World Facts

conventional long form: Republic of Colombia
Capital: Bogota
Type of Government: republic; executive branch dominates government structure-
Administrative Divisions: 32 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento) and 1 capital district* (distrito capital); Amazonas, Antioquia, Arauca, Atlantico, Distrito Capital de Bogota*, Bolivar, Boyaca, Caldas, Caqueta, Casanare, Cauca, Cesar, Choco, Cordoba, Cundinamarca, Guainia, Guaviare, Huila, La Guajira, Magdalena, Meta, Narino, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Quindio, Risaralda, San Andres y Providencia, Santander, Sucre, Tolima, Valle del Cauca, Vaupes, Vichada
Age Structure: 0-14 years: 30.7% (male 6,670,950/female 6,516,371)
Agriculture: coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, cocoa beans, oilseed, vegetables; forest products; shrimp
Airports: 980 (2004 est.)
With Paved Runways: total: 100-
With Unpaved Runways:
Area: total: 1,138,910 sq km. slightly less than three times the size of Montana
Background: Colombia was one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Ecuador and Venezuela). A 40-year conflict between government forces and anti-government insurgent groups and illegal paramilitary groups - both heavily funded by the drug trade - escalated during the 1990s. The insurgents lack the military or popular support necessary to overthrow the government and violence has been decreasing since about 2002, but insurgents continue attacks against civilians and large swaths of the countryside are under guerrilla influence. Paramilitary groups challenge the insurgents for control of territory and the drug trade, and also the government's ability to exert its dominion over rural areas. Although several thousand paramilitary members have demobilized since 2002 in an ongoing peace process, their commitment to ceasing illicit activity is unclear. While Bogota steps up efforts to reassert government control throughout the country, neighboring countries worry about the violence spilling over their borders.
Birth rate: 20.82 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Budget: revenues: $46.82 billion
Coastline: 3,208 km (Caribbean Sea 1,760 km, North Pacific Ocean 1,448 km)-
Climate: tropical along coast and eastern plains; cooler in highlands
Communications:
Constitution: 5-Jul-91
Currency: Colombian peso (COP)-
Current account balance:
Death rate: 5.59 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)-
Debt - external: -
Dependency status: -
Dependent areas:
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador William B. WOOD
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Andres PASTRANA
Disputes - international: Nicaragua filed a claim against Honduras in 1999 and against Colombia in 2001 at the ICJ over disputed maritime boundary involving 50,000 sq km in the Caribbean Sea, including the Archipelago de San Andres y Providencia and Quita Sueno Bank; dispute with Venezuela over maritime boundary and Los Monjes Islands near the Gulf of Venezuela; Colombian-organized illegal narcotics, guerrilla, and paramilitary activities penetrate all of its neighbors' borders and have created a serious refugee crisis with over 300,000 persons having fled the country, mostly into neighboring states
Distribution of family income: 57.1 (2003 est.)-
Economic aid - donor:
Economic aid - recipient: NA
Economy - overview: Colombia's economy has been on a recovery trend during the past two years despite a serious armed conflict. The economy continues to improve thanks to austere government budgets, focused efforts to reduce public debt levels, and an export-oriented growth focus. Ongoing economic problems facing President URIBE range from reforming the pension system to reducing high unemployment. New exploration is needed to offset declining oil production. On the positive side, several international financial institutions have praised the economic reforms introduced by URIBE, succeeded in reducing the public-sector deficit below 1.5% of GDP. The government's economic policy and democratic security strategy have engendered a growing sense of confidence in the economy, particularly within the business sector. Coffee prices have recovered from previous lows as the Colombian coffee industry pursues greater market shares in developed countries such as the United States.-
Electricity - consumption:
Electricity - exports:
Electricity - imports:
Electricity - production:
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
Environment - current issues: deforestation; soil and water quality damage from overuse of pesticides; air pollution, especially in Bogota, from vehicle emissions-
Environment - International Agreements:
Ethnic groups: mestizo 58%, white 20%, mulatto 14%, black 4%, mixed black-Amerindian 3%, Amerindian 1%
Exchange rates: Colombian pesos per US dollar - 2,324.08 (2005), 2,628.61 (2004), 2,877.65 (2003), 2,504.24 (2002), 2,299.63 (2001)
Executive branch: chief of state: President Alvaro URIBE Velez (since 7 August 2002); Vice President Francisco SANTOS (since 7 August 2002); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Exports: $23.06 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Exports - partners: US 42.1%, Venezuela 9.7%, Ecuador 6% (2004)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Flag description: three horizontal bands of yellow (top, double-width), blue, and red; similar to the flag of Ecuador, which is longer and bears the Ecuadorian coat of arms superimposed in the center
GDP (official exchange rate): $100.9 billion (2005 est.)
GDP (purchasing power parity): $303.1 billion (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 12.5%-
GDP - per capita:
GDP - real growth rate: 4.3% (2005 est.)
Geographic coordinates: 4 00 N, 72 00 W
Geography - note: only South American country with coastlines on both the North Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea-
Government - note:
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.7% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 3,600 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 190,000 (2003 est.)-
Heliports: -
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
Illicit drugs: illicit producer of coca, opium poppy, and cannabis; world's leading coca cultivator (cultivation of coca in 2002 was 144,450 hectares, a 15% decline since 2001); potential production of opium between 2001 and 2002 declined by 25% to 91 metric tons; potential production of heroin declined to 11.3 metric tons; the world's largest processor of coca derivatives into cocaine; supplier of about 90% of the cocaine to the US market and the great majority of cocaine to other international drug markets; important supplier of heroin to the US market; active aerial eradication program; a significant portion of non-US narcotics proceeds are either laundered or invested in Colombia through the black market peso exchange
Imports: $20.42 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Imports - partners: US 29.1%, Venezuela 6.5%, China 6.4%, Mexico 6.2%, Brazil 5.8% (2004)
Independence: 20 July 1810 (from Spain)-
Industrial production growth rate:
Industries: textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds
Infant mortality rate: total: 20.97 deaths/1,000 live births-
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
International organization participation: BCIE, CAN, CDB, CSN, FAO, G-3, G-15, G-24, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO
Internet country code: .co-
Internet hosts:
Internet users: 2,732,200 (2003)-
Investment (gross fixed):
Irrigated land: 8,500 sq km (1998 est.)
Judicial branch: four roughly coequal, supreme judicial organs; Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (highest court of criminal law; judges are selected by their peers from the nominees of the Superior Judicial Council for eight-year terms); Council of State (highest court of administrative law; judges are selected from the nominees of the Superior Judicial Council for eight-year terms); Constitutional Court (guards integrity and supremacy of the constitution; rules on constitutionality of laws, amendments to the constitution, and international treaties); Superior Judicial Council (administers and disciplines the civilian judiciary; resolves jurisdictional conflicts arising between other courts; members are elected by three sister courts and Congress for eight-year terms)
Labor force: 20.52 million (2005 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
Land boundaries: total: 6,004 km
Land use: arable land: 2.42%
Languages: Spanish
Legal system: based on Spanish law; a new criminal code modeled after US procedures was enacted into law in 2004 and is gradually being implemented; judicial review of executive and legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Legislative branch:
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 71.72 years
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Location: Northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Panama and Venezuela, and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Ecuador and Panama-
Major infectious diseases: -
Manpower available for military service: -
Manpower fit for military service:
Manpower reaching military service age annually: males: 389,735 (2005 est.)
Map references: South America
Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm-
Median age:
Merchant marine: total: 15 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 35,427 GRT/46,301 DWT-
Military - note: -
Military branches: -
Military expenditures - dollar figure: -
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: -
Military service age and obligation:
National holiday: Independence Day, 20 July (1810)
Nationality: noun: Colombian(s)
Natural gas - consumption: 6.219 billion cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
Natural gas - production: 6.354 billion cu m (2004 est.)-
Natural gas - proved reserves:
Natural hazards: highlands subject to volcanic eruptions; occasional earthquakes; periodic droughts
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, copper, emeralds, hydropower
Net migration rate: -0.31 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)-
Oil - consumption: -
Oil - exports: -
Oil - imports: -
Oil - production: -
Oil - proved reserves: -
People - note: -
Political parties and leaders: Colombian Communist Party or PCC [Jaime CAICEDO]; Conservative Party or PSC [Carlos HOLGUIN Sardi]; Democratic Pole or PDI [Samuel MORENO Rojas]; Liberal Party or PL [Cesar GAVIRIA]
Political pressure groups and leaders: two largest insurgent groups active in Colombia - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC and National Liberation Army or ELN; largest illegal paramilitary group, a roughly organized umbrella group of disparate paramilitary forces, is United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia or AUC
Population: 42,954,279 (July 2005 est.)-
Population below poverty line:
Population growth rate: 1.49% (2005 est.)
Ports and terminals: Barranquilla, Buenaventura, Cartagena, Muelles El Bosque, Puerto Bolivar, Santa Marta, Turbo
Public debt: 44.2% of GDP (2005 est.)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 454, FM 34, shortwave 27 (1999)
Railways: total: 3,304 km
Refugees and internally displaced persons: IDPs: 2,730,000 - 3,100,000 (conflict between government and FARC; drug wars) (2004)
Religions: Roman Catholic 90%, other 10%-
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
Roadways: total: 112,998 km
Sex ratio:
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Telephone system: general assessment: modern system in many respects
Telephones - main lines in use: 8,768,100 (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 6,186,200 (2003)
Television broadcast stations: 60 (includes seven low-power stations) (1997)
Terrain: flat coastal lowlands, central highlands, high Andes Mountains, eastern lowland plains
Total fertility rate: 2.56 children born/woman (2005 est.)-
Transportation - note:
Unemployment rate: 11.8% (2005 est.)
Waterways: 9,187 km (2004)