Departments in Bolivia

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Bolivia is divided into nine constitutionally autonomous departments . Departamentos are local authorities that were partly formed during the Spanish colonial rule ( viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ), but whose borders have often shifted over time. Most recently, in 1938, President Germán Busch Becerra founded the lowland department Pando, a secession from La Paz. Each department is headed by a governor (gobernador) who is elected by the people. The departments are in turn subdivided into 112 provinces ( provincias ) and these in turn are subdivided into 339 municipalities . The population of each department as well as the lower levels can decide by referendum whether they want to give themselves their own constitution of autonomy or whether they want to continue to exclusively follow the guidelines of the superordinate constitution.

Departamento Potosí Departamento Tarija Departamento Chuquisaca Departamento Cochabamba Departamento Pando Departamento La Paz (Bolivien) Departamento Oruro Departamento Beni Departamento Santa Cruz Peru Chile Argentinien Paraguay BrasilienBolivian departments
About this picture
Surname Area 1 Area comparison Residents 2 Density 3 HDI 4 Capital ISO code 5 Established after Bolivia's independence
Beni Beni 213,564 Belarus 425.780 1.99 0.703 Trinidad BOB November 18, 1842 by José Ballivián
Chuquisaca Chuquisaca 51,524 Bosnia and Herzegovina 600,728 11.66 0.667 Sucre BO-H January 23, 1826 by Antonio José de Sucre
Cochabamba Cochabamba 55,631 Croatia 1,938,401 34.84 0.681 Cochabamba BO-C January 23, 1826 by Antonio José de Sucre
La Paz La Paz 133,985 Greece 2,741,554 20.46 0.693 La Paz BO-L January 23, 1826 by Antonio José de Sucre
Oruro Oruro 53,588 Netherlands + Flanders 490.612 9.16 0.700 Oruro BO-O 09/05/1826 by Antonio José de Sucre
Pando Pando 63,827 Latvia 109.173 1.71 0.720 Cobija BO-N 09/24/1938 by Germán Busch Becerra
Potosí Potosí 118.218 Bulgaria 798.664 6.76 0.599 Potosí BO-P January 23, 1826 by Antonio José de Sucre
Santa Cruz Santa Cruz 370.621 Germany 2,776,244 7.49 0.758 Santa Cruz de la Sierra BO-S January 23, 1826 by Antonio José de Sucre
Tarija Tarija 37,623 Switzerland 508.757 13.52 0.721 Tarija BO-T September 24, 1831 by Andrés de Santa Cruz
total 1,098,581 Central Europe 10,389,903 9.46 0.692

1 : in km², source: INE
2 : 2012 census
3 : inhabitants per km²
4 : index of human development

5 : ISO code according to ISO 3166-2: BO

Additional:

  • Under the previous constitution, prefects (prefectos) were appointed and recalled by the president.
  • The names of the departments go back in part to the names of the indigenous people (e.g. Cochabamba, Chuquisaca). Others refer to former presidents ( José Manuel Pando ), a border river ( Río Beni ) or are simply named after the capital (e.g. Tarija ).
  • The flag of Bolivia has 10 stars because the star for the Litoral Department, which was lost to Chile, was never removed, but the one for Pando was added by law.
  • Some of the forerunners of today's departments can be seen on the map of the Río de la Plata state (La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosí and Charcas, the former name of Chuquisaca). At that time Tarija formed a unit with Salta, which is now Argentina:
    Territorial division of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
    in 1783

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadística , accessed on September 18, 2018.
  2. ↑ Census: 10.3 million people live in Bolivia agência latina-press from January 23, 2013, accessed on September 18, 2018.

See also