Bolivia

BOLIVIA

A.  THE COUNTRY

The Republic of Bolivia is a landlocked Andean state in South America.
The President of this democratic Republic has strong socialist agendas
while there is a push for autonomy by some regions of Bolivia that
generates significant unrest.  The fall in silver, tin and cotton prices
on the international market, a poor infrastructure and the 2007
devastating floods render this country the continent’s poorest nation.
Discoveries of huge natural gas deposits are the engine of current
economic growth, particularly linking with Brazil.  Reducing poverty and
unemployment are primary government goals.  Honest agriculture is often
undermined by coca growing.

B. THE PEOPLE

the population is ~10,031,000 and official languages Spanish, Aymara and
Quechua.  ~43.7% are Mestizo, ~53.6% Amerindian, ~2.7% Other (European
and Asian).  Up to 75% of Bolivia’s children are raised in a context of
poverty, with perhaps 100,000 homeless or street kids.  Over 67% of the
population are under age 30.

C. RELIGIONS AND CHRISTIANITY/PENTECOSTALISM

The Catholic church is the State Church.  Most of the population have
been baptized Catholic but are practising animists or Christo-pagans,
so statistics here must be interpreted in this light.
~96.97% claim to be Christian, ~3.74% Non-religious, ~3.1%
Ethnoreligionist, ~1.9% Baha’i, ~0.2$ Chinese, ~0.05% Buddhist, ~0.03%
Jewish, ~0.01% Muslim.
In the Christian category:
~77.56% are Catholic, ~12.86% Protestant, ~4.64% Independent, ~2.33% are
groups originating in Western society that are considered ‘marginal’,
~0.04% Orthodox, ~0.01% Anglican.
Evangelicals represent ~16.2% of the population and are growing.
Charismatics represent ~13.1% and of those ~7.9% are Pentecostals.

Donna Siemens

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org

Operation World, Jason Mandryk. Colorado Springs: Biblica Publishing, 2010.