Quick Facts about Bolivia
Once part of the Inca Empire, Bolivia has a population of 8 1/2 million*, 85% being either Indian or Mestizo–a mix of European and Native American ancestry. This is the highest percentage of Indian ancestory in the Americas. [*United Nations' 2005 estimate is 9 million.]
Bolivia has 3 official languages, Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara, but there are at least 26 language groups. Many in these groups are in remote valleys and jungles.
Above: A Quechua woman in Bolivia holds a child
in a traditional cloth called an aguayo.
Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon Bolivar, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825. Since then, much of its history has seen a series of nearly 200 coups and revolutions. In wars with its neighbors, Bolivia lost border lands, eventually making it a landlocked nation. A stable republic was finally installed in the early 1980s.
Bolivia has a young population. The median age is 20. Those under 14 years of age comprise 37% of the population. Nearly 90% of 16-year-olds can read–but at a 3rd grade level.
One of the world’s poorest nations, 70% of Bolivians live below the poverty line. The unemployment rate is over 7%, but there is much underemployment.
After 2 decades of relative peace, Bolivian society has been experiencing social unrest. Although free market reforms and privatizing of government monopolies had improved Bolivia’s economy, it has been affected by the decline of world markets, the increase of labor strikes, and persistent political and business graft. According to recent annual surveys by Transparency International, Bolivia has been identified as being one of the most corrupt nations in the world.
Bolivia also is the world’s third-largest cultivator of coca (after Colombia and Peru), most of it being made into cocaine and smuggled around the world.•
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