Bolivia (2001) | Burundi (2003) | |
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Administrative divisions | 9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Beni, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija | 16 provinces; Bubanza, Bujumbura, Bururi, Cankuzo, Cibitoke, Gitega, Karuzi, Kayanza, Kirundo, Makamba, Muramvya, Muyinga, Mwaro, Ngozi, Rutana, Ruyigi |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
38.46% (male 1,626,698; female 1,565,748) 15-64 years: 57.07% (male 2,315,098; female 2,421,987) 65 years and over: 4.47% (male 166,986; female 203,946) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years: 46.7% (male 1,438,759; female 1,409,567)
15-64 years: 50.6% (male 1,516,833; female 1,564,513) 65 years and over: 2.7% (male 66,355; female 100,129) (2003 est.) |
Agriculture - products | soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber | coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca); beef, milk, hides |
Airports | 1,093 (2000 est.) | 7 (2002) |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
13 over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2000 est.) |
total: 1
over 3,047 m: 1 (2002) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
1,080 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 65 914 to 1,523 m: 212 under 914 m: 800 (2000 est.) |
total: 6
914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 3 (2002) |
Area | total:
1,098,580 sq km land: 1,084,390 sq km water: 14,190 sq km |
total: 27,830 sq km
land: 25,650 sq km water: 2,180 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly less than three times the size of Montana | slightly smaller than Maryland |
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 counter-coups. Comparatively democratic civilian rule was established in the 1980s, but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and drug production. Current goals include attracting foreign investment, strengthening the educational system, continuing the privatization program, and waging an anti-corruption campaign. | Burundi's first democratically elected president was assassinated in October 1993 after only four months in office. Since then, some 200,000 Burundians have perished in widespread, often intense ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi factions. Hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced or have become refugees in neighboring countries. Burundi troops, seeking to secure their borders, intervened in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1998. More recently, many of these troops have been redeployed back to Burundi to deal with periodic upsurges in rebel activity. A new transitional government, inaugurated on 1 November 2001, was to be the first step toward holding national elections in three years. While the Government of Burundi signed a cease-fire agreement in December 2002 with three of Burundi's four Hutu rebel groups, implementation of the agreement has been problematic and one rebel group refuses to sign on, clouding prospects for a sustainable peace. |
Birth rate | 27.27 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 39.72 births/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$2.7 billion expenditures: $2.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998) |
revenues: $125 million
expenditures: $176 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.) |
Capital | La Paz (seat of government); Sucre (legal capital and seat of judiciary) | Bujumbura |
Climate | varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid | equatorial; high plateau with considerable altitude variation (772 m to 2,670 m above sea level); average annual temperature varies with altitude from 23 to 17 degrees centigrade but is generally moderate as the average altitude is about 1,700 m; average annual rainfall is about 150 cm; wet seasons from February to May and September to November, and dry seasons from June to August and December to January |
Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 0 km (landlocked) |
Constitution | 2 February 1967; revised in August 1994 | 13 March 1992; provided for establishment of a plural political system; supplanted on 6 June 1998 by a Transitional Constitution which enlarged the National Assembly and created two vice presidents |
Country name | conventional long form:
Republic of Bolivia conventional short form: Bolivia local long form: Republica de Bolivia local short form: Bolivia |
conventional long form: Republic of Burundi
conventional short form: Burundi local long form: Republika y'u Burundi local short form: Burundi former: Urundi |
Currency | boliviano (BOB) | Burundi franc (BIF) |
Death rate | 8.2 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 17.8 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Debt - external | $6.6 billion (2000) | $1.14 billion (2001) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador V. Manuel ROCHA embassy: Avenida Arce 2780, San Jorge, La Paz mailing address: P. O. Box 425, La Paz; APO AA 34032 telephone: [591] (2) 432254 FAX: [591] (2) 433854 |
chief of mission: Ambassador James Howard YELLIN
embassy: Avenue des Etats-Unis, Bujumbura mailing address: B. P. 1720, Bujumbura telephone: [257] 223454 FAX: [257] 222926 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Marlene FERNANDEZ del Granado chancery: 3014 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 483-4410 FAX: [1] (202) 328-3712 consulate(s) general: Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco |
chief of mission: Ambassador Antoine NTAMOBWA
chancery: Suite 212, 2233 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 342-2574 FAX: [1] (202) 342-2578 |
Disputes - international | has wanted a sovereign corridor to the South Pacific Ocean since the Atacama area was lost to Chile in 1884; dispute with Chile over Rio Lauca water rights | Tutsi, Hutu, and other conflicting ethnic groups, associated political rebels, armed gangs, and various government forces continue fighting in the Great Lakes region, transcending the boundaries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda to gain control over populated and natural resource areas; government heads pledge to end conflict, but localized violence continues despite UN peacekeeping efforts |
Economic aid - recipient | $588 million (1997) | $92.7 million (2000) |
Economy - overview | Bolivia, long one of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries, has made considerable progress toward the development of a market-oriented economy. Successes under President SANCHEZ DE LOZADA (1993-97) included the signing of a free trade agreement with Mexico and joining the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur), as well as the privatization of the state airline, telephone company, railroad, electric power company, and oil company. His successor, Hugo BANZER Suarez has tried to further improve the country's investment climate with an anticorruption campaign. Growth slowed in 1999, in part due to tight government budget policies, which limited needed appropriations for anti-poverty programs, and the fallout from the Asian financial crisis. In 2000, major civil disturbances in April, and again in September and October, held down overall growth to 2.5%. | Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural with roughly 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture. Economic growth depends on coffee and tea exports, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings. The ability to pay for imports, therefore, rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the government and the coffee trade at the expense of the Hutu majority, 85% of the population. Since October 1993 an ethnic-based war has resulted in the death of over 200,000 persons, sent 800,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 525,000 others internally. Doubts about the prospects for sustainable peace continue to impede development. Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in ten adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply. |
Electricity - consumption | 3.377 billion kWh (1999) | 177.5 million kWh (2001) |
Electricity - exports | 4 million kWh (1999) | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - imports | 10 million kWh (1999) | 33 million kWh; note - supplied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2001) |
Electricity - production | 3.625 billion kWh (1999) | 155.4 million kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
56.61% hydro: 41.6% nuclear: 0% other: 1.79% (1999) |
fossil fuel: 0.6%
hydro: 99.4% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Rio Paraguay 90 m highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m |
lowest point: Lake Tanganyika 772 m
highest point: Mount Heha 2,670 m |
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 | soil erosion as a result of overgrazing and the expansion of agriculture into marginal lands; deforestation (little forested land remains because of uncontrolled cutting of trees for fuel); habitat loss threatens wildlife populations |
Environment - international agreements | party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban |
Ethnic groups | Quechua 30%, Aymara 25%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, white 15% | Hutu (Bantu) 85%, Tutsi (Hamitic) 14%, Twa (Pygmy) 1%, Europeans 3,000, South Asians 2,000 |
Exchange rates | bolivianos per US dollar - 6.4071 (January 2001), 6.1835 (2000), 5.8124 (1999), 5.5101 (1998), 5.2543 (1997), 5.0746 (1996) | Burundi francs per US dollar - NA (2002), 830.35 (2001), 720.67 (2000), 563.56 (1999), 447.77 (1998) |
Executive branch | chief of state:
President Hugo BANZER Suarez (since 6 August 1997); Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez (since 6 August 1997); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Hugo BANZER Suarez (since 6 August 1997); Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez (since 6 August 1997); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 1 June 1997 (next to be held May or June 2002) election results: Hugo BANZER Suarez elected president; percent of vote - Hugo BANZER Suarez (ADN) 22%; Jaime PAZ Zamora (MIR) 17%, Juan Carlos DURAN (MNR) 18%, Ivo KULJIS (UCS) 16%, Remedios LOZA (CONDEPA) 17%; no candidate received a majority of the popular vote; Hugo BANZER Suarez won a congressional runoff election on 5 August 1997 after forming a "megacoalition" with MIR, UCS, CONDEPA, NFR, and PDC |
chief of state: President Domitien NDAYIZEYE (since 30 April 2003); note - NDAYIZEYE, a Hutu, was sworn in as president for the second half of the three-year transitional government inaugurated on 1 November 2001; Vice President Alphonse KADEGE (since 30 April 2003); note - from the Tutsi minority
head of government: President Domitien NDAYIZEYE (since 30 April 2003); note - NDAYIZEYE, a Hutu, was sworn in as president for the second half of the three-year transitional government inaugurated on 1 November 2001; Vice President Alphonse KADEGE (since 30 April 2003); note - from the Tutsi minority cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by president elections: NA; current president assumed power on 30 April 2003 as part of the transitional government established by the 2000 Arusha Accord |
Exports | $1.26 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | NA (2001) |
Exports - commodities | soybeans, natural gas, zinc, gold, wood | coffee, tea, sugar, cotton, hides |
Exports - partners | UK 16%, US 12%, Peru 11%, Argentina 10%, Colombia 7% (1998) | Switzerland 28.8%, Germany 20.2%, Belgium 9.4%, Kenya 7.8%, Rwanda 6.5%, Netherlands 4.6% (2002) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with the coat of arms centered on the yellow band; similar to the flag of Ghana, which has a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band | divided by a white diagonal cross into red panels (top and bottom) and green panels (hoist side and outer side) with a white disk superimposed at the center bearing three red six-pointed stars outlined in green arranged in a triangular design (one star above, two stars below) |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $20.9 billion (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $3.146 billion (2002 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
16% industry: 31% services: 53% (1999 est.) |
agriculture: 50%
industry: 19% services: 31% (2002 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $2,600 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $500 (2002 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 2.5% (2000 est.) | 4.5% (2002 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 17 00 S, 65 00 W | 3 30 S, 30 00 E |
Geography - note | landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru | landlocked; straddles crest of the Nile-Congo watershed; the Kagera, which drains into Lake Victoria, is the most remote headstream of the White Nile |
Highways | total:
49,400 km paved: 2,500 km (including 30 km of expressways) unpaved: 46,900 km (1996) |
total: 14,480 km
paved: 1,028 km unpaved: 13,452 km (1999 est.) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
2.3% highest 10%: 31.7% (1990) |
lowest 10%: 1.8%
highest 10%: 32.9% (1998) |
Illicit drugs | world's third-largest cultivator of coca (after Colombia and Peru, a distant second) with an estimated 14,600 hectares under cultivation in 2000, a 33% decrease in overall cultivation of coca from 1999 levels; intermediate coca products and cocaine exported to or through Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile to the US and other international drug markets; eradication and alternative crop programs have slashed illicit coca cultivation during the BANZER administration beginning in 1997 | - |
Imports | $1.86 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | NA (2001) |
Imports - commodities | capital goods, raw materials and semi-manufactures, chemicals, petroleum, food | capital goods, petroleum products, foodstuffs |
Imports - partners | US 32%, Japan 24%, Brazil 12%, Argentina 12%, Chile 7%, Peru 4%, Germany 3%, other 6% (1998) | Belgium 12.4%, Saudi Arabia 12.3%, Tanzania 9.3%, Kenya 7.7%, France 7.4%, India 4.5% (2002) |
Independence | 6 August 1825 (from Spain) | 1 July 1962 (from UN trusteeship under Belgian administration) |
Industrial production growth rate | 4% (1995 est.) | 18% (2001) |
Industries | mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing | light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap; assembly of imported components; public works construction; food processing |
Infant mortality rate | 58.98 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | total: 71.54 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 78.45 deaths/1,000 live births female: 64.42 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 4.4% (2000 est.) | 12% (2002 est.) |
International organization participation | CAN, CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-11, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MONUC, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIK, UNTAET, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, CEEAC, CEPGL, ECA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO (subscriber), ITU, NAM, OAU, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 9 (2000) | 1 (2000) |
Irrigated land | 1,750 sq km (1993 est.) | 740 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges appointed for 10-year terms by National Congress); District Courts (one in each department); provincial and local courts (to try minor cases) | Supreme Court or Cour Supreme; Constitutional Court; Courts of Appeal (there are three in separate locations); Tribunals of First Instance (17 at the province level and 123 small local tribunals) |
Labor force | 2.5 million | 3.7 million (2000) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% | NA |
Land boundaries | total:
6,743 km border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,400 km, Chile 861 km, Paraguay 750 km, Peru 900 km |
total: 974 km
border countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo 233 km, Rwanda 290 km, Tanzania 451 km |
Land use | arable land:
2% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 24% forests and woodland: 53% other: 21% (1993 est.) |
arable land: 29.98%
permanent crops: 12.85% other: 57.17% (1998 est.) |
Languages | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) | Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area) |
Legal system | based on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | based on German and Belgian civil codes and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Legislative branch | bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (27 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms; note - some members are drawn from party lists, thus not directly elected)
elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held 1 June 1997 (next to be held NA June 2002) election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - ADN 11, MIR 7, MNR 4, CONDEPA 3, UCS 2; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - ADN 32, MNR 26, MIR 23, UCS 21, CONDEPA 19, MBL 5, IU 4 |
bicameral, consists of a National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (expanded from 121 to approximately 140 seats under the transitional government inaugurated 1 November 2001; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and a Senate (54 seats; term length is undefined, the current senators will likely serve out the three-year transition period)
elections: last held 29 June 1993 (next was scheduled to be held in 1998, but was suspended by presidential decree in 1996; elections are planned to follow the completion of the three-year transitional government) election results: percent of vote by party - FRODEBU 71.04%, UPRONA 21.4%, other 7.56%; seats by party - FRODEBU 65, UPRONA 16, civilians 27, other parties 13 |
Life expectancy at birth | total population:
64.06 years male: 61.53 years female: 66.72 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 43.2 years
male: 42.54 years female: 43.88 years (2003 est.) |
Literacy | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 83.1% male: 90.5% female: 76% (1995 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 51.6% male: 58.5% female: 45.2% (2003 est.) |
Location | Central South America, southwest of Brazil | Central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Map references | South America | Africa |
Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | none (landlocked) |
Merchant marine | total:
42 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 141,017 GRT/211,058 DWT ships by type: bulk 5, cargo 20, chemical tanker 3, container 1, petroleum tanker 10, roll on/roll off 3 (2000 est.) |
- |
Military branches | Army (Ejercito Boliviano), Navy (Fuerza Naval Boliviana, includes Marines), Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana), National Police Force (Policia Nacional de Bolivia) | Army (including naval and air units), Gendarmerie |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $147 million (FY99) | $42.13 million (FY02) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.8% (FY99) | 5.3% (FY02) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
2,005,660 (2001 est.) |
males age 15-49: 1,375,900 (2003 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
1,306,452 (2001 est.) |
males age 15-49: 723,516 (2003 est.) |
Military manpower - military age | 19 years of age | 16 years of age (2003 est.) |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males:
90,120 (2001 est.) |
males: 79,462 (2003 est.) |
National holiday | Independence Day, 6 August (1825) | Independence Day, 1 July (1962) |
Nationality | noun:
Bolivian(s) adjective: Bolivian |
noun: Burundian(s)
adjective: Burundian |
Natural hazards | flooding in the northeast (March-April) | flooding, landslides, drought |
Natural resources | tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower | nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper, platinum (not yet exploited), vanadium, arable land, hydropower |
Net migration rate | -1.45 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | -0.12 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Pipelines | crude oil 1,800 km; petroleum products 580 km; natural gas 1,495 km | - |
Political parties and leaders | Christian Democratic Party or PDC [leader NA]; Civic Solidarity Union or UCS [Johnny FERNANDEZ]; Conscience of the Fatherland or CONDEPA [Remedios LOZA Alvarado]; Free Bolivia Movement or MBL [Antonio ARANIBAR]; Movement of the Revolutionary Left or MIR [Jaime PAZ Zamora]; Nationalist Democratic Action or ADN [Hugo BANZER Suarez]; Nationalist Revolutionary Movement or MNR [Gonzalo SANCHEZ DE LOZADA]; New Republican Force or NFR [leader NA]; Pachacuti Indigenous Movement [Filipe QUISPE]; United Left or IU [Marcos DOMIC]
note: the ADN, MIR, and UCS comprise the ruling coalition |
the two national, mainstream, governing parties are: Unity for National Progress or UPRONA [Alphonse KADEGE, president]; Burundi Democratic Front or FRODEBU [Jean MINANI, president]
note: a multiparty system was introduced after 1998, included are: Burundi African Alliance for the Salvation or ABASA [Terrence NSANZE]; Rally for Democracy and Economic and Social Development or RADDES [Joseph NZEYIMANA]; Party for National Redress or PARENA [Jean-Baptiste BAGAZA]; People's Reconciliation Party or PRP [Mathias HITIMANA] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Cocalero Groups; indigenous organizations; labor unions | loosely organized Hutu and Tutsi militias, often affiliated with Hutu and Tutsi extremist parties or subordinate to government security forces |
Population | 8,300,463 (July 2001 est.) | 6,096,156
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2003 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 70% (1999 est.) | 70% (2002 est.) |
Population growth rate | 1.76% (2001 est.) | 2.18% (2003 est.) |
Ports and harbors | none; however, Bolivia has free port privileges in maritime ports in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay | Bujumbura |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 171, FM 73, shortwave 77 (1999) | AM 0, FM 4, shortwave 1 (2001) |
Radios | 5.25 million (1997) | - |
Railways | total:
3,691 km (single track) narrow gauge: 3,652 km 1.000-m gauge; 39 km 0.760-m gauge (13 km electrified) (1995) |
0 km |
Religions | Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) | Christian 67% (Roman Catholic 62%, Protestant 5%), indigenous beliefs 23%, Muslim 10% |
Sex ratio | 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: 0.82 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.66 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2003 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21 years of age, universal and compulsory (single) | NA years of age; universal adult |
Telephone system | general assessment:
new subscribers face bureaucratic difficulties; most telephones are concentrated in La Paz and other cities; mobile cellular telephone use expanding rapidly 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: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
general assessment: primitive system
domestic: sparse system of open-wire, radiotelephone communications, and low-capacity microwave radio relay international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) |
Telephones - main lines in use | 327,600 (1996) | 18,000 (2002) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 116,000 (1997) | 30,000 (2002) |
Television broadcast stations | 48 (1997) | 1 (2001) |
Terrain | rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin | hilly and mountainous, dropping to a plateau in east, some plains |
Total fertility rate | 3.51 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 5.99 children born/woman (2003 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 11.4% (1997)
note: widespread underemployment |
NA% |
Waterways | 10,000 km (commercially navigable) | Lake Tanganyika |