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Bolivia-Migration MIGRATION AND URBANIZATION





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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 Potosí 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 Potosí 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



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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