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. 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, indigenous majority. However, since taking office, his controversial strategies have exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous communities of the eastern lowlands. In December 2009, President MORALES easily won reelection, and his party took control of the legislative branch of the government, which will allow him to continue his process of change.

Central South America, southwest of Brazil

slightly less than three times the size of Montana

varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid

rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin

tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower

flooding in the northeast (March-April)

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

landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru

10,118,683 (July 2011 est.)

24.71 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)

6.85 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)

-0.92 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)

LA PAZ (capital) 1.642 million; Santa Cruz 1.584 million; Sucre 281,000 (2009)

3 children born/woman (2011 est.)

fewer than 1,000 (2009 est.)

urban: 96% of population

rural: 67% of population

total: 86% of population

urban: 4% of population

rural: 33% of population

total: 14% of population (2008)

urban: 34% of population

rural: 9% of population

total: 25% of population

urban: 66% of population

rural: 91% of population

total: 75% of population (2008)

Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%

Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%

Spanish (official) 60.7%, Quechua (official) 21.2%, Aymara (official) 14.6%, foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census)

republic; note - the new constitution defines Bolivia as a "Social Unitarian State"

9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija

6 August 1825 (from Spain)

Independence Day, 6 August (1825)

civil law system with influences from Roman, Spanish, canon (religious), French, and indigenous law

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

18 years of age, universal and compulsory

bicameral Plurinational Legislative Assembly or Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (36 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 total; 70 uninominal deputies directly elected from a single district, 7 "special" indigenous deputies directly elected from non-contiguous indigenous districts, and 53 plurinominal deputies elected by proportional representation from party lists; all deputies serve five-year terms)

Supreme Court or Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (judges elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms); District Courts (one in each department); Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (seven primary or titulares and seven alternate or suplente magistrates elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms; to rule on constitutional issues (at least two candidates must be indigenous)); Plurinational Electoral Organ (seven members elected by the Assembly and the president; one member must be of indigenous origin to six-year terms); Agro-Environmental Court (judges elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms; to run on agro-environmental issues); provincial and local courts (to try minor cases)

Bolivia-National Convergence or PPB-CN [Manfred REYES VILLA]; Fearless Movement or MSM [Juan DE GRANADO Cosio]; Movement Toward Socialism or MAS [Juan Evo MORALES Ayma]; National Unity or UN [Samuel DORIA MEDINA Arana]; People or Gente [Roman LOAYZA]; Social Alliance or AS [Rene JOAQUINO]

Bolivian Workers Central or COR; Federation of Neighborhood Councils of El Alto or FEJUVE; Landless Movement or MST; National Coordinator for Change or CONALCAM; Sole Confederation of Campesino Workers of Bolivia or CSUTCB

CAN, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, MINUSTAH, MONUSCO, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNASUR, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with the coat of arms centered on the yellow band; red stands for bravery and the blood of national heroes, yellow for the nation's mineral resources, and green for the fertility of the land

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 exchange for a predetermined service fee. After higher prices for mining and hydrocarbons exports produced a fiscal surplus in 2008, the global recession in 2009 slowed growth. Nevertheless, Bolivia recorded the highest growth rate in South America that year. During 2010 an increase in world commodity prices resulted in the biggest trade surplus in history. However, a lack of foreign investment in the key sectors of mining and hydrocarbons and higher food prices pose challenges for the Bolivian economy.

$47.88 billion (2010 est.)

$45.96 billion (2009 est.)

$44.47 billion (2008 est.)

$19.37 billion (2010 est.)

4.186 million (2010 est.)

20.1% of GDP (2010 est.)

39.7% of GDP (2010 est.)

42.3% of GDP (2009 est.)

3% (31 December 2010)

3% (31 December 2009)

5.75% (31 December 2010 est.)

6.08% (31 December 2009 est.)

$5.367 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$4.47 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$12.16 billion (31 December 2009)

$11.04 billion (31 December 2008)

$7.06 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$5.891 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$3.915 billion (31 December 2010)

$2.792 billion (31 December 2009)

$2.672 billion (31 December 2008)

soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber

mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing

6.085 billion kWh (2010 est.)

5.814 billion kWh (2010 est.)

43,740 bbl/day (2010 est.)

31,070 bbl/day (2010 est.)

5,621 bbl/day (2010 est.)

17,330 bbl/day (2010 est.)

465 million bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

14.4 billion cu m (2008 est.)

2.41 billion cu m (2008 est.)

11.59 billion cu m (2010 est.)

750.4 billion cu m (1 January 2010 est.)

$690.2 million (2010 est.)

$757.1 million (2009 est.)

$6.956 billion (2010 est.)

$5.452 billion (2009 est.)

natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin

Brazil 41.38%, US 13.87%, Japan 5.62%, Colombia 5.32%, South Korea 4.7%, Peru 4.16% (2009)

$5.366 billion (2010 est.)

$4.466 billion (2009 est.)

petroleum products, plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans

Brazil 27.12%, Argentina 15.69%, US 12.77%, Chile 9.11%, Peru 6.85% (2009)

$9.73 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$8.581 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$2.864 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$2.594 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$7.257 billion (31 December 2010)

$6.876 billion (31 December 2009)

$21 million (31 December 2010)

$63.8 million (31 December 2008)

bolivianos (BOB) per US dollar -

7.148 million (2009)

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

1.103 million (2009)

gas 5,330 km; liquid petroleum gas 51 km; oil 2,510 km; refined products 1,627 km (2010)

10,000 km (commercially navigable almost exclusively in the northern and eastern parts of the country) (2010)

Puerto Aguirre (inland port on the Paraguay/Parana waterway at the Bolivia/Brazil border); Bolivia has free port privileges in maritime ports in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay

Bolivian Armed Forces: Bolivian Army (Ejercito Boliviano, EB), Bolivian Navy (Fuerza Naval Boliviana, FNB; includes marines), Bolivian Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana, FAB) (2011)

18-49 years of age for 12-month compulsory male and female military service; 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 (2011)

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 natural gas; contraband smuggling, human trafficking, and illegal narcotic trafficking are problems in the porous areas of the border with Argentina

world's third-largest cultivator of coca (after Colombia and Peru) with an estimated 29,500 hectares under cultivation in 2007, increased slightly when compared to 2006; third largest producer of cocaine, estimated at 120 metric tons potential pure cocaine in 2007; transit country for Peruvian and Colombian cocaine destined for Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Europe; cultivation generally increasing since 2000, despite eradication and alternative crop programs; weak border controls; some money-laundering activity related to narcotics trade; major cocaine consumption (2008)