Bolivia (2005) | Niue (2004) | |
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Administrative divisions | 9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Beni, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija | none; note - there are no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the US Government, but there are 14 villages at the second order |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 35.7% (male 1,613,049/female 1,551,023)
15-64 years: 59.8% (male 2,591,328/female 2,701,892) 65 years and over: 4.5% (male 178,486/female 222,092) (2005 est.) |
0-14 years: NA
15-64 years: NA 65 years and over: NA (2004 est.) |
Agriculture - products | soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber | coconuts, passion fruit, honey, limes, taro, yams, cassava (tapioca), sweet potatoes; pigs, poultry, beef cattle |
Airports | 1,065 (2004 est.) | 1 (2003 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 16
over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 3 (2004 est.) |
total: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2004 est.) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 1,049
over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 60 914 to 1,523 m: 207 under 914 m: 778 (2004 est.) |
- |
Area | total: 1,098,580 sq km
land: 1,084,390 sq km water: 14,190 sq km |
total: 260 sq km
land: 260 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly less than three times the size of Montana | 1.5 times the size of Washington, DC |
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 1982, but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug production. Current goals include attracting foreign investment, strengthening the educational system, resolving disputes with coca growers over Bolivia's counterdrug efforts, and waging an anticorruption campaign. | Niue's remoteness, as well as cultural and linguistic differences between its Polynesian inhabitants and those of the rest of the Cook Islands, have caused it to be separately administered. The population of the island continues to drop (from a peak of 5,200 in 1966 to about 2,100 in 2004), with substantial emigration to New Zealand, 2,400 km to the southwest. |
Birth rate | 23.76 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) | NA births/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $2.264 billion
expenditures: $2.769 billion, including capital expenditures of $741 million (2004 est.) |
revenues: NA
expenditures: NA, including capital expenditures of NA |
Capital | La Paz (seat of government); Sucre (legal capital and seat of judiciary) | Alofi |
Climate | varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid | tropical; modified by southeast trade winds |
Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 64 km |
Constitution | 2 February 1967; revised in August 1994 | 19 October 1974 (Niue Constitution Act) |
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: none
conventional short form: Niue former: Savage Island |
Currency | - | New Zealand dollar (NZD) |
Death rate | 7.64 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) | NA deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Debt - external | $5.439 billion (June 2004 est.) | $418,000 (2002 est.) |
Dependency status | - | self-governing in free association with New Zealand since 1974; Niue fully responsible for internal affairs; New Zealand retains responsibility for external affairs and defense; however, these responsibilities confer no rights of control and are only exercised at the request of the Government of Niue |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador David N. GREENLEE
embassy: Avenida Arce 2780, San Jorge, La Paz mailing address: P. O. Box 425, La Paz; APO AA 34032 telephone: [591] (2) 2430120, 2430251 FAX: [591] (2) 2433900 |
none (self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand) |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Jaime APARICIO Otero
chancery: 3014 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 483-4410 FAX: [1] (202) 328-3712 consulate(s) general: Miami, New York, and San Francisco |
none (self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand) |
Disputes - international | Chile rebuffs Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, offering instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile for Bolivian natural gas and other commodities | none |
Economic aid - recipient | $681 million (2002) | $2.6 million from New Zealand (2002) |
Economy - 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 percent 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. Foreign investment dried up as companies adopted a wait-and-see attitude regarding new President Carlos MESA's willingness to protect investor rights in the face of increased demands by radical groups that the government expropriate foreign-owned assets. Real GDP growth in 2003 and 2004 - helped by increased demand for natural gas in neighboring Brazil - was positive, but still below the levels seen during the 1990s. Bolivia remains dependent on foreign aid from multilateral lenders and foreign governments. | The economy suffers from the typical Pacific island problems of geographic isolation, few resources, and a small population. Government expenditures regularly exceed revenues, and the shortfall is made up by critically needed grants from New Zealand that are used to pay wages to public employees. Niue has cut government expenditures by reducing the public service by almost half. The agricultural sector consists mainly of subsistence gardening, although some cash crops are grown for export. Industry consists primarily of small factories to process passion fruit, lime oil, honey, and coconut cream. The sale of postage stamps to foreign collectors is an important source of revenue. The island in recent years has suffered a serious loss of population because of migration of Niueans to New Zealand. Efforts to increase GDP include the promotion of tourism and a financial services industry, although Premier LAKATANI announced in February 2002 that Niue will shut down the offshore banking industry. Economic aid from New Zealand in 2002 was about $2.6 million. |
Electricity - consumption | 3.848 billion kWh (2002) | 2.79 million kWh (2001) |
Electricity - exports | 3 million kWh (2002) | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - imports | 9 million kWh (2002) | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production | 4.132 billion kWh (2002) | 3 million kWh (2001) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Rio Paraguay 90 m
highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m |
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location near Mutalau settlement 68 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 | increasing attention to conservationist practices to counter loss of soil fertility from traditional slash and burn agriculture |
Environment - international agreements | 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, Ozone Layer Protection |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
Ethnic groups | Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15% | Polynesian (with some 200 Europeans, Samoans, and Tongans) |
Exchange rates | bolivianos per US dollar - 7.9363 (2004), 7.6592 (2003), 7.17 (2002), 6.6069 (2001), 6.1835 (2000) | New Zealand dollars per US dollar - 1.7229 (2003), 2.1620 (2002), 2.3776 (2001), 2.1863 (2000), 1.8886 (1999) |
Executive branch | chief of state: President Eduardo RODRIGUEZ Veltze (since 9 June 2005); Vice President (vacant); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Eduardo RODRIGUEZ Veltze (since 9 June 2005); Vice President (vacant); note - the president is both 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 30 June 2002 (next to be held June 2007) election results: as a result of no candidate winning a majority in the 30 June 2002 election, Gonzalo SANCHEZ DE LOZADA Bustamante was chosen president by Congress; congressional votes - Gonzalo SANCHEZ DE LOZADA Bustamante 84, Evo MORALES 43; note - following the resignation of the elected president on 17 October 2003 and Vice President Carlos Diego MESA Gisbert on 9 June 2005, Eduardo RODRIGUEZ Veltze, President of the Supreme Court and constitutional successor, became president. |
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); the UK and New Zealand are represented by New Zealand High Commissioner John BRYAN (since NA May 2000)
head of government: Premier Young VIVIAN (since 1 May 2002) cabinet: Cabinet consists of the premier and three ministers elections: the monarch is hereditary; premier elected by the Legislative Assembly for a three-year term; election last held 1 May 2002 (next to be held NA May 2005) election results: Young VIVIAN elected premier; percent of Legislative Assembly vote - Young VIVIAN (NPP) 70%, Hunukitama HUNUKI (AI) 30% |
Exports | NA | NA (2001) |
Exports - commodities | natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin | canned coconut cream, copra, honey, vanilla, passion fruit products, pawpaws, root crops, limes, footballs, stamps, handicrafts |
Exports - partners | Brazil 40%, US 13.9%, Colombia 8.7%, Peru 6.3%, Japan 4.5% (2004) | New Zealand mainly, Fiji, Cook Islands, Australia (2000) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | 1 April - 31 March |
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 | yellow with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the flag of the UK bears five yellow five-pointed stars - a large one on a blue disk in the center and a smaller one on each arm of the bold red cross |
GDP | - | purchasing power parity - $7.6 million (2000 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 13%
industry: 28% services: 59% (2004 est.) |
agriculture: NA
industry: NA services: 55% |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $2,600 (2004 est.) | purchasing power parity - $3,600 (2000 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 3.7% (2004 est.) | -0.3% (2000 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 17 00 S, 65 00 W | 19 02 S, 169 52 W |
Geography - note | landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru | one of world's largest coral islands |
Highways | total: 60,282 km
paved: 3,979 km unpaved: 56,303 km (2002) |
total: 234 km
paved: 86 km unpaved: 148 km (2001) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 1.3%
highest 10%: 32% (1999) |
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
Illicit drugs | world's third-largest cultivator of coca (after Colombia and Peru) with an estimated 28,450 hectares under cultivation in June 2003, a 23% increase from June 2002; intermediate coca products and cocaine exported mostly to or through Brazil, Argentina, and Chile to European and US drug markets; eradication and alternative crop programs under the MESA administration have been unable to keep pace with farmers' attempts to increase cultivation; money-laundering activity related to narcotics trade, especially along the borders with Brazil and Paraguay | - |
Imports | NA | NA (2001) |
Imports - commodities | petroleum products, plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans | food, live animals, manufactured goods, machinery, fuels, lubricants, chemicals, drugs |
Imports - partners | Brazil 29.7%, Argentina 17.6%, US 10.8%, Chile 7.7%, Peru 7.3% (2004) | New Zealand mainly, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Australia, US (2000) |
Independence | 6 August 1825 (from Spain) | on 19 October 1974, Niue became a self-governing parliamentary government in free association with New Zealand |
Industrial production growth rate | 5.7% (2004 est.) | NA |
Industries | mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing | tourism, handicrafts, food processing |
Infant mortality rate | total: 53.11 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 56.7 deaths/1,000 live births female: 49.33 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
total: NA
male: NA female: NA (2004 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 4.9% (2004 est.) | 1% (1995) |
International organization participation | CAN, CSN, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAM, OAS, ONUB, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIK, UNMIL, UNMISET, UNOCI, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO | ACP, FAO, PIF, Sparteca, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO |
Irrigated land | 1,280 sq km (1998 est.) | NA sq km |
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 of New Zealand; High Court of Niue |
Labor force | 3.8 million (2004 est.) | NA (1998 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% | most work on family plantations; paid work exists only in government service, small industry, and the Niue Development Board |
Land boundaries | total: 6,743 km
border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,400 km, Chile 861 km, Paraguay 750 km, Peru 900 km |
0 km |
Land use | arable land: 2.67%
permanent crops: 0.19% other: 97.14% (2001) |
arable land: 15.38%
permanent crops: 11.54% other: 73.08% (2001) |
Languages | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) | Niuean, a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English |
Legal system | based on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | English common law
note: Niue is self-governing, with the power to make its own laws |
Legislative branch | bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (27 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; 68 are directly elected from their districts and 62 are elected by proportional representation from party lists to serve five-year terms)
elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held 30 June 2002 (next to be held June 2007) election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - MNR 11, MAS 8, MIR 5, NFR 2, other 1; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - MNR 36, MAS 27, MIR 26, NFR 25, others 16 |
unicameral Legislative Assembly (20 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms; six elected from a common roll and 14 are village representatives)
elections: last held 21 March 2002 (next to be held NA March 2005) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NPP 9, independents 11; note - all 20 seats were reelected |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 65.5 years
male: 62.89 years female: 68.25 years (2005 est.) |
total population: NA years
male: NA years female: NA years (2004 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 87.2% male: 93.1% female: 81.6% (2003 est.) |
definition: NA
total population: 95% male: NA female: NA |
Location | Central South America, southwest of Brazil | Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Tonga |
Map references | South America | Oceania |
Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
Merchant marine | total: 32 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 413,407 GRT/699,901 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 2, cargo 16, chemical tanker 1, container 1, passenger/cargo 2, petroleum tanker 9, refrigerated cargo 1 foreign-owned: 11 (Argentina 1, Egypt 2, Eritrea 1, Germany 1, Iran 1, Singapore 2, United Kingdom 1, United States 2) (2005) |
none |
Military - note | - | defense is the responsibility of New Zealand |
Military branches | Army (Ejercito Boliviano), Navy (Fuerza Naval; includes Marines), Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana) (2004) | no regular indigenous military forces; Police Force |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $132.2 million (2004) | - |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.6% (2004) | - |
National holiday | Independence Day, 6 August (1825) | Waitangi Day (Treaty of Waitangi established British sovereignty over New Zealand), 6 February (1840) |
Nationality | noun: Bolivian(s)
adjective: Bolivian |
noun: Niuean(s)
adjective: Niuean |
Natural hazards | flooding in the northeast (March-April) | typhoons |
Natural resources | tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower | fish, arable land |
Net migration rate | -1.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) | NA migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Pipelines | gas 4,860 km; liquid petroleum gas 47 km; oil 2,457 km; refined products 1,589 km; unknown (oil/water) 247 km (2004) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Bolivian Socialist Falange or FSB [Romel PANTOJA]; Civic Solidarity Union or UCS [Johnny FERNANDEZ]; Free Bolivia Movement or MBL [Franz BARRIOS]; Marshal of Ayacucho Institutional Vanguard or VIMA [Freddy ZABALA]; Movement of the Revolutionary Left or MIR [Jaime PAZ Zamora]; Movement Toward Socialism or MAS [Evo MORALES]; Movement Without Fear or MSM [Juan DEL GRANADO]; Nationalist Democratic Action or ADN [Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez]; Nationalist Revolutionary Movement or MNR [leader NA]; New Republican Force or NFR [Manfred REYES-VILLA]; Pachakuti Indigenous Movement or MIP [Felipe QUISPE]; Socialist Party or PS [Jeres JUSTINIANO] | Niue People's Action Party or NPP [Young VIVIAN]; Alliance of Independents or AI [leader NA] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Cocalero Groups; indigenous organizations; labor unions; Sole Confederation of Campesino Workers of Bolivia or CSUTCB [Roman LOAYZA] | NA |
Population | 8,857,870 (July 2005 est.) | 2,156 (July 2004 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 64% (2004 est.) | NA |
Population growth rate | 1.49% (2005 est.) | 0.01% (2004 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Puerto Aguirre (on the Paraguay/Parana waterway, at the Bolivia/Brazil border); also, Bolivia has free port privileges in maritime ports in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay | none; offshore anchorage only |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 171, FM 73, shortwave 77 (1999) | AM 1, FM 1, shortwave 0 (1998) |
Railways | total: 3,519 km
narrow gauge: 3,519 km 1.000-m gauge (2004) |
- |
Religions | Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5% | Ekalesia Niue (Niuean Church - a Protestant church closely related to the London Missionary Society) 75%, Latter-Day Saints 10%, other 15% (mostly Roman Catholic, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventist) |
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: 0.8 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
NA (2004 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21 years of age, universal and compulsory (single) | 18 years of age; universal |
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: country code - 591; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
domestic: single-line telephone system connects all villages on island
international: country code - 683 |
Telephones - main lines in use | 600,100 (2003) | 1,100 est (2002) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 1,401,500 (2003) | 400 (2002) |
Television broadcast stations | 48 (1997) | 1 (1997) |
Terrain | rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin | steep limestone cliffs along coast, central plateau |
Total fertility rate | 2.94 children born/woman (2005 est.) | NA children born/woman (2004 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 9.2% in urban areas
note: widespread underemployment (2003 est.) |
NA (March 1999) |
Waterways | 10,000 km (commercially navigable) (2004) | - |