Bolivia is named after Simón
Bolivar, the great South American liberator. Bolivar led the
struggle to free Bolivia and the rest of South America from
Spanish colonial rule. He was also the author of Bolivia's first
constitution.
Government Information
Chief
of State: President Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (since
22 January 2006) Head of Government: President
Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (since 22 January 2006) Government Type: republic
Population Demographics
Population:
8,989,046 (July 2006 est.) Languages: Spanish (official),
Quechua (official), Aymara (official) Religion: Roman Catholic 95%,
Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5% Life Expectancy: 65.84
Economic Information
Currency:
boliviano (BOB) GDP(per capita): $2,900 (2005
est.) Overview: Bolivia, long one
of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries,
reformed its economy after suffering a disastrous economic
crisis in the early 1980s. The reforms spurred real
GDP growth, which averaged 4% in the 1990s, and poverty
rates fell. Economic growth, however, lagged again beginning
in 1999 because of a global slowdown and homegrown factors
such as political turmoil, civil unrest, and soaring
fiscal deficits, all of which hurt investor confidence.
In 2003, violent protests against the pro-foreign investment
economic policies of President SANCHEZ DE LOZADA led
to his resignation and the cancellation of plans to
export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves
to large northern hemisphere markets. In 2005, the government
passed a controversial natural gas law that imposes
on the oil and gas firms significantly higher taxes
as well as new contracts that give the state control
of their operations. Bolivian officials are in the process
of implementing the law; meanwhile, foreign investors
have stopped investing and have taken the first legal
steps to secure their investments. Real GDP growth in
2003-05 - helped by increased demand for natural gas
in neighboring Brazil - was positive, but still below
the levels seen during the 1990s. Bolivia's fiscal position
has improved in recent years, but the country remains
dependent on foreign aid from multilateral lenders and
foreign governments to meet budget shortfalls. In 2005,
the G8 announced a $2 billion debt-forgiveness plan
over the next few decades that should help reduce some
fiscal pressures on the government in the near term.
Exports: natural gas, soybeans
and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin Import: petroleum products,
plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared
foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans
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Geography
Information
Location:
Central South America, southwest of Brazil Area: total: 1,098,580 sq km
land: 1,084,390 sq km
water: 14,190 sq km
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. Comparatively 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 majority.
Independence Day: 6 August
1825 (from Spain)
Capital City: La Paz (seat
of government); Sucre (legal capital and seat of judiciary)
Administrative divisions: 9
departments (departamentos, singular - departamento);
Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Pando,
Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija
