Bolivia was born to republican life on August 6th, 1825 as a free nation, sovereign, independent, multiethnic and multicultural. With a surface of 2.343.760 Km². It adopts for its government the form of one Republic that is democratic and representative.

Today, Bolivia is a land-locked country located in the center of South America with a surface of 1 098 580Km² . It shares a border to the north and east with Brazil, to the southeast with Paraguay, to the south with Argentina and to the west with Chile and Peru.

The country is politically and administratively structured in 9 departments that are subdivided into provinces, municipalities and cantons.

The city of Sucre is the Republic's Constitutional Capital and located here is the country's Supreme Court of Justice. At the moment, the city of La Paz is the administrative seat of Government.

The Supreme Decree of July 14th, 1888 regulates and uniforms the use of the shield and the national flag, placing in its article 5º that "The national flag consists of three horizontal stripes of equal width and dimensions, placed in this order: a red one in the superior part, a gold one in the center and a green one in the inferior part ", confirming this way the design sanctioned in 1851 during the government of Isidoro Belzu.

National Event. - 6th of August, Independence Day

According to the 2001 census, Bolivia has a population of around 8.274.325 inhabitants, with a territorial density of 8 inhabitants per square kilo-meter. Of this population 25%-30% are Quechuas, 20%-25% are Aymaras, 35% are racially mixed.

The estimated rate of growth of the population in 2002 is 1,69%; the birth-rate is 26.41 per each thousand inhabitants; and the rate of loss of life is 8.05% also per each thousand inhabitants. The estimated infantile mortality is 57.52 per each thousand born alive, and the life expectancy is 62 and 67 years for men and women respectively.

Language:

Since 1977 Spanish, Qhechua and Aymara are the official languages. There also exist various dialects in different regions of the country; maybe the most representative one is Tupi Guaraní.

The Spanish language, imported from the colonizers, is spoken by three fourths of the population, although in many cases as a second language.

Religion:

The State recognizes and supports the Catholic religion, but guarantees the public exercise of other cults. Practically all Bolivians are catholic, although it is a Catholicism often mixed with indigenous rituals and beliefs.

The Yungas region is pleasantly warmer because of the inferior altitude, it has a humid sub-tropical climate, characterized by an annual heavy precipitation of over 1,250 millimeters, a high humidity through out the year, and an annual temperature of 23ºC.

In the plains or tropical Amazon the climate is hot and sub-tropical with an average temperature of 30ºC, with a heavy summer precipitation in the north and a drier climate towards the south.

An independently wealthy subsoil country. From the time of the colonization, Bolivia was always a great world producer of tin, silver and zinc and in a more modest way a producer of lead and gold.

Although its petroleum resources are limited, its natural gas reserve is the second most important one in the Americas and the exploitation of this resource increases in a progressive way. At the moment the exportation of gas represents 40% of the country´s income.

Its economy is mainly based in the exploitation of the mines and natural gas. Nevertheless, Bolivia has many other natural resources such as: cattle (alpacas, llamas, vicuñas); the agricultural production of soy, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, potato, sugar cane, tobacco and a diversity of fruits; in addition to immense lumber forests and a rich tradition of artisan production in textiles, ceramics, etc.