Poverty rate:

33.2%

out of the total population as for 2018.

Sending country: Around 878.000 Bolivians or 7.8% of the total population reside abroad mainly in Argentina (48.5%), Spain (17.2%), the US (47.4%) and Chile (9.2%).

Destination country: Around 156.000 immigrants or 1.4% out of the total population live in Bolivia. The main countries of origin are Argentina (29.8%), Brazil (17.9%), Spain (8.5%); and in recent years Bolivia has also received people from Venezuela (more than 2.000 people in 2019).

Transit country: Venezuelan migrants crossing Bolivia en route to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Host country for refugees: There are 700 refugees or asylum seekers of more than 20 different nationalities (Peruvians, Colombians, Cubans, Iraqis, and Russians) residing in Bolivia.

Hover over the country where you want to know the data.

* daily data update

The government decrees the total reopening of its land borders and the full normalization of activities, including tourism as of December 1st. The decree approved by President Luis Arce includes cultural, social, sport activities and even religious festivities. Those activities had remained closed despite a partial lifting of restrictions decreed in August.

On the 8th of October, Chile decided to keep closed the border with Bolivia, due to the outbreak in that country. This measure is expected to last through 2020.

Presidential elections seem to have impacted the displacement of Venezuelan migrants moving into Chile, between the moths of September and October, migrants congregated in the area of Colchane. Many entered without documentation across the plateau.

A inicios del mes de octubre la Dirección General de Migración determinó reforzar el control migratorio en la frontera con Argentina, ante el rebrote del COVID-19 en ese país. Se dispuso la aplicación inmediata de medidas de contención y bioseguridad en las oficinas desplegadas en las zonas fronterizas de Bermejo, Yacuiba y Villazón.

In early October, the Dirección General de Migración committed to re-assert migration control at the Argentine border due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in that country. The immediate deployment of containment and biosafety measures was ordered at offices in the border areas of Bermejo, Yacuiba and Villazón.

By mid-October, Mario Castillo Noguera, national deputy for the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), asserted that the legislators opposed to the Socialist Movement [Movimiento Al Socialismo] (MAS) have not been informed about the bilateral meetings held between the president of the Brigade Parliamentarian of Tarija, Henry Chávez, with Argentine Migration authorities, who intend to “open the borders” to normalize the migratory flow of Bolivian citizens to our country.

Because of the October 12 elections, Interpol carried out a series of foreign operations. They occur in areas most frequented by the Venezuelan population. Colonel Pablo García pointed out that undocumented persons have one month to resolve their migration status or face deportation. At the same time, migration controls at the borders are being reinforced.

Before the month of November, the Argentine government partially allowed border transit between Salvador Mazza and Yacuiba, it will be open between 8am and 4pm, with an allowance of up to 500 people per day.

Eidy Roca, Minister of Health, recommended that authorities of the Foreign Ministry and the General Directorate of Migration realize stricter controls on the border with Argentina to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections in the department of Tarija.