preview

Essay on Colombia: A South American Country

Decent Essays

The Republic of Colombia
Geography, Population, and Climate
The Republic of Colombia, often known as Colombia, is located in northwestern South America. Colombia is boarded by the Caribbean Sea, Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru. Colombia is approximately 439,700 square miles. As of January 2014, the estimated population is 47,425,000 people, about 105 people per square mile. Colombia is divided into 32 departments and a capital district. The capital of Colombia is Bogota, which has a population of 7.6 million people. The official currency of Colombia is the Peso, which is also used in Chile, Uruguay, Cuba, and Mexico. Currently, one US dollar is equal to 2017.82 Colombian pesos.
Since the equator runs though the southern …show more content…

Economic Overview Since the 1980’s, Colombia has had a capitalist economic system that is based on free enterprise. Based on the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, Colombia has the 34th freest economy. The economic freedom score has increase within the last 20 years, which means that Colombia has a higher freedom in trade and investments. For example, there are no restrictions on who can hold property, with the exception of public domain owned by the government. Colombia has also saw a decline in the percent of population living in poverty and the unemployment rate. From 2008 to 2012, the percent of the population living in poverty decreased from 42 percent to 32.7 percent. The unemployment rate has also steadily dropped from 17.87 percent in 2002 to 7.79 percent in 2013.
GDP and Economic Outlook According to the Central Intelligence Agency, the 2012 Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, for Columbia was 497.3 billion USD and the GDP per capita was 10,700 USD. Among other countries, Colombia is ranked 29th for highest GDP and 110th for highest GDP per capita. Agriculture makes up 11.5 percent of the GDP, industry makes up 36 percent of the GDP, and services makes up 52.5 percent of the GDP. Based on GDP trends, Colombia’s economy is slowly and steadily expanding. The GPD has increased by four percent per year for the past three years. The Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), a multinational Spanish banking group, predicts the

Get Access