Bolivia

mean elevation:

1,192 m

elevation extremes:

90 m lowest point: Rio Paraguay; 6542 highest point: Nevado Sajama

• a high altitude plain in the west between two cordillera of the Andes, known as the Altiplano, is the focal area for most of the population;
• a dense settlement pattern is also found in and around the city of Santa Cruz, located on the eastern side of the Andes

• flooding in the northeast (March to April) volcanism: volcanic activity in Andes Mountains on the border with Chile;
• historically active volcanoes in this region are Irruputuncu (5,163 m), which last erupted in 1995, and the Olca-Paruma volcanic complex (5,762 m to 5,167 m)

• 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

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

noun:

Bolivian(s)

adjective:

Bolivian

0-14 years:

31.34% (male 1,805,765 /female 1,737,647)

15-24 years:

19.37% (male 1,109,388 /female 1,080,662)

25-54 years:

37.9% (male 2,098,847 /female 2,185,890)

55-64 years:

5.96% (male 310,250 /female 363,403)

65 years and over:

5.43% (male 270,435 /female 344,054) (2018 est.)

total dependency ratio:

63.7 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:

53.1 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:

10.6 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio:

9.4 (2015 est.)

• a high altitude plain in the west between two cordillera of the Andes, known as the Altiplano, is the focal area for most of the population;
• a dense settlement pattern is also found in and around the city of Santa Cruz, located on the eastern side of the Andes

at birth:

1.04 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

0-14 years:

1.04 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

15-24 years:

1.03 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

25-54 years:

0.95 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

55-64 years:

0.86 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

65 years and over:

0.79 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

total population:

0.98 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

conventional long form:

Plurinational State of Bolivia

conventional short form:

Bolivia

local long form:

Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia

local short form:

Bolivia

etymology:

the country is named after Simon BOLIVAR, a 19th-century leader in the South American wars for independence

name:

La Paz (administrative capital); Sucre (constitutional [legislative and judicial] capital)

geographic coordinates:

16 30 S, 68 09 W

time difference:

UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

note: at approximately 3,630 m above sea level, La Paz's elevation makes it the highest capital city in the world

history:

• many previous;
• latest drafted 6 August 2006 to 9 December 2008, approved by referendum 25 January 2009, effective 7 February 2009;
• note - in late 2017, the Constitutional Tribunal declared inapplicable provisions of the constitution that prohibit elected officials, including the president, from serving more than 2 consecutive terms (2018)

amendments:

• proposed through public petition by at least 20% of voters or by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly;
• passage requires approval by at least two-thirds majority vote of the total membership of the Assembly and approval in a referendum;
• amended 2013 (2018)

citizenship by birth:

yes

citizenship by descent only:

yes

dual citizenship recognized:

yes

residency requirement for naturalization:

3 years

highest courts:

• Supreme Court or Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (consists of 12 judges or ministros organized into civil, penal, social, and administrative chambers);
• Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (consists of 7 primary and 7 alternate magistrates);
• Plurinational Electoral Organ (consists of 7 members and 6 alternates);
• National Agro-Environment Court (consists of 5 primary and 5 alternate judges; Council of the Judiciary (consists of 3 primary and 3 alternate judges)

judge selection and term of office:

• Supreme Court, Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal, National Agro-Environmental Court, and Council of the Judiciary candidates pre-selected by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly and elected by direct popular vote;
• judges elected for 6-year terms;
• Plurinational Electoral Organ judges appointed - 6 by the Legislative Assembly and 1 by the president of the republic;
• members serve single 6-year terms

subordinate courts:

• National Electoral Court;
• District Courts (in each of the 9 administrative departments);
• agro-environmental lower courts

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/appointments:

• president and vice president directly elected on the same ballot one of 3 ways: candidate wins at least 50% of the vote, or at least 40% of the vote and 10% more than the next highest candidate;
• otherwise a second round is held and the winner determined by simple majority vote;
• no term limits (changed from two consecutive term limit by Constitutional Court in late 2017);
• election last held on 12 October 2014 (next to be held in 2019)

election results:

• Juan Evo MORALES Ayma reelected president;
• percent of vote - Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (MAS) 61%;
• Samuel DORIA MEDINA Arana (UN) 24.5%;
• Jorge QUIROGA Ramirez (POC) 9.1%;
• other 5.4%

• Christian Democratic Party or PDC [Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez]
• Movement Toward Socialism or MAS [Juan Evo MORALES Ayma]
• National Unity or UN [Samuel DORIA MEDINA Arana]

name:

"Cancion Patriotica" (Patriotic Song)

lyrics/music:

Jose Ignacio de SANJINES/Leopoldo Benedetto VINCENTI

note: adopted 1852

agriculture:

29.4%

industry:

22%

services:

48.6% (2015 est.)

lowest 10%:

36.1% (2014 est.)

highest 10%:

36.1% (2014 est.)

general assessment:

• state-owned Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Entel) is the country's incumbent long-distance operator, and offers local telephone service, DSL, and satellite TV;
• its subsidiary Entel Movil is Bolivia's largest mobile network provider, reliability, and coverage have steadily improved, but some remote areas are still underserved;
• Entel plans to extend fibre to all 339 municipal capital cities by 2022;
• MNP (mobile number potability) launched in October 2018;
• Bolivian Space Agency planning to launch a second telecom satellite after 2020 (2018)

domestic:

• most telephones are concentrated in La Paz, Santa Cruz, and other capital cities;
• 8 per 100 fixed-line, mobile-cellular telephone use expanding rapidly and teledensity stood at 91 per 100 persons (2017)

international:

• country code - 591;
• satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean);
• Bolivia has no direct access to submarine cable networks and must therefore connect to the rest of the world either via satellite or through terrestrial links across neighbouring countries (2017)

• large number of radio and TV stations broadcasting with private media outlets dominating;
• state-owned and private radio and TV stations generally operating freely, although both pro-government and anti-government groups have attacked media outlets in response to their reporting (2010)

number of registered air carriers:

7 (2015)

inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 39 (2015)

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

2,578,959 (2015)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

9,456,548 mt-km (2015)

total:

3,504 km (2014)

narrow gauge:

3,504 km 1.000-m gauge (2014)

total:

90,568 km (2017)

paved:

9,792 km (2017)

unpaved:

80,776 km (2017)

total:

55 (2017)

by type:

general cargo 41, oil tanker 3, other 11 (2017)

• 16-49 years of age for 12-month voluntary male and female military service;
• Bolivian citizenship required;
• minimum age of combat is 18;
• 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 (2017)

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 productscontraband smuggling, human trafficking, and illegal narcotic trafficking are problems in the porous areas of its border regions with all of its neighbors (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru)

current situation:

• Bolivia is a source country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking domestically and abroad;
• rural and poor Bolivians, most of whom are indigenous, and LGBT youth are particularly vulnerable;
• Bolivians perform forced labor domestically in mining, ranching, agriculture, and domestic service, and a significant number are in forced labor abroad in sweatshops, agriculture, domestic service, and the informal sector;
• women and girls are sex trafficked within Bolivia and in neighboring countries, such as Argentina, Peru, and Chile;
• a limited number of women from nearby countries are sex trafficked in Bolivia

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List – Bolivia does not comply fully with the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• the government did not demonstrate overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts, and poor data collection made it difficult to assess the number of investigations, prosecutions, and victim identifications and referrals to care services;
• authorities did not adequately differentiate between human trafficking and other crimes, such as domestic violence and child abuse;
• law enforcement failed to implement an early detection protocol for identifying trafficking cases and lacked a formal process for identifying trafficking victims among vulnerable populations;
• specialized victim services were inadequately funded and virtually non-existent for adult women and male victims (2015)

• world's third-largest cultivator of coca (after Colombia and Peru) with an estimated 37,500 hectares under cultivation in 2016, a 3 percent increase over 2015;
• third largest producer of cocaine, estimated at 275 metric tons potential pure cocaine in 2016;
• transit country for Peruvian and Colombian cocaine destined for Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Europe;
• weak border controls;
• some money-laundering activity related to narcotics trade;
• major cocaine consumption