Country · Americas
Bolivia
Plurinational State of Bolivia
Bolivia is a country in South America. Its capital city is Sucre. About 11.4 million people live there, in an area of 1 098 581 square kilometres.
Bolivia has two capitals: Sucre is the one named in the constitution, but the government and parliament work in La Paz.
Picture credit: Albert Backer (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Parallelepiped09 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Bolivia?
Bolivia lies in South America, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 1 892 km from the equator.
Bolivia is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 5 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Peru.
How big is Bolivia?
Bolivia covers 1 098 581 square kilometres.
That is about 11 times the size of Iceland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 27th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 10.3 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Bolivia?
About 11.4 million people live in Bolivia.
That is the 79th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Aymara, Guaraní, Quechua and Spanish.
They pay with the Bolivian boliviano (Bs.).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 64 years.
The land of Bolivia
The land in Bolivia sits on average 1 192 metres above sea level — high enough that much of it counts as mountain country.
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 5 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Bolivia different?
A dish the country is known for: Salteñas.
Websites from here often end in .bo.
Bolivia and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 2 live in Bolivia.
It takes up about 0.82 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas it is the 8th largest of 35 countries, and the 12th most populated.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Bolivia and its neighbours
Brazil, its largest neighbour, is about 7.8 times bigger.
Brazil has more people: 209.5 million against 11.4 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 4 live wild in Bolivia: Jaguar, Llama, Alpaca and Toco toucan. The longest river is the Amazon, running 6 400 km from source to mouth.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Bolivia?
The capital of Bolivia is Sucre. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Bolivia?
About 11.4 million people live in Bolivia, which makes it the 79th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Bolivia?
Bolivia borders Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Peru — 5 neighbours in total.
How big is Bolivia?
Bolivia covers 1 098 581 square kilometres, making it the 27th largest country in the world. That is about 11 times the size of Iceland.
Which continent is Bolivia in?
Bolivia is in Americas, in the part called South America.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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