Economy of Bolivia

The economy of Bolivia is the 95th-largest in the world in nominal terms and the 87th-largest in purchasing power parity. Bolivia is classified by the World Bank to be a lower middle income country. With a Human Development Index of 0.703, it is ranked 114th (high human development). Driven largely by its natural resources, Bolivia has become a region leader in measures of economic growth, fiscal stability and foreign reserves, although it remains a historically poor country. The Bolivian economy has had a historic single-commodity focus. From silver to tin to coca, Bolivia has enjoyed only occasional periods of economic diversification. Political instability and difficult topography have constrained efforts to modernize the agricultural sector. Similarly, relatively low population growth coupled with low life expectancy has kept the labor supply in flux and prevented industries from flourishing. Rampant inflation and corruption previously created development challenges, but in the early twenty-first century the fundamentals of its economy showed unexpected improvement, leading Moody's Investors Service to upgrade Bolivia's economic rating in 2010 from B2 to B1. The mining industry, especially the extraction of natural gas and zinc, currently dominates Bolivia's export economy.

Economy of Bolivia
La Paz, the financial centre of Bolivia
CurrencyBolivian Boliviano (BOB)
Calendar year
Trade organizations
WTO, CAN, UNASUR, Mercosur (candidate)
Country group
Statistics
Population 12,290,945 (2024)
GDP
  • $49.718 billion (nominal, 2024 est.)
  • $130.579 billion (PPP, 2024 est.)
GDP rank
  • 91st (nominal, 2021)
  • 92nd (PPP, 2021)
GDP growth
  • 4.2% (2018) 2.7% (2019e)
  • −5.9% (2020f) 2.2% (2021f)
GDP per capita
  • $4,045 (nominal, 2024 est.)
  • $10,624 (PPP, 2024 est.)
GDP per capita rank
  • 119th (nominal, 2021)
  • 117th (PPP, 2021)
GDP by sector
  • agriculture: 13.8%
  • industry: 37.8%
  • services: 48.2%
  • (2017 est.)
3.1% (2020 est.)
Population below poverty line
  • 36.4% (2021)
  • 10.6% on less than $3.20/day (2018)
40.9 medium (2018)
  • 0.692 medium (2021) (118th)
  • 0.549 low IHDI (2021)
Labor force
  • 5,423,333 (2019)
  • 69.3% employment rate (2018)
Labor force by occupation
  • agriculture: 29.4%
  • industry: 22%
  • services: 48.6%
  • (2015 est.)
Unemployment
  • 4% (2017 est.)
  • note: data are for urban areas; widespread underemployment
Main industries
mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing, jewelry
External
Exports $9.060 billion (2018 est.)
Export goods
natural gas, silver, zinc, lead, tin, gold, quinoa, soybeans and soy products
Main export partners
Imports $9.996 billion (2019 est.)
Import goods
machinery, petroleum products, vehicles, iron and steel, plastics
Main import partners
FDI stock
  • $12.31 billion (31 December 2017 est.)
  • Abroad: $0 (31 December 2017 est.)
−$2.375 billion (2017 est.)
$12.81 billion (31 December 2017 est.)
Public finances
Government debt
24.5% of GDP (2019 est.)
−7.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
Revenues15.09 billion (2017 est.)
Expenses18.02 billion (2017 est.)
Economic aidrecipient: $726 million (2009 est.)
Credit rating
B+ (Domestic)
B+ (Foreign)
B+ (T&C Assessment)
(Standard & Poor's)
$10.26 billion (31 December 2017 est.)
Main data source: CIA World Fact Book
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

Between 2006 and 2019 (term of the presidency of the democratic socialist Evo Morales), GDP per capita doubled and the extreme poverty rate declined from 38% to 18%. The poverty rate declined from 22.23% in 2000 to 12.38% in 2010. Moreover, the Gini coefficient declined from 0.60 to 0.446. According to the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade, Bolivia had the lowest inflation accumulated inflation of Latin America by October 2021.

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