National name: República de Colombia
President: Alvaro Uribe (2002)
Area: 439,733 sq mi (1,138,910 sq km)
Monetary unit: Colombian Peso

Population (2005 est.): 42,954,279
- growth rate: 1.5%;
- birth rate: 20.8/1000;
- infant mortality rate: 21.0/1000;
- life expectancy: 71.7;
- density per sq mi: 98

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Santafé de Bogotá, 6,837,800
 

Other large cities: - Cali, 2,283,200; - Medellín, 1,957,800; - Barranquilla, 1,330,400; - Cartagena, 901,500

Ethnicity/race: - mestizo 58%, - white 20%, - mulatto 14%, - black 4%, - mixed black-Amerindian 3%, - Amerindian 1%

  Language: Spanish

Religion: Roman Catholic 90%

Literacy rate: 93% (2003 est.)

Economic summary:
- GDP/PPP (2004 est.): $281.1 billion; per capita $6,600.
- Real growth rate: 3.6%.
- Inflation: 5.9%.
- Unemployment: 13.6%.
- Arable land: 2%.
- Agriculture: coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, cocoa beans, oilseed, vegetables; forest products; shrimp.
- Labor force: 20.7 million; services 46%, agriculture 30%, industry 24% (1990).
- Industries: textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds.
- Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, copper, emeralds, hydropower.
- Exports: $12.96 billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): petroleum, coffee, coal, apparel, bananas, cut flowers.
- Imports: $13.06 billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): industrial equipment, transportation equipment, consumer goods, chemicals, paper products, fuels, electricity.
- Major trading partners: U.S., Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Germany.

Communications:
- Telephones: main lines in use: 5,433,565 (Dec. 1997); mobile cellular: 1,800,229 (Dec. 1998).
- Radio broadcast stations: AM 454, FM 34, shortwave 27 (1999).
- Radios: 21 million (1997).
- Television broadcast stations: 60 (includes seven low-power stations) (1997).
- Televisions: 4.59 million (1997).
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 18 (2000).
- Internet users: 1.15 million (2002).

Transportation:
- Railways: total: 3,304 km (2002).
- Highways: total: 110,000 km; paved: 26,000 km; unpaved: 84,000 km (2000). Waterways: 18,140 km, navigable by river boats (April 1996).
- Ports and harbors: Bahia de Portete, Barranquilla, Buenaventura, Cartagena, Leticia, Puerto Bolivar, San Andres, Santa Marta, Tumaco, Turbo.
- Airports: 1,050 (2002).