Colombia

Geography

Economics

Demographics

Military

Politics

Surface

Surface (in square kilometers)

Surface (in square miles)

Surface (water)

Water Surface (in square kilometers)

Water Surface (in square miles)

Share of water (%)

Temperature

Average temperature (in Celcius)

Average temperature (in Farenheit)

Average high temperature (in Celcius)

Average high temperature (in Farenheit)

Average low temperature (in Celcius)

Average low temperature (in Farenheit)

Rainfall

Average rainfall (mm)

Average rainfall (inch)

Distance to other capitals (kilometers)

Distance to other capitals (miles)

Proximity

Economic organizations

Gross Domestic Product (US$)

Gross Domestic Product per capita

Amount of memberships (economic organizations)

Absolute earnings for every 1$

Relative earnings

GDP in PPP per capita (in US$)

GDP in PPP per capita

Gross Domestic product (in million US$)

GDP per capita (in US$)

Surface GDP

GDP per square kilometer (in US$)

GDP per square mile(in US$)

Relative GDP in PPP

Population

Population density

Emigration

Immigration

Literacy

Health

Population density (in km2)

Population density (in mi2)

Religion

Christianity (share of the total population)

Islam (share of the total population)

Buddhism (share of the total population)

Hinduism (share of the total population)

Judaism (share of the total population)

Other religions (share of the total population)

Non-religious (share of the total population)

Military spending (in % of GDP)

Military spending

The budget of the Colombian military is estimated to be just over US$10 billion or around 3.8 percent of its GDP. This makes the Colombian military the 26th most funded military in the world. Most of its funds go to military training of its land forces which are trained by the Colombian military as well as the United States. The United States also supplies the majority of its military equipment which it uses to combat the narcotics trade.

Politics

Political Membership

Democracy/Dictatorship

Military membership

It is a member of six international organizations which makes it the 49th most militarily interconnected state in the world. It is a member of the following organizations:

System of Cooperation Among the American Air Forces
Conference on Disarmament
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
International Atomic Energy Agency
Non-Aligned Movement

Military membership

International wars

Columbia has partaken in six international wars. These are:

Peruvian War of Independence 1811-1816
Gran Colombia–Peru War 1818-1819
Ecuadorian–Colombian War 1863-1863
Leticia Incident 1931-1933
Korean conflict 1945-present
Korean War 1950-1953

Number of international wars fought

Military spending (in US$ million)

Membership (international political organizations)

It is a member of 13 international political organizations which makes it the 63rd most politically interconnected state in the world. It is a member of the following organizations:

Member state of the United Nations
International Labour Organization
Organization of American States
Association of Caribbean States
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property
Organization of Ibero-American States
UNIDROIT
International Criminal Court
Interpol
Permanent Court of Arbitration
Association of World Election Bodies
World Organization for Animal Health

Political Membership

Democracy/dictatorship rating

Because of judicial changes at the end of the 20th century, there has been a centralization of power within the Colombian government. This has led to unique powers that are granted to the president. Even so, the seat of the president is non-renewable after four years. This makes Columbia the 58th most democratic state in the world.

Democracy/Dictatorship

The politics of Colombia are in the form of a presidential republic where the President is head of government as well as head of state.

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If you want to know more about other states, click on the flag on the right to discover the Comoros.

Known for its coffee as well as its diverse landscape, Colombia has had several struggles since its discovery by the Spanish Empire. When it was discovered at the end of the 15th century, conflicts between the Spanish Empire and the indigenous people started to arise. After becoming a full colony of the Spanish Empire, calls for independence started at the start of the 19th century. In 1819, Colombia attained its independence under Simon bolivar which also covers the territories of Venezuela Ecuador and Panama. After losing Ecuador and Venezuela to separatists in 1830 and a Declaration of Independence from Panama in 1903, the current borders of Colombia still remain to this date. .

The geography of Colombia is characterized by several extreme geographical features. It has a low-lying coastal plain to its north, a high mountain range that spans through the center and it is connected to the Amazonian rain forest in the south. It borders a total of five other states with Venezuela to its northeast, Brazil to its southeast, Ecuador and Peru to its southwest and Panama to its northwest. It also borders the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

It has a total surface area of 1,147,000 square kilometers or 443,000 square miles which makes it the 25th largest state in the world being slightly smaller than South Africa and slightly larger than Ethiopia.

It has a total water surface area of just over 100,000 square kilometers or just under 39,000 square miles which makes it the ninth state with the largest body of water.

Below, a graph is shown which displays the absolute amount of water of each state in square kilometers and square miles.

With around 8.8 percent of its total landmass covered in water, Colombia is one of the highest recipients in the world. It receives an average precipitation that is three times the global average. However, this precipitation is unevenly spread out throughout Colombia with the northern, more densely populated area receiving less water than the southern densely forested area. However, water is still in abundance.

Afghanistan's share of water, as well as the other states are displayed below.

Because of its location on the equator, Colombia experiences few seasonal changes. The average temperature is around 24 degrees Celsius or 75.1 degrees Fahrenheit making it the 80th warmest state in the world. Temperature fluctuations are mostly prevalent in its mountain range where it drops significantly and is known to receive snow on a regular basis.

The average temperature goes up to 27.5 degrees Celsius or 81.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the period from June to August.

The average low temperature is around 20.1 degrees Celsius or 68.2 degrees Fahrenheit and occurs during the period between December until March.

Rain occurs during mostly two rain seasons which span from April to May and October to November. It is the 38th state with the largest amount of precipitation with an annual precipitation of 178.3 centimetres or 70.2 inches.

The capital of Colombia, Bogota, is home to 7.5 million people. The capital that is closest located to Bogotá is Quito Ecuador with a distance of 702.4 kilometers or 436.4 miles. The capital that is furthest located from Bogotá is Jakarta Indonesia with a distance of 19,800 kilometres or 12,300 miles.

The economy of Colombia has been growing in recent decades due to free trade agreements with other developed states as well as opening up to foreign investment. One of the larger drawbacks from the Colombian economy is that it is partially reliant on the exports of petroleum related products which are known to have a high fluctuation and can heavily negatively influence the Colombian economy. Its main trading partners are the United States and China to which it exports petroleum related products, coffee and gold. Both China and United States combined make up more than 45 percent of Colombia’s imports and more than 42 percent of Colombia's exports.

It is a member of 17 international economic organizations making it the 121st most economically interconnected state in the world. It is a member of the following organizations:

Alliance for Financial Inclusion
Bank for International Settlements
Caribbean Development Bank
Inter-American Development Bank
International Monetary Fund
OECD - Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
World Bank Group
World Customs Organization
World Trade Organization
International Bamboo and Rattan Organization
Andean Community
Central American Bank for Economic Integration
Pacific Alliance
International Renewable Energy Agency
Group of 77
Group of 24
Advisory Centre on World Trade Organization Law

With a total GDP of US$307 billion, it is the 42nd highest GDP in the world representing 0.36 percent of total global GDP.

It has a total GDP of US$267,000 per square kilometer or US$692,000 per square mile making it the 82nd state with the highest GDP per surface area.

It has a GDP per capita of just over US$6000 which places the annual income of the Colombian citizens as the 92nd highest in the world.

The absolute earnings (GDP per capita) reflect the average yearly income. The figure below shows how much, on average, an inhabitant of another state earns for every $1 earned by a citizen of this state.

The annual purchasing power of the Colombian citizen is estimated to be around US$14,700.

The relative Gross Domestic Product in Purchasing Power Parity compares the purchasing power of this state with that of the rest of the world. The graph on the left shows how much purchasing power of 1$ compared to the purchasing power of other states

The ancestry of the population of Colombia is largely mixed with three quarters of the population being a mix between Spanish and the indigenous people or with African descendants. The remaining 25 percent consists of people from direct European descent, mainly Spanish. It has a total population size of nearly 50 million people making it the 29th most populous state in the world.

The population density is the 138th highest in the world with 112 people per square mile or 43 people per square kilometer.

As a result of a Civil War as well as an economic downturn in the 1960s, many Colombians have emigrated to neighbouring Venezuela as well as the United States and Spain. In total, around 2.9 million people, or six percent of the total population, have emigrated from Colombia. This makes Colombia the 23rd state with the highest number of emigrants representing around 1.13 percent of the total global emigration.

Immigration to Colombia has come in the form of illegal immigration as well as remigration. Due to foreign investments, Colombia has attracted skilled labour within its petroleum sector as well as its mining sector. Other migrants come in the form of refugees and pensioners. It is estimated that around 1.2 million people or around 2.4 percent of the population has migrated to Colombia.

The educational system of Colombia has been experiencing high dropout rates within urban areas and poor educational quality or no education in rural areas. It is estimated that 94.4 percent of the population is literate which makes Colombia the 100th most literate state in the world.

Aside from the leading causes of death which are mostly lifestyle related diseases, there has been an increase in deaths from several communicable diseases such as Chikungunya, Zika and Malaria. Another health risk factor is the inaccessibility of healthcare in rural areas. This has led to a high infant mortality rate as well as maternal deaths. The average life expectancy is estimated to be 77.9 years with women averaging around 80.5 years and men averaging around 75.2 years. This makes Colombia the 28th state with the highest life expectancy in the world.

The government of Colombia provides freedom of religion for all of its citizens. In practice, there have been no interreligious conflicts, but the Catholic Church enjoys a preferential status compared to other religions.

Christianity is the largest religion in Colombia. With its Spanish history, more than 70 percent of the total population adheres to the Catholic denomination while just under 20 percent adheres to Protestantism. With this high percentage of Christians in Colombia, it is ranked as the 19th most Christian state in the world.

On the right, the global share of Christians per state is displayed

Islam is a relatively small minority in Colombia and is estimated to be around 30,000 people, or around 0.2 percent of the Colombian population. The majority of Muslims reside within urban area, mainly large cities. The majority of Muslims in Colombia are from the middle eastern region with Syrian and Lebanese Muslims representing the largest Muslim population.

Around 0.07 percent of the Colombian population adheres to Buddhism with the Mahayana denomination being the largest.

Around 0.06 percent of the population adheres to Hinduism. Hinduism in Colombia arrived with the arrival of Indian migrant workers which spread from the Caribbean area to Colombia. Most of the Hindus in Colombia are Hare Krishnas and its temples are spread out throughout the larger cities in Colombia.

Judaism arrived in three waves to Colombia. The first influx came around its independence when many Jews emigrated from the Caribbean to Colombia. After being recognized as an official religion by the Colombian government, a second wave of Jews arrived in Colombia that originated from the Levant and eastern Europe. A third wave of Jews arrived to Colombia in the period just before and a right after the second world war due to perceived existential threats in Europe. In the second half of the 20th century, several Jewish institutions were erected and are still present today. It is estimated that around 0.03 percent of the population of Colombia is Jewish.

The amount of people that adheres to other religions is estimated to be 1.3 percent. These are mainly religions that are practiced by the native population.

Around 5.8 percent of the Colombian population does not adhere to any faith. Of these, a large portion is not practicing religion while a small majority are convinced atheist.