Colombia

Index

More Facts & Figures

National name: República de Colombia

Language: Spanish

Ethnicity/race: mestizo 58%, white 20%, mulatto 14%, black 4%, mixed black-Amerindian 3%, Amerindian 1%

National Holiday: Independence Day, July 20

Religion: Roman Catholic 90%

Literacy rate: 90.4% (2011 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2011 est.): $470.7 billion; per capita $10,100. Real growth rate: –1%. Inflation: 3.7%. Unemployment: 10.8%. Arable land: 2%. Agriculture: coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, cocoa beans, oilseed, vegetables; forest products; shrimp. Labor force: 22.45 million (2006); agriculture 22.7%, industry 18.7%, services 58.5% (2000 est.). Industries: textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds. Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, copper, emeralds, hydropower. Exports: $56.5 billion (2011 est.): petroleum, coffee, coal, apparel, bananas, cut flowers. Imports: $54.7 billion (2011 est.): industrial equipment, transportation equipment, consumer goods, chemicals, paper products, fuels, electricity. Major trading partners: U.S., Venezuela, Ecuador, China, Mexico, Brazil (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 6,809,000 (2011); mobile cellular: 43.405 million (2011). Radio broadcast stations: AM 454, FM 34, shortwave 27 (1999). Television broadcast stations: 60 (includes seven low-power stations) (1997). Internet hosts: 4,281,000 (2011). Internet users: 22.538 million (2011).

Transportation: Railways: total: 874 km (2011). Highways: total: 141,374 km; (2011). Waterways: 9,187 km (2004). Ports and harbors: Barranquilla, Buenaventura, Cartagena, Muelles El Bosque, Puerto Bolivar, Santa Marta, Turbo. Airports: 990 (2011 est.).

International disputes: 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.

Major sources and definitions