| Area Total | 1,098,581 sq km |
| Climate | varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid |
| Natural Resources | tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower |
| Imports | $8.601 billion (2017 est.) partners: China 21.7%, Brazil 16.8%, Argentina 12.6%, US 8.4%, Peru 6.5% (2017) |
| Exports | $7.746 billion (2017 est.) partners: Brazil 17.9%, Argentina 16%, US 7.8%, Japan 7.3%, India 6.6%, South Korea 6.3%, Colombia 5.8% (2017) |
| Government | presidential republic |
| Capital | La Paz |
| Population | 11.3 million (July 2018 est.) |
| Ethnicity | mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 68%, indigenous 20%, white 5%, cholo/chola 2%, black 1%, other 1%, unspecified 3% (2009 est.) |
| Language | Spanish (official) 60.7%, Quechua (official) 21.2%, Aymara (official) 14.6%, foreign languages 2.4%, Guarani (official) 0.6%, other native languages 0.4%, none 0.1% (2001 est.) |
News about Bolivia
- How weaving, glamping and kayak tours are helping to tackle deforestation in Argentina’s Gran Chaco
by Sophia Boddenberg in Chaco and Natalie Alcoba in Buenos Aires on March 25, 2026Small farmers and community-led conservation groups are trying to protect one of the biggest semi-arid forests in the world – under threat from expanding agriculture, wildfires and the ‘logging mafia’Jorge Luna stands in a piece of Argentina’s Gran Chaco forest that he calls his own. Birds sing as he surveys skyscraping molle trees, known as pepper […]
- Bolivia arrests alleged drug kingpin accused of putting hit on Paraguayan prosecutor
by Thomas Graham in Tijuana on March 13, 2026Bolivian interior ministry says Sebastián Marset is being extradited to US, where he’s wanted for money launderingSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxSebastián Marset, an alleged Uruguayan drug trafficker and one of South America’s most wanted criminals, has been arrested in Bolivia.Marset, 34, is accused of […]
- Trump convenes ‘Shield of Americas’ summit with 12 Latin American leaders
by Edward Helmore on March 7, 2026In Miami, president calls for regional cooperation to counter Chinese economic and political interestsDonald Trump changed the channel from Iran to the western hemisphere on Saturday, convening a gathering of Latin American leaders at his Miami-area golf club to discuss regional interests and establishing what he called a “counter-cartel […]
- At least 20 killed as cash-laden military cargo plane crashes in Bolivia
by Agencies on February 28, 2026Riot police use teargas to disperse people gathering around wreckage of plane loaded with money from central bankAt least 20 people have died and dozens have been injured after a military cargo plane carrying banknotes crashed while landing near Bolivia’s capital on Friday, damaging about a dozen vehicles on a highway and scattering bills on the ground, […]
- ‘Any other child would have died’: the miraculous survival of Nada Itrab
by Giles Tremlett on February 26, 2026After a nine-year-old girl was kidnapped and taken from Spain to Bolivia, authorities feared the worst. They found her in the rainforest nine months later – but that wasn’t the end of her ordealOn 27 August 2013, a tall, spirited nine-year-old girl with long, well-brushed hair boarded an overnight coach in Barcelona. Nada Itrab was bright and observant. […]
- Bolivia’s ex-leader Evo Morales reappears after months-long unexplained absence
by Associated Press on February 20, 2026Long-serving socialist former leader Evo Morales has reappeared in his political stronghold after almost seven weeks of unexplained absenceBolivia’s long-serving socialist former leader, Evo Morales, reappeared on Thursday in his political stronghold of the tropics after almost seven weeks of unexplained absence, endorsing candidates for upcoming regional […]
- ‘Coca leaf is life itself’: Andean growers’ hopes fade as WHO upholds global curb
by Linda Farthing on February 10, 2026Under US pressure as part of the ‘war on drugs’, the WHO still categorises the sacred Indigenous remedy as akin to heroin or fentanyl, despite its many therapeutic propertiesFor thousands of years, Andean people living around what is now the town of Coripata, east of La Paz, Bolivia, have used coca leaves to relieve fatigue, hunger and altitude sickness […]
- Where’s Evo? Missing Morales mystery as Bolivia’s ex-president goes to ground
by Tiago Rogero South America correspondent on February 7, 2026Once a highly visible figure despite being wanted on human trafficking charges, the former leader has not been seen since shortly after the US kidnapped Venezuela’s presidentFor more than a year, he stayed hidden in plain sight: despite an arrest warrant for human trafficking charges, former president Evo Morales moved freely in at least one region of […]
- The shot that got me a police beating: Rod Morris’s best photograph
by Interview by Chris Broughton on January 21, 2026‘After I took this, police officers bundled me into the back of a car and drove me to the local station where I was questioned for a long time. On the way out, they took turns to punch and kick me’In 1993, a photograph I’d taken of a bus driver in Luxor, Egypt, won a competition. The prize was some money, a camera and a return ticket to anywhere in […]
- ‘We’re in danger of extinction’: can Bolivia’s ‘water people’ survive a rising tide of salt and migration?
by Lise Josefsen Hermann in Chipaya, Bolivia. Photographs by Wara Vargas on January 16, 2026The Uru Chipaya, one of South America’s most ancient civilisations, are battling drought, salinity and an exodus of their people as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on their landIn the small town of Chipaya, everything is dry. Only a few people walk along the sandy streets, and many houses look abandoned – some secured with a padlock. The wind is so […]
- US attack on Venezuela will decide direction of South America’s vast mineral wealth
by Jonathan Watts in Brazil on January 7, 2026Outcome of aggression will determine whether rare earths and other resources drive energy transition – or strengthen US military power and oil interestsThe US’s first overt attack on an Amazon nation last weekend is a new phase in its extractivist rivalry with China. The outcome will decide whether the vast mineral wealth of South America is directed […]
- Former Bolivian president Luis Arce detained on corruption charges
by Tiago Rogero South America correspondent on December 11, 2025Allegations he allowed state funds for Indigenous projects to be transferred to government officials’ accountsBolivia’s former president Luis Arce was detained on Wednesday on charges that he “enabled illicit enrichment” by allegedly allowing state funds earmarked for Indigenous communities to be transferred into government officials’ personal […]
- Bolivia’s ex-president who oversaw bloody crackdown on protesters freed from prison
by Tiago Rogero South America correspondent on November 6, 2025Release follows supreme court ruling that overturned Jeanine Áñez’s conviction for allegedly staging coup to seize powerThe former interim president who oversaw a bloody crackdown on protesters in Bolivia has been freed from prison after almost five years, following a supreme court ruling that overturned her conviction for allegedly staging a coup to […]
- Rodrigo Paz Pereira wins Bolivia’s presidential runoff marking a new shift to the right
by Tiago Rogero South America correspondent on October 20, 2025Sunday’s election marked the first time since 2005 that no candidate from Evo Morales’ Mas party was on the ballotCentre-right senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira, 58, won Bolivia’s presidential runoff on Sunday and will be the country’s next president, marking a shift to the right after nearly 20 years of dominance by the leftist Movimiento al Socialismo […]
- Bolivia to vote in presidential runoff that will turn it to the right
by Tiago Rogero South America correspondent on October 19, 2025End of almost two decades of leftist rule could revive ‘war on drugs’ in change of approach to coca cultivationBolivians go to the polls on Sunday in an election that, whatever the result, will mark a complete shift to the right after nearly 20 years under the rule of the leftist Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas).The country’s first-ever presidential […]
