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South America, landlocked and mountainous.
Independence from Spain in 1825. Since then, according to the Factbook, "nearly 200 coups and counter-coups. Comparatively democratic civilian rule was established in 1982."
Presidents elected by popular vote to five-year terms. Bicameral legislature.
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Factbook: "Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America. Following a disastrous economic crisis during the early 1980s, reforms spurred private investment, stimulated economic growth, and cut poverty rates in the 1990s. The period 2003-05 was characterized by political instability, racial tensions, and violent protests against plans - subsequently abandoned - to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large northern hemisphere markets. In 2005, the government passed a controversial hydrocarbons law that imposed significantly higher royalties and required foreign firms then operating under risk-sharing contracts to surrender all production to the state energy company. In early 2008, higher earnings for mining and hydrocarbons exports pushed the current account surplus to 9.4% of GDP and the government's higher tax take produced a fiscal surplus after years of large deficits. Private investment as a share of GDP, however, remains among the lowest in Latin America, and inflation remained at double-digit levels in 2008."
Estimated per capita GDP:
2008 $4,500
2007 $4,300
2006 $4.200
Unemployment rate estimated for 2007 and 2008: 7.5%
2007: Some inhabited areas have no safe drinking water and no light.
Military expenditures as a percentage of GDP: 1.9 (estimated for 2006).
For 2008: deaths 7.35; births 22.31, down from 27.76 in 2005
Estimate for July 2008: 9.248 million, up from 8.86 million in 2005. Growth rate estimated for 2008: 1.383 percent per year.
More people leaving than arriving, a net loss of 1.14 persons per 1,000 population.
Infant mortality estimated for 2008: 49.09, down from 53.11 (deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 live births)
Average life expectancy at birth estimated for 2008: 66.53 years, up from 65.5 in 2005
Living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15 to 49: 0.1 percent (2003)
Quechua (Indian) 30 percent, Aymara (Indian) 25 percent, Mixed Indian and white 30 percent, white 15 percent.
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.