Bolivia

South AmericaCapital city: La PazCapital metro: SucreMost important metro: La PazPresident: Rodrigo Paz
2026 population
11.4M
Rank #86 globally
Area
1.1M km² (424k sq mi)
Metros tracked
9
74% of population in metros
Composite score
13.7
Rank #81 globally

population: 2024 census (23 Mar 2024) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 9 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography9 metros

Bolivia metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
9 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 9 tracked metros
9 metros
🗂️ Departments

9 entries listed under Bolivia. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

9 total
📋 At a glance
Official languages
Spanish, Aymara, Quechua, Guarani
Government
Republic
Legislature
Plurinational Legislative Assembly
Demonym
Bolivian
Time zone
UTC−04:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+591
Internet TLD
.bo
ISO 3166
BO
Established
1825
Highest point
Nevado Sajama (6,542 m (21,463 ft))
National anthem
National Anthem of Bolivia

Facts via Wikidata.

💹 Economy and developmentLower middle income
Human Dev. Index
#107 / 191
0.733
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#87 / 193
$64.8B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#117 / 193
$5.1k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#117 / 190
$12.9k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#122 / 192
$4.4k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#141 / 194
68.7 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
24.7 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#67 / 194
72%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
1.3%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#179 / 193
11/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#141 / 193
1.5%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#129 / 175
0.28
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#129 / 166
40.9
World Bank · 2024
Internet users
#100 / 193
80%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#173 / 185
19.5%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#87 / 192
2.3 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#89 / 186
36%
Ember · 2025

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations4 full memberships

Political & Economic

Regional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History25 leaders · click to expand

marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.

Post-MAS Era

Rodrigo Paz✦ Current

2025Present

President

Tenure: in office

Rodrigo Paz Pereira

20252025

President

Tenure: 0y 0m 0d

Rodrigo Paz

20252025

President

Tenure: 0y 0m 0dChristian Democratic Party (PDC)

MAS Era

Luis Arce

20202025

President

Tenure: 2020–2025Movement for Socialism (MAS)

Evo Morales

20062019

President

Tenure: 2006–2019 (resigned amid crisis)Movement for Socialism (MAS)

Interim / Transition

Jeanine Áñez

20192020

President

Tenure: 2019–2020 (interim)Democrat Social Movement

Democratic Era

Carlos Mesa

20032005

President

Tenure: 2003–2005 (resigned)Independent

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

20022003

President

Tenure: 2002–2003 (resigned, Gas War)Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR)

Jorge Quiroga

20012002

President

Tenure: 2001–2002 (completed Banzer term)Nationalist Democratic Action (ADN)

Hugo Banzer

19972001

President

Tenure: 1997–2001 (elected; resigned, ill)Nationalist Democratic Action (ADN)

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

19931997

President

Tenure: 1993–1997Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR)

Jaime Paz Zamora

19891993

President

Tenure: 1989–1993Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR)

Víctor Paz Estenssoro

19851989

President

Tenure: 1985–1989Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR)

Return to Democracy

Hernán Siles Zuazo

19821985

President

Tenure: 1982–1985 (return to democracy)Democratic and Popular Unity (UDP)

Military Dictatorships

⚠️ Hugo Banzer

19711978

President / De facto dictator

Tenure: 1971–1978 (military dictatorship)Military / Nationalist Democratic Action (later)

National Revolution

Víctor Paz Estenssoro

19521956

President

Tenure: 1952–1956 (National Revolution)Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR)

Republic of Bolivia

⚠️ Gualberto Villarroel

19431952

President

Tenure: 9y 3m 14dbackbone

Germán Busch

19371943

President

Tenure: 6y 0dbackbone

Bautista Saavedra

19211937

President

Tenure: 16y 0dbackbone

Ismael Montes

19041921

President

Tenure: 17y 0dbackbone

Narciso Campero

18801904

President

Tenure: 24y 0dbackbone

⚠️ Mariano Melgarejo

18641880

President

Tenure: 16y 0dbackbone

Manuel Isidoro Belzu

18481864

President

Tenure: 16y 0dbackbone

Andrés de Santa Cruz

18291848

President

Tenure: 19y 0dbackbone

Antonio José de Sucre

18251829

President

Tenure: 4y 0dbackbone
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#77 · 0.1%
3%5%8%10%190019502000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Bolivia · share of world power, 1848–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Conflicts since 19456 interstate wars · click to expand
Chaco War1932–1935
Combat deaths:
Acre War1899–1903
Brazil,Republic of Acre
Combat deaths:
Combat deaths:
Combat deaths:
Spain,1810–1819,Start,Finish,Name of conflict,Belligerents,Victorious party (if applicable),Defeated party (if applicable)
Combat deaths:

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
12.2m
#79 in the world
Since 1800
14×
from 887k
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.15%
0.09% in 1800
3.2m6.4m9.6m12.7m18001850190019502000
Bolivia · people, 1800–2023 · dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Bolivia: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
2086
17.9m on the UN median
2050
16.1m
95% band 14.1m to 19.0m
2100
17.8m
95% band 10.5m to 33.3m
2100 against 2025
1.41×
median falling from 2087
Deaths outnumber births
from 2089
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
8.7m17.5m26.2m34.9m1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
133k born · 80k died · -7k net migration
TFR 6.19 · life expectancy 40.7 · median age 19.6
1960
163k born · 84k died · -3k net migration
TFR 6.27 · life expectancy 43.3 · median age 18.6
1970
196k born · 88k died · -5k net migration
TFR 6.00 · life expectancy 47.1 · median age 18.4
1980
229k born · 88k died · -12k net migration
TFR 5.47 · life expectancy 51.8 · median age 18.3
1990
257k born · 86k died · -22k net migration
TFR 4.90 · life expectancy 56.8 · median age 18.6
2000
257k born · 84k died · -27k net migration
TFR 3.99 · life expectancy 62.1 · median age 19.9
2010
261k born · 82k died · -13k net migration
TFR 3.21 · life expectancy 66.0 · median age 21.5
2020
260k born · 128k died · -5k net migration
TFR 2.65 · life expectancy 62.9 · median age 24.0
Show all 16 decades
2030
261k born · 97k died · -3k net migration
TFR 2.38 · life expectancy 69.7 · median age 26.6
2040
255k born · 115k died · -4k net migration
TFR 2.19 · life expectancy 71.2 · median age 29.3
2050
246k born · 137k died · -3k net migration
TFR 2.06 · life expectancy 72.6 · median age 31.9
2060
236k born · 159k died · -3k net migration
TFR 1.96 · life expectancy 74.0 · median age 34.2
2070
226k born · 181k died · -3k net migration
TFR 1.91 · life expectancy 75.4 · median age 36.3
2080
215k born · 198k died · -3k net migration
TFR 1.85 · life expectancy 76.9 · median age 38.2
2090
204k born · 207k died · -3k net migration
TFR 1.83 · life expectancy 78.2 · median age 39.7
2100
193k born · 212k died · -3k net migration
TFR 1.79 · life expectancy 79.6 · median age 41.1

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

🏆 National Teams

Bolivia on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.

National Teams Champions

Every major championship won by Bolivia's national teams, newest first. 1 in total.