Demographics of Bolivia

The demographic characteristics of the population of Bolivia are known through censuses, with the first in 1826 and the most recent being in 2012. The National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia (INE) has performed this task since 1950. The population of Bolivia in 2012 had reached 10 million for the first time in history. The population density is 9.13 inhabitants per square kilometer, and the overall life expectancy in Bolivia at birth is 68.2 years. The population has steadily risen from the late 1800s to the present time. The natural growth rate of the population is positive, which has been a continuing trend since the 1950s; in 2012, Bolivia's birth rate continued to be higher than the death rate. Bolivia is in the third stage of demographic transition. In terms of age structure, the populations is dominated by the 15–64 segment. The median age of the population is 23.1, and the gender ratio of the total population is 0.99 males per female.

Demographics of Bolivia
Scatter plot of the population of Bolivia (in thousands) from 1826–2012
Population	10,027,254 (2012)
Density	9.1 people/km2 (2012)
Growth rate	21.2% (2012)
Birth rate	23.7 per 1,000 pop. (2013)
Death rate	6.6 per 1,000 pop. (2013)
Life expectancy	68.87 years (2014)
• male	65.4 years (2013)
• female	71.1 years (2013)
Fertility rate	2.8 children born/woman (2013)
Infant mortality rate	39.7 deaths/1,000 live births (2013)
Age structure
0–14 years	31.0% (2012)
15–64 years	63.1% (2012)
65 and over	6.1% (2012)
Sex ratio
Total	0.99 male/female (2012)
Under 15	1.05 male/female (2012)
15–64 years	0.96 male/female (2012)
65 and over	0.88 male/female (2012)
Nationality
Nationality	noun: Bolivian(s), adjective: Bolivian
Major ethnic	Quechua 45.6%, Ayamara 42.4% (2012)
Minor ethnic	37 other ethnic groups (2012)
Language
Official	Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, Guarani, and 34 other native languages

Bolivia is inhabited mostly by Quechua (45.6%) and Aymara (42.4%), while minorities include 37 indigenous groups (0.3% average per group). The Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, Guarani languages, as well as 34 other native languages are the official language of Bolivia. Spanish is the most-spoken language (60.7%) within the population. The main religions of Bolivia are Catholicism (81.8%), Evangelicalism (11.5%), and Protestantism (2.6%). Education is of poor quality, and has a 91.2% literacy rate. An estimated 7.6% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is spent on education. The average monthly household income was Bs.1,378 ($293) in 1994. In December 2013 the unemployment rate was 3.2% of the working population. Average urbanisation rate in Bolivia is 67%.

Population

Distribution of Quechua people by municipality.

Distribution of Aymara people by municipality.

Map showing the area of indigenous peoples in Bolivia

Distribution of other Bolivian indigenous peoples by municipality.

Census population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1826	997,427	—
1831	1,088,768	+1.77%
1835	1,060,777	−0.65%
1845	1,378,896	+2.66%
1854	2,326,126	+5.98%
1882	1,172,156	−2.42%
1900	1,555,818	+1.59%
1950	2,704,165	+1.11%
1976	4,613,486	+2.08%
1992	6,420,792	+2.09%
2001	8,274,325	+2.86%
2012	10,027,254	+1.76%
Source: 1826,[1] 1831–2001,[2] 2012[3]

The first true estimate of the population of Bolivia came in 1826, which 997,427 inhabitants were estimated. This number was calculated from the 1796 census organized by Francisco Gil de Taboada, which consisted of several Bolivian cities.[1] The first modern census was completed in 1831, and ten have been completed since then. The organizer of Bolivian's censuses has changed throughout the years—Andrés de Santa Cruz (1831), The Bolivian Statistical Office (1835, 1854, 1882), The Bolivian Statistical Commission (1845), The National Immigration Bureau and The Statistics and Geographic Propaganda (1900), and The Department of Statistics and Censuses (1950)—with the INE conducting the census since 1976.[1] The national census is supposed to be conducted every ten years, however, the 2012 census was late because of "climatic factors and the financing." The 2012 census data was conducted on 21 November 2012, in which 10,027,254 inhabitants were in the country. The estimated cost of the census was $50 million.[4][5]

With a population of 10.0 million in 2012, Bolivia ranks 87th in the world by population.[3] Its population density is 9.13 inhabitants per square kilometer. The overall life expectancy in Bolivia is 65.4. The total fertility rate is 2.87 children per mother.[6] Since 1950, the World Health Organization's (WHO) estimates the birth rate exceeded the death rate of the country.[7] The population of Bolivia has been increasing since 1900, and has only had a negative per annum growth rate twice in its history (1835 and 1882). Bolivia is in the third stage of demographic transition. There were 562,461 immigrants in Bolivia in 2012, with the most (40.5%) coming from Argentina.[8] In 2008, there were 48,809 marriages in Bolivia, and 5,887 divorces throughout the country in 2011.[9][10]

Cities

Largest cities or towns in Bolivia Census 2012, INE
	Rank	Name	Department	Pop.	Rank	Name	Department	Pop.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra El Alto	1	Santa Cruz de la Sierra	Santa Cruz	1,453,549	11	Montero	Santa Cruz	109,518	La Paz Cochabamba
	2	El Alto	La Paz	848,840	12	Trinidad	Beni	106,422
	3	La Paz	La Paz	764,617	13	Warnes	Santa Cruz	96,406
	4	Cochabamba	Cochabamba	630,587	14	Yacuíba	Tarija	91,998
	5	Oruro	Oruro	264,683	15	La Guardia	Santa Cruz	89,080
	6	Sucre	Chuquisaca	259,388	16	Riberalta	Beni	89,003
	7	Tarija	Tarija	205,346	17	Viacha	La Paz	80,388
	8	Potosí	Potosí	189,652	18	Villa Tunari	Cochabamba	72,623
	9	Sacaba	Cochabamba	169,494	19	Cobija	Pando	55,692
	10	Quillacollo	Cochabamba	137,029	20	Tiquipaya	Cochabamba	53,062

Vital statistics

Year	Population	Births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Natural change	Fertility rates
1950	2,714	134	70	64	46.9	24.4	22.5	6.75
1955	3,100	149	73	76	46.8	23.0	23.8	6.75
1960	3,353	163	77	86	45.9	21.5	24.4	6.63
1965	3,751	181	81	100	45.4	20.2	25.2	6.56
1970	4,217	203	85	118	45.3	19.0	26.3	6.50
1975	4,786	208	81	127	41.1	16.0	25.1	5.80
1980	5,369	220	76	144	38.6	13.3	15.3	5.30
1985	6,041	238	72	166	37.1	11.3	25.8	5.00
1990	6,794	259	71	188	36.0	9.9	25.1	4.8
1995	7,635	263	71	192	32.7	8.9	23.8	4.32
2000	8,495	270	72	198	30.3	8.1	22.2	3.96
2005	9,355	267	73	194	27.3	7.5	19.8	3.50
2010	10,157	274	76	198	25.9	7.1	18.8	3.25
2015	11,025	282	79	203	24.5	6.9	17.6	3.04
• All statistics are per 1,000 inhabitants  • All data comes from estimations from the United Nations.[7]

Births and deaths[11]

Year	Population	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Rate of natural increase	TFR
2009		346,029
2010		298,494	44,953	253,541
2011		311,365	47,130	264,235
2012	10,351,000	309,123	48,115	261,008
2013	10,507,000	303,775	49,780	253,995
2014	10,666,000	292,545	50,468	242,077
2015	10,825,000	281,777	49,691	232,086
2016	10,985,000	260,591	49,726	210,865	23.7
2017	11,146,000	250,836			22.5

Fertility and Births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[12]

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
1989		5,0 (3,2)		4,0 (2,6)		6,4 (4,1)
1994	34	4,8 (2,7)	32	3,8 (2,4)	37	6,3 (3,3)
1998	30.4	4,2 (2,5)	27.4	3,3 (2,2)	35.4	6,4 (3,2)
2003	28	3,8 (2,1)	26	3,1 (1,9)	32	5,5 (2,6)
2008	26	3,5 (2,0)	24	2,8 (1,9)	28	4,9 (2,4)

Structure of the population[11]

Population pyramid 2016

Structure of the population (21 November 2012) (Census) :

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	5,019,447	5,040,409	10,059,856	100
0–4	556,294	533,654	1,089,948	10.83
5–9	504,623	488,031	992,654	9.87
10–14	549,866	528,298	1,078,164	10.72
15–19	559,285	546,999	1,106,284	11.00
20–24	493,018	485,588	978,606	9.73
25–29	407,293	410,102	817,395	8.13
30–34	372,197	381,634	753,831	7.49
35–39	310,162	320,870	631,032	6.27
40–44	270,971	273,730	544,701	5.41
45–49	228,006	233,978	461,984	4.59
50–54	199,526	203,694	403,220	4.01
55–59	159,128	164,897	324,025	3.22
60–64	134,457	145,410	279,867	2.78
65–69	98,098	106,431	204,529	2.03
70–74	71,902	80,521	152,423	1.52
75–79	44,974	54,302	99,276	0.99
80–84	36,230	46,633	81,095	0.81
85–89	15,884	22,039	37,923	0.38
90–94	5,996	8,669	14,665	0.15
95+	3,305	4,929	8,234	0.08

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	1,610,783	1,549,983	3,160,766	31.42
15–64	3,134,043	3,166,902	6,300,945	62.63
65+	274,621	323,524	598,145	5.95

Life expectancy

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	40.0	1985–1990	53.8
1955–1960	41.4	1990–1995	56.5
1960–1965	43.0	1995–2000	59.3
1965–1970	44.7	2000–2005	62.1
1970–1975	46.7	2005–2010	65.0
1975–1980	48.9	2010–2015	67.7
1980–1985	51.2

Source: UN World Population Prospects[13]

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups in Bolivia[14]
Ethnic group			percent
Mestizo			68%
Indigenous			20%
White			5%
Unspecified			3%
Cholo/Chola			2%
Black			1%
Other			1%

Languages

Main article: Languages of Bolivia

The official languages of Bolivia are Spanish[14] (60.7%), Quechua[14] (21.2%), Aymara[14] (14.6), and Guaraní[14] (0.6%), plus other 33 native languages.[14] Originally only Spanish, Aymara, and Quechua were the official languages until the 2009 Constitution was passed.[15] According to the 2001 census, 60.7% of the population over six years old is able to speak Spanish and/or speaks it as a native language.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Bolivia

Religion in Bolivia[14]
Religion			percent
Roman Catholicism			76.8%
Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism			8.1%
Protestantism			7.9%
Other			1.7%
None			5.5%

In a 2012 Gallup poll, 87% answered affirmatively when asked "Is religion important in your daily life?"[16]

Education

Main article: Education in Bolivia

The literacy rate in Bolivia is 94.98%.[17]

Health

Main article: Health in Bolivia

Healthcare expenditures comprise only 4.9% of the GDP.[6] According to the 2013 World Factbook, Bolivia ranks 161st in life expectancy with an average age of 68.2 years.[6] In 2009, the World Factbook estimated 12,000 people are living in Bolivia with HIV/AIDS (0.2%) and less than 1,000 of that population died from it.[6] In 2003, it was estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) that 31.9% of the adult population (12–64) were smokers.[18] According to 2008 WHO data, 17.9% of the population is obese.[19] In 2011, there were 3,255 healthcare institutions, of which 1,134 are considered "first class" (medical personnel and registered nurses) by the Bolivian Ministry of Health Management.[20] The hospitals employed an estimated 10,000 medical doctors in 2001.[21]

In 2012, the causes of death in Bolivia were:[22]

Diseases of the circulatory system 13.72% Cancer 11.34% External causes of morbidity and mortality 10.79% Conditions originating in prenatal development 10.19% Gastrointestinal disease 10.18%

Respiratory disease 9.92% Infectious and parasitic diseases 9.54% Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases 6.74% Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical 6.23% Other 11.34%

Economic indicators

Main article: Economy of Bolivia

Personal income, jobs, and unemployment

2016 average monthly income was estimated in 4,319 Bs. An increase from average monthly income in 1994 of Bs.1,378 ($293). [23] Since May 2019, the minimum wage in Bolivia is Bs.2,122 ($307) per month.[24] The unemployment rate in Bolivia in 2015 was 7.4%.[6] There are an estimated 4.7 million workers in Bolivia. Of that population, 48% are considered to be services, 32% are industry workers (mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing, jewelry), and 32% are agriculture workers (soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; Brazil nuts; timber).[6] In comparison with other countries in South America, Bolivia's median equivalent household income in terms of the Purchasing Power Standard stands at $5,000, which is last in South America.[6]

Urbanization and housing

The 2012 census recorded a total of 3,158,691 households in Bolivia—an increase of 887,960 from 2001.[25] In 2009, 75.4% of homes were classified as a house, hut, or Pachuichi; 3.3% were apartments; 21.1% were rented out homes; and 0.1% were mobile homes.[26] The urbanization rate of Bolivia is 67%.[6]

Notes

1. "Hitos En La Producción Estadística" [Milestones in Statistical Production] (in Spanish). National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia. 2 November 2011. Archived from the original on 20 January 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
2. "Censo en Bolivia se Inició en 1831" [Census in Bolivia Began in 1831]. La Opinión (in Spanish). 18 November 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
3. National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia 2012, p. 4
4. "El Gobierno Realizará el Censo 2012 el 21 de Noviembre" [The Government will make the 2012 Census on 21 November]. Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 19 April 2013. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
5. "Censo 2012: Bolivia Tiene 10.389.913 habitantes" [Census 2012: Bolivia has 10,389,913 inhabitants]. Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 23 January 2013. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
6. "South American :: Bolivia". World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
7. "World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision". United Nations. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
8. National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia 2012, p. 30
9. "Bolivia: Número de Matrimonios Registrados, por Departamento" [Bolivia: Number of Marriage Registrations, by Department]. National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
10. "En Bolivia Registran más de 16 Divorcios Diarios" [In Bolivia, Divorces Recorded more than 16 per Day]. La Razon (in Spanish). 28 September 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
11. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2.htm
12. http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/dhs#_r=&collection=&country=&dtype=&from=1890&page=2&ps=&sk=&sort_by=nation&sort_order=&to=2014&topic=&view=s&vk=
13. "World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations". Retrieved 15 July 2017.
14. "South America :: BOLIVIA". CIA The World Factbook.
15. Arnade, Charles (14 March 2013). "Bolivia: Languages and Religion". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
16. "Gallup World View". Gallup. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
17. 2012 census
18. "Bolivia: Smoking Prevalence" (PDF). World Health Organization. p. 1. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
19. "Bolivia (Plurinational State of)" (PDF). World Health Organization. 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
20. "Según Diagnóstico: Bolivia Cuenta con 3.255 Centros de Salud" [According to Diagnosis: Bolivia has 3,255 Health Centers]. La Patria. 2 December 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
21. "Field Listing :: Physicians Density". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 2001. Retrieved 23 January 2014. The number of 10,000 comes from the physician density (1.22/1,000 inhabitants) multiplied by the population (8,274,325) in 2001.
22. "Diez eEnfermedades son Principales Causas de Mortalidad en el País" [Ten Diseases are Leading Causes of Mortality in the Country]. FM Bolivia (in Spanish). 20 July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
23. Israel 1994, p. 11
24. "Bolivia MOF Announces Minimum Wage Increase". Bloomberg Tax. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
25. National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia 2012, p. 16
26. "Bolivia: Hogares por Tipo y Tenencia de la Vivienda, Según Área Geográfica, 2000 – 2009" [Bolivia: Households by Type and Tenure, According to Geographic Area, 2000 – 2009]. National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2014.

References

• National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia (2012). "Bolivia Caracteristicas de Populacion y Vivienda: Censo Nacional de Populacion y Vivienda 2012" [Bolivia Characteristics of Population and Housing: National Censo of Population and Housing 2012] (PDF) (PDF) (in Spanish). Bolivian National Institute of Statistics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2014.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Díaz-Domínguez, Alejandro (2009). "Nota Metodológica: Midiendo Religión en Encuestas de Latinoamérica" [Methodological Note: Measuring Religion Polls in Latin America] (PDF). Perspectivas desde el Barómetro de las Américas (PDF) (in Spanish) (29). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 June 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2014.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Israel, Debra (1994). "Impact of Increased Access and Price on Household Water Use in Urban Bolivia" (PDF) (PDF). Indiana State University. Retrieved 19 January 2014.