Landlocked Bolivia is equal in size to California and Texas combined. Brazil forms its eastern border; its other neighbors are Peru and Chile on the west and Argentina and Paraguay on the south. The western part, enclosed by two chains of the Andes, is a great plateau—the Altiplano, with an average altitude of 12,000 ft (3,658 m). Almost half the population lives on the plateau, which contains Oruro, Potosí, and La Paz. At an altitude of 11,910 ft (3,630 m), La Paz is the highest administrative capital city in the world. The Oriente, a lowland region ranging from rain forests to grasslands, comprises the northern and eastern two-thirds of the country. Lake Titicaca, at an altitude of 12,507 ft (3,812 m), is the highest commercially navigable body of water in the world.
Population
8,989,046 (growth rate: 1.5%); birth rate: 23.3/1000; infant mortality rate: 51.8/1000; life expectancy: 65.8; density per sq mi: 21
Land Area
418,683 sq mi (1,084,389 sq km); total area: 424,164 sq mi (1,098,580 sq km)
Monetary unit
Boliviano Language
Spanish, Quechua, Aymara (all official)
Ethnicity Quechua 30%, mestizo 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%
Religion Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%
Transportation Railways: total: 3,519 km (2004). Highways: total: 60,282 km; paved: 3,979 km; unpaved: 56,303 km (2002). Waterways: 10,000 km (commercially navigable) (2004). 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. Airports: 1,065 (2004 est.).
