$5.385 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home$5.998 billion (31 December 2008)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad$NA
Exchange ratesbolivianos (BOB) per US dollar - 7.253 (2008 est.), 7.8616 (2007), 8.0159 (2006), 8.0661 (2005), 7.9363 (2004)

Currency (code)boliviano (BOB)

Telephones - main lines in use690,000 (2008)
Telephones - mobile cellular4.83 million (2008)
Telephone systemgeneral assessment: privatization begun in 1995; reliability has steadily improved; new subscribers face bureaucratic difficulties; most telephones are concentrated in La Paz and other cities; mobile-cellular telephone use expanding rapidly; fixed-line teledensity of 7 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone density slighly exceeds 50 per 100 persons
domestic: primary trunk system, which is being expanded, employs digital microwave radio relay; some areas are served by fiber-optic cable; mobile cellular systems are being expanded
international: country code - 591; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2008)
Internet country code.bo
Internet users1 million (2008)
Airports952 (2009)
Pipelines(km)gas 4,883 km; liquid petroleum gas 47 km; oil 2,475 km; refined products 1,589 km (2008)
Roadways(km)total: 62,479 km
paved: 3,749 km
unpaved: 58,730 km (2004)

Ports and terminalsPuerto Aguirre (inland port on the Paraguay/Parana waterway at the Bolivia/Brazil border); Bolivia has free port privileges in maritime ports in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay
Military branchesBolivian Armed Forces: Bolivian Army (Ejercito Boliviano, EB), Bolivian Navy (Fuerza Naval Boliviana, FNB; includes marines), Bolivian Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana, FAB) (2009)
Military service age and obligation(years of age)18-49 years of age for 12-month compulsory military service; when annual number of volunteers falls short of goal, compulsory recruitment is effected, including conscription of boys as young as 14; 15-19 years of age for voluntary premilitary service, provides exemption from further military service (2009)
Manpower available for military servicemales age 16-49: 2,295,746
females age 16-49: 2,366,828 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military servicemales age 16-49: 1,666,697
females age 16-49: 1,906,396 (2009 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annuallymale: 108,304
female: 104,882 (2009 est.)
Military expenditures(% of GDP)1.9% of GDP (2006)
Disputes - internationalChile and Peru rebuff Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, but Chile offers instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile for Bolivian natural gas and other commodities; an accord placed the long-disputed Isla Suarez/Ilha de Guajara-Mirim, a fluvial island on the Rio Mamore, under Bolivian administration in 1958, but sovereignty remains in dispute

Electricity - production(kWh)5.495 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - production by source(%)fossil fuel: 44.4%
hydro: 54%
nuclear: 0%
other: 1.5% (2001)
Electricity - consumption(kWh)4.665 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - exports(kWh)0 kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - imports(kWh)0 kWh (2008 est.)
Oil - production(bbl/day)51,360 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Oil - consumption(bbl/day)60,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Oil - exports(bbl/day)10,950 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - imports(bbl/day)6,172 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - proved reserves(bbl)465 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
Natural gas - production(cu m)14.2 billion cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - consumption(cu m)2.41 billion cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - exports(cu m)11.79 billion cu m (2008)
Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m)750.4 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%)0.2% (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS8,100 (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deathsfewer than 500 (2007 est.)
Major infectious diseasesdegree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and yellow fever
water contact disease: leptospirosis (2009)
Literacy(%)definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 86.7%
male: 93.1%
female: 80.7% (2001 census)

Education expenditures(% of GDP)6.4% of GDP (2003)








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