Population: Estimated 6.6 million in mid-1989 with 2.1 percent growth rate projected annual growth rate of up to 2.6 percent to year 2000.

Education and Literacy: Compulsory attendance between ages seven and fourteen followed by three years of intermediate school. Four-year secondary education consisted of two-year general program followed by two-year specialized program. Higher education consisted of University of Bolivia and variety of public and private institutes. Estimated 75 percent literacy rate in mid-1980s.

Health: In mid-1980s Bolivia continued to record some of worst health indicators in Western Hemisphere. Life expectancy in 1989 fifty-two years for males and fifty-six years for females. Infant mortality 124.4 per 1,000 live births. Nutritional deficiencies affected 70 percent of population. Potable water inaccessible to 57 percent adequate sanitary facilities unavailable to 76 percent.

Religion: Ninety-five percent Roman Catholic, but many only nominal adherents. Active Protestant minority, especially Evangelical Methodists. In 1980s Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, and various Pentecostal denominations gained increasing adherents. Other denominations included Mennonites and Bahai faith and small Jewish community.

Language: Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara (all official).

Ethnic Groups: Quechua, 30 percent Aymara, 25 percent mixed, 25 to 30 percent and whites (blanco), 5 to 15 percent. Lowland Indians, numbering about 100,000 in early 1980s, divided into nine major linguistic groups and nearly thirty subgroups.

Data as of December 1989