Bolivia has a population divided between urban and rural (67 percent of urban population), so that in this case agricultural investment is slightly higher than in other countries in the region (12 percent of GDP ). However this is not reflected in the high levels of child malnutrition and mortality, which is explained by a diet below the recommended.
Economic
Agriculture as % of Gross Domestic Product: 12.1%
Value of agricultural exports (US$ millions): 970
Share of agricultural exports (% of total exports): 15
Value of agricultural imports (US$ millions): 476
Share of agricultural imports (% of total imports): 9.5
Production
Cereals (1000 tonnes): 1.874
Meat (1000 tonnes): 399
Fish (1000 tonnes): 8
Woodfuel (1000 m³): 2 309
Industrial roundwood (1000 m³): 910
Source: FAO
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.
Population:10,118,683
GDP per capita:$4,800
Agriculture:12%of GDP, 40%of employment
Agriculture Production:soybeans, coffee, cocoa, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber
Industries:mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing
Oil – production: 53,740 bbl/day (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 61
Oil – consumption: 62,000 bbl/day (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 93
Oil – exports: 5,621 bbl/day (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 103
Oil – imports: 17,330 bbl/day (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 121
Oil – proved reserves: 465 million bbl (1 January 2011 est.) country comparison to the world: 51
Natural gas – production: 14.73 billion cu m (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 34
Natural gas – consumption: 3.01 billion cu m (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 73
Natural gas – exports: 11.72 billion cu m (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 18
Natural gas – imports: 0 cu m (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 156
Natural gas – proved reserves: 750.4 billion cu m (1 January 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 30
Exports: $6.291 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 103 $4.918 billion (2009 est.)
Exports – commodities: natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin
Exports – partners: Brazil 43.5%, US 12.3%, Peru 6.8%, Colombia 5.5%, Japan 5.1%, Argentina 4.8% (2010)
Imports: $5.366 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 109
$4.466 billion (2009 est.)
Imports – commodities: petroleum products, plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans
Imports – partners:
Brazil 27.4%, Argentina 17.3%, US 11.9%, Peru 9.6%, Chile 7.8%, China 4.1% (2010)
Source: CIA FACTBOOK
