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Bolivia Index
Migration has transformed social relations since the
1952
Revolution. Before the revolution, the average peasant's
horizons
were delineated by his or her village, those similar
settlements
surrounding it, and a nearby mestizo town. Contact with
the world
beyond was limited to an occasional trip to the landlord's
city
residence or his other haciendas. Few peasants had
actually lived
in a city, worked in the mines, or served in the military.
By the 1970s, however, most rural young adults could
expect to
spend at least part of their lives away from home. Many of
these
would migrate permanently to a city. Others would seek
occasional
wage labor to supplement their farm earnings. Some also
migrated
to foreign countries, seeking seasonal work on plantations
in
Argentina, in the ports of northern Chile, or in the
Brazilian
Amazon.
Rural-to-urban migration typically constituted a
lengthy
process. A peasant might begin by working in a city during
slack
agricultural periods. Young men and women often had their
introduction to the city through marketing their families'
farm
products. In addition, military service gave young men an
awareness of the larger society, as well as some
experience in
nonagricultural work.
Migration rarely represented a decisive break with the
community
of origin. Migrants maintained complex, ongoing, and
mutually
fruitful relations with their natal communities. They also
served
as liaisons with national society. The migrants' knowledge
of
Spanish and greater familiarity with the government
bureaucracy
were invaluable resources. Former residents became
particularly
important after the 1953 enactment of the Agrarian Reform
Law. In
addition to helping obtain land titles and working out
agreements
with the former landowners, they also continued to mediate
between their villages and the nation.
Aid from kin and fellow villagers was essential to the
success
of migrants. Earlier migrants assisted those who followed
by
providing temporary housing and help in finding work. Most
migrants belonged to an association of former residents of
their
native village. These organizations offered recreation and
assistance to migrants. The idiosyncratic job choices of
individual migrants spawned unique patterns of
occupational
specialization. The majority of the migrants from one
village,
for example, became tailors with the help of an early
migrant
from the same settlement. In other instances, regional
agricultural specializations formed the basis for
occupational
choices; butchers, for example, often came from
cattle-raising
areas.
Even highly successful, long-term migrants did not
sever their
ties with relatives and neighbors in the countryside.
Migrants
retained their rights to land. Women and children spent
years in
the village while husbands and fathers remained
semipermanent
city residents. Families routinely returned to the
countryside to
help during harvesting and planting. Grandchildren spent
their
vacations with grandparents in the village. Many migrants
continued to participate in community fiestas, concrete
evidence
of their willingness to continue to fulfill community
obligations
beyond those owed to kin.
Bolivian governments had long promoted the notion of
colonization, especially in the lowlands. Plans were first
put
forth in the 1830s, and formal proposals were outlined in
legislation in 1886, 1890, and 1905. Colonization did not
occur,
however, until after the 1952 Revolution. One of the goals
of the
victorious Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento
Nacionalista Revolucionario--MNR) was to provide a safety
valve
for population pressure in the Altiplano by promoting
"Bolivianization" of the frontier. Other objectives were
to
increase the production of domestic food crops and to
integrate
more farm families into the national economy. In the next
three
decades, both government-sponsored and spontaneous
settlements
fueled a population explosion. The main zones of growth
were the
region around Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz Department), the Alto
Beni
(Beni Department), and the Chapare (Cochabamba
Department). From
1900 to 1950, Santa Cruz's population grew at less than 1
percent
annually; between 1950 and 1976, however, the annual rate
climbed
to more than 4 percent. The sheer numbers of migrants
created a
land-rush atmosphere. In the province of Obispo
Santisteban
(Santa Cruz Department), authorities granted titles to 55
percent
more land than the province encompassed.
Because most migrants came from the overpopulated
Altiplano,
they entered sharply different environments. The Oriente
had a
highly distinct regional culture. A unique dialect of
Spanish,
known as castellano camba, identified Oriente natives.
Plantations in the region, unscathed by the land reform,
still
had a resident labor force, but it was not organized into
the
cohesive community characteristic of the traditional
hacienda.
Farming and herding in the Andes had little in common with
the
requirements of agriculture in the tropical lowlands.
Official settlement projects ranged in approach from
meticulously detailed planned colonies to the simple
provision of
a plot of land, some technical orientation, and assistance
in
gaining a land title. In general, government projects
suffered
from a lack of competent technicians, poor coordination
among the
various agencies charged with assisting the colonists, and
lack
of continuity at the upper administrative levels. Land
titles
were rarely granted within the amount of time specified on
the
project. Roads were neither completed nor maintained
according to
plans. About half of the colonists abandoned their plots
and
moved on
(see Land Reform and Land Policy
, ch. 3).
Only about 15 percent of the settlers who migrated to
the region
from the early 1950s through the early 1980s came as part
of
government-sponsored colonies. Nonetheless, spontaneous
settlements, too, suffered from the poorly developed
infrastructure. Migrants resorted to a variety of methods
to
produce cash crops and market them without losing most of
the
profit to intermediaries. In some colonies, settlers cut
their
own feeder roads. Like those in government-sponsored
settlements,
spontaneous colonists often had difficulty getting land
titles.
They lacked technical advice and access to agricultural
credit.
In general, however, spontaneous settlers managed to form
organizations and to develop sufficient organizational
savvy and
community spirit to deal with the logistics of
establishing farms
in the Oriente. Surveys found that income in spontaneous
colonies
averaged 75 percent higher than in government-sponsored
projects.
One of the fastest-growing colonization regions in the
1980s was
the Chapare, Bolivia's principal coca-cultivating area.
Major
reasons for the influx of colonists to this tropical New
Jersey-
size region were the completion of a United
States-financed paved
road from Cochabamba in 1972 and the take-off of the
cocaine-
exporting industry in the late 1970s. By 1985 the
population had
burgeoned to 120,000, as compared with 80,000 in 1981 and
26,000
in 1967
(see Narcotics Trafficking
, ch. 5). Some press
reports in
1988-89 cited Chapare population figures as high as
200,000. A
1981 survey found that most small-scale farmers in the
Chapare
were former highlanders, mainly from the upper Cochabamba
Valley
but also from PotosÃÂÃÂ Department, who resettled and cleared
land
for food and coca cultivation.
The Oriente also attracted small numbers of Italian,
Japanese,
Okinawan, and North American Mennonite settlers. In
contrast to
native Bolivians, these settlers were often more educated,
had
better technical training, came with more capital,
received
larger parcels of land in better locations, and had more
ongoing
support from their own governments or sponsoring agencies.
They
usually succeeded, although the turnover in a settlement's
early
years often nearly approximated the rates encountered in
government colonies.
The first settlers in a new community typically
consisted of a
group of men who began clearing plots. Most brought their
families to join them as quickly as possible; beginning
farming
in the tropical forest required the whole family's labor.
A
colony's founders were frequently kin and compadres; these
ties
helped create a spirit of cooperation and community
solidarity.
Settlers used the same kinds of strategies that had
permitted
Andeans to survive through the centuries. Colonization
itself was
an extension of the "vertical archipelago." Colonists
expanded
their regional ties by farming in the new settlement
zones. Like
rural-urban migrants, they maintained their links with
their home
villages. Kin sent gifts of food; colonists reciprocated
with
items of lowland produce. Those with land in the Altiplano
continued to farm it and spent a good portion of the year
there.
Community organizations were synonymous with the
community
itself in a settlement's early years. They agitated for
land
titles and maintained order, settling everything from
marital
disputes to property boundaries. They functioned as
self-made
extension agencies: their meetings were a forum for
sharing
experiences, organizing for joint endeavors, and
overcoming the
isolation of the frontier. The organizations' influence
often
waned as a community aged, reflecting both the
politico-economic
climate and the community dynamics. Solidarity declined as
some
settlers moved on and others spent more time away from
their
farms as wage laborers. New settlers, often members of a
different ethnic group, bought out the original colonists,
adding
another element of divisiveness.
The migrants' degree of success varied considerably.
Some were
supported by their families in the Altiplano, who did not
own
enough land for all their children but who could send a
son or
daughter to the Oriente. These moderately capitalized
migrants
became veritable entrepreneurs in the expanding Santa Cruz
economy. Many others simply transplanted a marginal
subsistence
holding from the Altiplano to the tropical forest.
Unsuccessful
colonists generally cleared subsistence plots, farmed them
for a
few years, and then sold out to more capitalized farmers.
Poorer
settlers moved farther on toward the frontier, often
clearing the
land with destructive methods. Many of these settlers
destroyed
tropical rain forests without conferring either the
advantages of
a stable system of swidden, or slash-and-burn, agriculture
(which
involved cutting down the forest, burning the dried
debris, and
planting crops over a period of two to three years) or
those of
permanent cultivation.
Although subsistence farmers entered the cash economy
to
purchase a few essentials, they found the terms of
exchange
distinctly unfavorable. Price uncertainty added to the
problems
generated by lack of knowledge of the tropical ecosystem.
Cheaper
subsidized credit was available only to farmers with land
titles.
Rural intermediaries controlled most marketing and took a
hefty
share of the profits.
The poor subsisted through a variety of stratagems.
Even with
the substantial increase in population, land reserves gave
poorer
families a sort of "safety net." A one- to two-hectare
subsistence plot formed part of an intricate mix of
income-
generating and subsistence activities. The rural poor
alternated
between seasonal wage labor and subsistence agriculture.
Some
lived in town part of the year and found employment as
street
vendors, cargo carriers, construction laborers, or
domestics.
The massive numbers of migrants had a pervasive impact
on
regional society. Cambas, native lowlanders, felt a
certain
resentment against the Altiplano migrants,
Kollas (see Glossary).
Each characterized the other group in predictably negative
terms.
Migrants were easy to identify on the basis of language or
accent. Discrimination against them ranged from poor
treatment by
shopkeepers to the refusal of service at restaurants.
Santa Cruz
natives of all classes made common cause against the
newcomers.
Regional loyalties cut across class lines. Occasionally,
landholders were able to recruit the support of cambas
through
appeals to regional solidarity.
Data as of December 1989
Migration
Migration has transformed social relations since the
1952
Revolution. Before the revolution, the average peasant's
horizons
were delineated by his or her village, those similar
settlements
surrounding it, and a nearby mestizo town. Contact with
the world
beyond was limited to an occasional trip to the landlord's
city
residence or his other haciendas. Few peasants had
actually lived
in a city, worked in the mines, or served in the military.
By the 1970s, however, most rural young adults could
expect to
spend at least part of their lives away from home. Many of
these
would migrate permanently to a city. Others would seek
occasional
wage labor to supplement their farm earnings. Some also
migrated
to foreign countries, seeking seasonal work on plantations
in
Argentina, in the ports of northern Chile, or in the
Brazilian
Amazon.
Rural-to-urban migration typically constituted a
lengthy
process. A peasant might begin by working in a city during
slack
agricultural periods. Young men and women often had their
introduction to the city through marketing their families'
farm
products. In addition, military service gave young men an
awareness of the larger society, as well as some
experience in
nonagricultural work.
Migration rarely represented a decisive break with the
community
of origin. Migrants maintained complex, ongoing, and
mutually
fruitful relations with their natal communities. They also
served
as liaisons with national society. The migrants' knowledge
of
Spanish and greater familiarity with the government
bureaucracy
were invaluable resources. Former residents became
particularly
important after the 1953 enactment of the Agrarian Reform
Law. In
addition to helping obtain land titles and working out
agreements
with the former landowners, they also continued to mediate
between their villages and the nation.
Aid from kin and fellow villagers was essential to the
success
of migrants. Earlier migrants assisted those who followed
by
providing temporary housing and help in finding work. Most
migrants belonged to an association of former residents of
their
native village. These organizations offered recreation and
assistance to migrants. The idiosyncratic job choices of
individual migrants spawned unique patterns of
occupational
specialization. The majority of the migrants from one
village,
for example, became tailors with the help of an early
migrant
from the same settlement. In other instances, regional
agricultural specializations formed the basis for
occupational
choices; butchers, for example, often came from
cattle-raising
areas.
Even highly successful, long-term migrants did not
sever their
ties with relatives and neighbors in the countryside.
Migrants
retained their rights to land. Women and children spent
years in
the village while husbands and fathers remained
semipermanent
city residents. Families routinely returned to the
countryside to
help during harvesting and planting. Grandchildren spent
their
vacations with grandparents in the village. Many migrants
continued to participate in community fiestas, concrete
evidence
of their willingness to continue to fulfill community
obligations
beyond those owed to kin.
Bolivian governments had long promoted the notion of
colonization, especially in the lowlands. Plans were first
put
forth in the 1830s, and formal proposals were outlined in
legislation in 1886, 1890, and 1905. Colonization did not
occur,
however, until after the 1952 Revolution. One of the goals
of the
victorious Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento
Nacionalista Revolucionario--MNR) was to provide a safety
valve
for population pressure in the Altiplano by promoting
"Bolivianization" of the frontier. Other objectives were
to
increase the production of domestic food crops and to
integrate
more farm families into the national economy. In the next
three
decades, both government-sponsored and spontaneous
settlements
fueled a population explosion. The main zones of growth
were the
region around Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz Department), the Alto
Beni
(Beni Department), and the Chapare (Cochabamba
Department). From
1900 to 1950, Santa Cruz's population grew at less than 1
percent
annually; between 1950 and 1976, however, the annual rate
climbed
to more than 4 percent. The sheer numbers of migrants
created a
land-rush atmosphere. In the province of Obispo
Santisteban
(Santa Cruz Department), authorities granted titles to 55
percent
more land than the province encompassed.
Because most migrants came from the overpopulated
Altiplano,
they entered sharply different environments. The Oriente
had a
highly distinct regional culture. A unique dialect of
Spanish,
known as castellano camba, identified Oriente natives.
Plantations in the region, unscathed by the land reform,
still
had a resident labor force, but it was not organized into
the
cohesive community characteristic of the traditional
hacienda.
Farming and herding in the Andes had little in common with
the
requirements of agriculture in the tropical lowlands.
Official settlement projects ranged in approach from
meticulously detailed planned colonies to the simple
provision of
a plot of land, some technical orientation, and assistance
in
gaining a land title. In general, government projects
suffered
from a lack of competent technicians, poor coordination
among the
various agencies charged with assisting the colonists, and
lack
of continuity at the upper administrative levels. Land
titles
were rarely granted within the amount of time specified on
the
project. Roads were neither completed nor maintained
according to
plans. About half of the colonists abandoned their plots
and
moved on
(see Land Reform and Land Policy
, ch. 3).
Only about 15 percent of the settlers who migrated to
the region
from the early 1950s through the early 1980s came as part
of
government-sponsored colonies. Nonetheless, spontaneous
settlements, too, suffered from the poorly developed
infrastructure. Migrants resorted to a variety of methods
to
produce cash crops and market them without losing most of
the
profit to intermediaries. In some colonies, settlers cut
their
own feeder roads. Like those in government-sponsored
settlements,
spontaneous colonists often had difficulty getting land
titles.
They lacked technical advice and access to agricultural
credit.
In general, however, spontaneous settlers managed to form
organizations and to develop sufficient organizational
savvy and
community spirit to deal with the logistics of
establishing farms
in the Oriente. Surveys found that income in spontaneous
colonies
averaged 75 percent higher than in government-sponsored
projects.
One of the fastest-growing colonization regions in the
1980s was
the Chapare, Bolivia's principal coca-cultivating area.
Major
reasons for the influx of colonists to this tropical New
Jersey-
size region were the completion of a United
States-financed paved
road from Cochabamba in 1972 and the take-off of the
cocaine-
exporting industry in the late 1970s. By 1985 the
population had
burgeoned to 120,000, as compared with 80,000 in 1981 and
26,000
in 1967
(see Narcotics Trafficking
, ch. 5). Some press
reports in
1988-89 cited Chapare population figures as high as
200,000. A
1981 survey found that most small-scale farmers in the
Chapare
were former highlanders, mainly from the upper Cochabamba
Valley
but also from PotosÃÂÃÂ Department, who resettled and cleared
land
for food and coca cultivation.
The Oriente also attracted small numbers of Italian,
Japanese,
Okinawan, and North American Mennonite settlers. In
contrast to
native Bolivians, these settlers were often more educated,
had
better technical training, came with more capital,
received
larger parcels of land in better locations, and had more
ongoing
support from their own governments or sponsoring agencies.
They
usually succeeded, although the turnover in a settlement's
early
years often nearly approximated the rates encountered in
government colonies.
The first settlers in a new community typically
consisted of a
group of men who began clearing plots. Most brought their
families to join them as quickly as possible; beginning
farming
in the tropical forest required the whole family's labor.
A
colony's founders were frequently kin and compadres; these
ties
helped create a spirit of cooperation and community
solidarity.
Settlers used the same kinds of strategies that had
permitted
Andeans to survive through the centuries. Colonization
itself was
an extension of the "vertical archipelago." Colonists
expanded
their regional ties by farming in the new settlement
zones. Like
rural-urban migrants, they maintained their links with
their home
villages. Kin sent gifts of food; colonists reciprocated
with
items of lowland produce. Those with land in the Altiplano
continued to farm it and spent a good portion of the year
there.
Community organizations were synonymous with the
community
itself in a settlement's early years. They agitated for
land
titles and maintained order, settling everything from
marital
disputes to property boundaries. They functioned as
self-made
extension agencies: their meetings were a forum for
sharing
experiences, organizing for joint endeavors, and
overcoming the
isolation of the frontier. The organizations' influence
often
waned as a community aged, reflecting both the
politico-economic
climate and the community dynamics. Solidarity declined as
some
settlers moved on and others spent more time away from
their
farms as wage laborers. New settlers, often members of a
different ethnic group, bought out the original colonists,
adding
another element of divisiveness.
The migrants' degree of success varied considerably.
Some were
supported by their families in the Altiplano, who did not
own
enough land for all their children but who could send a
son or
daughter to the Oriente. These moderately capitalized
migrants
became veritable entrepreneurs in the expanding Santa Cruz
economy. Many others simply transplanted a marginal
subsistence
holding from the Altiplano to the tropical forest.
Unsuccessful
colonists generally cleared subsistence plots, farmed them
for a
few years, and then sold out to more capitalized farmers.
Poorer
settlers moved farther on toward the frontier, often
clearing the
land with destructive methods. Many of these settlers
destroyed
tropical rain forests without conferring either the
advantages of
a stable system of swidden, or slash-and-burn, agriculture
(which
involved cutting down the forest, burning the dried
debris, and
planting crops over a period of two to three years) or
those of
permanent cultivation.
Although subsistence farmers entered the cash economy
to
purchase a few essentials, they found the terms of
exchange
distinctly unfavorable. Price uncertainty added to the
problems
generated by lack of knowledge of the tropical ecosystem.
Cheaper
subsidized credit was available only to farmers with land
titles.
Rural intermediaries controlled most marketing and took a
hefty
share of the profits.
The poor subsisted through a variety of stratagems.
Even with
the substantial increase in population, land reserves gave
poorer
families a sort of "safety net." A one- to two-hectare
subsistence plot formed part of an intricate mix of
income-
generating and subsistence activities. The rural poor
alternated
between seasonal wage labor and subsistence agriculture.
Some
lived in town part of the year and found employment as
street
vendors, cargo carriers, construction laborers, or
domestics.
The massive numbers of migrants had a pervasive impact
on
regional society. Cambas, native lowlanders, felt a
certain
resentment against the Altiplano migrants,
Kollas (see Glossary).
Each characterized the other group in predictably negative
terms.
Migrants were easy to identify on the basis of language or
accent. Discrimination against them ranged from poor
treatment by
shopkeepers to the refusal of service at restaurants.
Santa Cruz
natives of all classes made common cause against the
newcomers.
Regional loyalties cut across class lines. Occasionally,
landholders were able to recruit the support of cambas
through
appeals to regional solidarity.
Data as of December 1989
- Bolivia-The United States FOREIGN MILITARY ASSISTANCE IN THE 1980s
- Bolivia-Mission and Organization THE ARMED FORCES
- Bolivia-Natural Regions
- Bolivia-Mountains and Altiplano
- Bolivia-Attitudes Toward Antinarcotics Forces
- Bolivia-Altiplano, Yungas, and Valley Indians
- Bolivia-Rural Society SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
- Bolivia-RELIGION
- Bolivia-The Private Sector
- Bolivia-Revolutionary Nationalism: Ovando and Torres
- Bolivia-Informal Sector
- Bolivia-Radical Military Government PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION, 1935-52
- Bolivia-Lowlands
- Bolivia-Struggle for Independence INDEPENDENCE FROM SPAIN AND THE EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD, 1809-39
- Bolivia-The Rise of New Political Groups
- Bolivia-The Media
- Bolivia-Migration MIGRATION AND URBANIZATION
- Bolivia-Petroleum and Natural Gas
- Bolivia-General Procedures
- Bolivia-The Middle Class
- Bolivia-GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
- Bolivia-Regional Civic Committees
- Bolivia-Whites
- Bolivia-MINING
- Bolivia-Transition to Democracy
- Bolivia -COUNTRY PROFILE
- Bolivia-Electricity
- Bolivia-The "Sexenio," 1946-52
- Bolivia-Civic Action
- Bolivia-Formal Sector LABOR
- Bolivia-The Economy of Upper Peru
- Bolivia-Radical Reforms THE BOLIVIAN NATIONAL REVOLUTION, 1952-64
- Bolivia-The Banzer Regime
- Bolivia-State, Church, and Society
- Bolivia-HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY
- Bolivia-War of the Pacific FROM THE WAR OF THE PACIFIC TO THE CHACO WAR, 1879- 1935
- Bolivia-Chapter 1 - Historical Setting
- Bolivia-Mestizos and Cholos
- Bolivia-Reorganization of the Armed Forces, 1952-66
- Bolivia-Livestock
- Bolivia-The United States
- Bolivia-Other Foreign Military Ties
- Bolivia-Chapter 5 - National Security
- Bolivia-TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
- Bolivia-Fiscal Policy ECONOMIC POLICY
- Bolivia-The Military
- Bolivia-Coca
- Bolivia-Foreword
- Bolivia-Narcoterrorism
- Bolivia-Political Forces and Interest Groups
- Bolivia-Regional Police Structure
- Bolivia-Land Use
- Bolivia-Chapter 3 - The Economy
- Bolivia-Construction of Bolivia: Bolívar, Sucre, and Santa Cruz
- Bolivia-BOLIVIA
- Bolivia-The Peasantry
- Bolivia-SOCIETY
- Bolivia-Cash Crops
- Bolivia-Democracy and Economic Stabilization
- Bolivia-Military Justice
- Bolivia-Chapter 4 - Government and Politics
- Bolivia-Narcotics Corruption
- Bolivia-Early History EVOLUTION OF THE MILITARY ROLE IN SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT
- Bolivia-MANUFACTURING AND CONSTRUCTION
- Bolivia-Foreign Trade FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS
- Bolivia-The Presidency of Barrientos MILITARY RULE, 1964-82
- Bolivia-Revenues
- Bolivia-The Republican Party and the Great Depression
- Bolivia-POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND ECONOMIC DECLINE, 1839-79
- Bolivia-The 1989 Elections
- Bolivia-AGRICULTURE
- Bolivia-Crops
- Bolivia-Family and Kin
- Bolivia-The Counterinsurgency Decade
- Bolivia-NATIONAL SECURITY:
- Bolivia-The Unfinished Revolution
- Bolivia-Subversive Groups
- Bolivia-Land Reform and Land Policy
- Bolivia-Urbanization
- Bolivia-ETHNIC GROUPS
- Bolivia-Reconstruction and the Rule of the Conservatives
- Bolivia-POPULATION AND REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION
- Bolivia-Communications
- Bolivia-The Criminal Justice System CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- Bolivia-PRE-COLUMBIAN CIVILIZATIONS
- Bolivia-Conscription MANPOWER AND TRAINING
- Bolivia-CONSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND
- Bolivia-ECONOMY
- Bolivia-Special Police Forces
- Bolivia-EDUCATION
- Bolivia-Departmental and Local Government
- Bolivia-Farming Technology
- Bolivia-The Penal System
- Bolivia-Recruitment and Training
- Bolivia-The Third World
- Bolivia-Forestry and Fishing
- Bolivia-GEOGRAPHY
- Bolivia-Expenditures
- Bolivia-Acknowledgments
- Bolivia-Military Schools
- Bolivia-Organized Labor
- Bolivia-Air Force
- Bolivia-Foreign Assistance
- Bolivia-Preface
- Bolivia-Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies
- Bolivia-ENERGY
- Bolivia
- Bolivia-Civil Aeronautics
- Bolivia-Land Tenure
- Bolivia-Defense Budget
- Bolivia-Narcotics Trafficking THREATS TO INTERNAL SECURITY
- Bolivia-The Electoral System
- Bolivia-The Legislature
- Bolivia-Conquest and Settlement CONQUEST AND COLONIAL RULE, 1532-1809
- Bolivia-Incidence of Crime
- Bolivia
- Bolivia-The Legacy of the 1952 Revolution POLITICAL DYNAMICS
- Bolivia-Extradition
- Bolivia-The Judiciary
- Bolivia-Tin and Related Metals
- Bolivia-Transportation
- Bolivia
- Bolivia-Army
- Bolivia
- Bolivia-Structure of the Mining Industry
- Bolivia-Other Metals and Minerals
- Bolivia-Balance of Payments
- Bolivia-Banking and Financial Services SERVICES
- Bolivia-The Executive GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURE
- Bolivia
- Bolivia-The Soviet Union
- Bolivia-Military Intervention in Politics, 1970-85
- Bolivia-Bilateral and Legislative Antinarcotics Measures
- Bolivia
- Bolivia-Yungas and Other Valleys
- Bolivia-GROWTH AND STRUCTURE OF THE ECONOMY
- Bolivia-Chapter 2 - The Society and Its Environment
- Bolivia-The Legacy of the Chaco War
- Bolivia-Neighboring Countries
- Bolivia-The Chaco War
- Bolivia-GEOGRAPHY
- Bolivia-Lowland Indians
- Bolivia-Urban Society
- Bolivia-Navy
- Bolivia-INTRODUCTION
- Bolivia-The Liberal Party and the Rise of Tin
- Bolivia-FOREIGN RELATIONS
- Bolivia
- Bolivia-Debt
- Bolivia-The Upper Class
- Bolivia-Climate
- Bolivia-Impact of Narcotics Trafficking
Background | | Bolivia, 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.
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Location | | Central South America, southwest of Brazil
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Area(sq km) | | total: 1,098,581 sq km land: 1,083,301 sq km water: 15,280 sq km
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Geographic coordinates | | 17 00 S, 65 00 W
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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
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Coastline(km) | | 0 km (landlocked)
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Climate | | varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid
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Elevation extremes(m) | | lowest point: Rio Paraguay 90 m highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m
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Natural resources | | tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower
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Land use(%) | | arable land: 2.78% permanent crops: 0.19% other: 97.03% (2005)
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Irrigated land(sq km) | | 1,320 sq km (2003)
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Total renewable water resources(cu km) | | 622.5 cu km (2000)
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) | | total: 1.44 cu km/yr (13%/7%/81%) per capita: 157 cu m/yr (2000)
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Natural hazards | | flooding in the northeast (March-April)
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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
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Environment - international agreements | | party 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
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Geography - note | | landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru
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Population | | 9,775,246 (July 2009 est.)
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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.)
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Median age(years) | | total: 21.9 years male: 21.3 years female: 22.6 years (2009 est.)
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Population growth rate(%) | | 1.772% (2009 est.)
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Birth rate(births/1,000 population) | | 25.82 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Death rate(deaths/1,000 population) | | 7.05 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
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Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population) | | -1.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Urbanization(%) | | urban population: 66% of total population (2008) rate of urbanization: 2.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
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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.)
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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.)
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Life expectancy at birth(years) | | total population: 66.89 years male: 64.2 years female: 69.72 years (2009 est.)
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Total fertility rate(children born/woman) | | 3.17 children born/woman (2009 est.)
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Nationality | | noun: Bolivian(s) adjective: Bolivian
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Ethnic groups(%) | | Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%
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Religions(%) | | Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%
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Languages(%) | | Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census)
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Country name | | conventional long form: Plurinational State of Bolivia conventional short form: Bolivia local long form: Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia local short form: Bolivia
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Government type | | republic; note - the new constitution defines Bolivia as a "Social Unitarian State"
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Capital | | name: 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)
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Administrative divisions | | 9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija
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Constitution | | 7-Feb-09
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Legal system | | based on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; the 2009 Constitution incorporates indigenous community justice into Bolivia's judicial system
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Suffrage | | 18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21 years of age, universal and compulsory (single)
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Executive branch | | chief 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%
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Legislative branch | | bicameral 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
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Judicial branch | | Supreme 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)
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Political pressure groups and leaders | | Bolivian 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)
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International organization participation | | CAN, 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
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Flag description | | three 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
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Economy - overview | | Bolivia 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.
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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
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GDP (official exchange rate) | | $16.6 billion (2008 est.)
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GDP - real growth rate(%) | | 6.1% (2008 est.) 4.6% (2007 est.) 4.8% (2006 est.)
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GDP - per capita (PPP) | | $4,500 (2008 est.) $4,300 (2007 est.) $4,200 (2006 est.) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
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GDP - composition by sector(%) | | agriculture: 11.3% industry: 36.9% services: 51.8% (2008 est.)
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Labor force | | 4.454 million (2008 est.)
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Labor force - by occupation(%) | | agriculture: 40% industry: 17% services: 43% (2006 est.)
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Unemployment rate(%) | | 7.5% (2008 est.) 7.5% (2007 est.) note: data are for urban areas; widespread underemployment
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Population below poverty line(%) | | 60% (2006 est.)
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Household income or consumption by percentage share(%) | | lowest 10%: 0.5% highest 10%: 44.1% (2005)
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Distribution of family income - Gini index | | 59.2 (2006) 44.7 (1999)
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Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP) | | 18% of GDP (2008 est.)
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Budget | | revenues: $8.039 billion expenditures: $7.5 billion (2008 est.)
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Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%) | | 14% (2008 est.) 8.7% (2007 est.)
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Stock of money | | $3.998 billion (31 December 2008) $3.032 billion (31 December 2007)
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Stock of quasi money | | $6.339 billion (31 December 2008) $4.729 billion (31 December 2007)
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Stock of domestic credit | | $5.433 billion (31 December 2008) $4.759 billion (31 December 2007)
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Market value of publicly traded shares | | $NA (31 December 2008) $2.263 billion (31 December 2007) $2.223 billion (31 December 2006)
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Economic aid - recipient | | $582.9 million (2005 est.)
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Public debt(% of GDP) | | 45.2% of GDP (2008 est.) 46.3% of GDP (2007 est.)
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Agriculture - products | | soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber
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Industries | | mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing
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Industrial production growth rate(%) | | 10.6% (2008 est.)
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Current account balance | | $2.015 billion (2008 est.) $1.984 billion (2007 est.)
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Exports | | $6.448 billion (2008 est.) $4.49 billion (2007 est.)
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Exports - commodities(%) | | natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin
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Exports - partners(%) | | Brazil 60.1%, US 8.3%, Japan 4.1% (2008)
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Imports | | $4.641 billion (2008 est.) $3.24 billion (2007 est.)
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Imports - commodities(%) | | petroleum products, plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans
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Imports - partners(%) | | Brazil 26.7%, Argentina 16.3%, US 10.5%, Chile 9.5%, Peru 7.1%, China 4.8% (2008)
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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | | $7.722 billion (31 December 2008 est.) $5.318 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
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Debt - external | | $5.931 billion (31 December 2008) $5.385 billion (31 December 2007)
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Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | | $5.998 billion (31 December 2008)
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Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | | $NA
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Exchange rates | | bolivianos (BOB) per US dollar - 7.253 (2008 est.), 7.8616 (2007), 8.0159 (2006), 8.0661 (2005), 7.9363 (2004)
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Currency (code) | | boliviano (BOB)
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Telephones - main lines in use | | 690,000 (2008)
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Telephones - mobile cellular | | 4.83 million (2008)
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Telephone system | | general 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)
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Internet country code | | .bo
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Internet users | | 1 million (2008)
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Airports | | 952 (2009)
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Pipelines(km) | | gas 4,883 km; liquid petroleum gas 47 km; oil 2,475 km; refined products 1,589 km (2008)
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Roadways(km) | | total: 62,479 km paved: 3,749 km unpaved: 58,730 km (2004)
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Ports and terminals | | Puerto 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
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Military branches | | Bolivian Armed Forces: Bolivian Army (Ejercito Boliviano, EB), Bolivian Navy (Fuerza Naval Boliviana, FNB; includes marines), Bolivian Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana, FAB) (2009)
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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)
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Manpower available for military service | | males age 16-49: 2,295,746 females age 16-49: 2,366,828 (2008 est.)
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Manpower fit for military service | | males age 16-49: 1,666,697 females age 16-49: 1,906,396 (2009 est.)
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Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually | | male: 108,304 female: 104,882 (2009 est.)
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Military expenditures(% of GDP) | | 1.9% of GDP (2006)
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Disputes - international | | Chile 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
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Electricity - production(kWh) | | 5.495 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - production by source(%) | | fossil fuel: 44.4% hydro: 54% nuclear: 0% other: 1.5% (2001)
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Electricity - consumption(kWh) | | 4.665 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - exports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
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Electricity - imports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
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Oil - production(bbl/day) | | 51,360 bbl/day (2008 est.)
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Oil - consumption(bbl/day) | | 60,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
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Oil - exports(bbl/day) | | 10,950 bbl/day (2007 est.)
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Oil - imports(bbl/day) | | 6,172 bbl/day (2007 est.)
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Oil - proved reserves(bbl) | | 465 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
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Natural gas - production(cu m) | | 14.2 billion cu m (2008 est.)
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Natural gas - consumption(cu m) | | 2.41 billion cu m (2008 est.)
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Natural gas - exports(cu m) | | 11.79 billion cu m (2008)
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Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m) | | 750.4 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%) | | 0.2% (2007 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | | 8,100 (2007 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - deaths | | fewer than 500 (2007 est.)
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Major infectious diseases | | degree 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)
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Literacy(%) | | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 86.7% male: 93.1% female: 80.7% (2001 census)
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Education expenditures(% of GDP) | | 6.4% of GDP (2003)
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