| Departments of Bolivia | |
| Alt Name: | Departamentos de Bolivia (Spanish) |
| Category: | Unitary state |
| Territory: | Plurinational State of Bolivia |
| Current Number: | 9 |
| Population Range: | 110,436 (Pando) – 3,412,921 (Santa Cruz) |
| Area Range: | 14526order=flipNaNorder=flip (Tarija) – 143098order=flipNaNorder=flip (Santa Cruz) |
| Government: | Departmental governments, national government |
| Subdivision: | Provinces |
Bolivia is a unitary state consisting of nine departments (Spanish; Castilian: departamentos). Departments are the primary subdivisions of Bolivia, and possess certain rights under the Constitution of Bolivia. Each department is represented in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly—a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Each department is represented by four Senators, while Deputies are awarded to each department in proportion to their total population.
Out of the nine departments, La Paz was originally the most populous, with 2,706,351 inhabitants as of 2012 but the far eastern department of Santa Cruz has since surpassed it by 2020; Santa Cruz also claims the title as the largest, encompassing 370621km2. Pando is the least populated, with a population of 110,436. The smallest in area is Tarija, encompassing 37623km2.
| Flag | Department | ISO 3166-2 code | Capital city | Largest city | Population (2020) | Area km2 (sq mi) | Density per km2 (sq mi) | Deputy seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beni | B | Trinidad | 213564abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values | NaNabbr=values2abbr=values | 9 | ||||
| Chuquisaca | H | Sucre | 51524abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values | NaNabbr=values2abbr=values | 11 | ||||
| Cochabamba | C | Cochabamba | 55631abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values | NaNabbr=values2abbr=values | 19 | ||||
| La Paz | L | La Paz | El Alto | 133985abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values | NaNabbr=values2abbr=values | 29 | |||
| Oruro | O | Oruro | 53588abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values | NaNabbr=values2abbr=values | 9 | ||||
| Pando | N | Cobija | 63827abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values | NaNabbr=values2abbr=values | 5 | ||||
| Potosí | P | Potosí | 118218abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values | NaNabbr=values2abbr=values | 14 | ||||
| Santa Cruz | S | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 370621abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values | NaNabbr=values2abbr=values | 25 | ||||
| Tarija | T | Tarija | 37623abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values | NaNabbr=values2abbr=values | 9 | ||||
| 2012 | 2001 | 1992 | 1976 | 1950 | 1900 | 1882 | 1854 | 1845 | 1835 | 1831 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beni | N/A | |||||||||||
| Chuquisaca | ||||||||||||
| Cochabamba | 310,600 | 176,800 | 322,900 | 279,000 | 162,400 | 226,700 | ||||||
| La Paz | 2,706,351 | 2,350,466 | 1,900,786 | 1,465,078 | 854,079 | 406,600 | 312,700 | 471,200 | 412,900 | 373,600 | 348,100 | |
| Litoral | N/A | 5,500 | 4,500 | 5,100 | 3,800 | |||||||
| Oruro | 494,178 | 391,870 | 340,114 | 310,409 | 192,356 | 82,000 | 111,400 | 91,800 | 95,300 | 111,000 | 84,100 | |
| Pando | 110,436 | 52,525 | 38,072 | 34,493 | 16,284 | N/A | ||||||
| Potosí | 823,517 | 709,013 | 645,889 | 657,743 | 509,087 | 310,100 | 234,000 | 250,700 | 243,300 | 226,300 | 192,200 | |
| Santa Cruz | 2,655,084 | 2,029,471 | 1,364,389 | 710,724 | 244,658 | 163,400 | 94,000 | 120,400 | 75,600 | 54,400 | 43,800 | |
| Tarija | 482,196 | 391,226 | 291,407 | 187,204 | 103,441 | 64,700 | 31,500 | 60,000 | 63,800 | 33,000 | 36,200 | |
| Other | N/A | 6.900 | 7,200 | 4,400 | N/A | 41,200 | ||||||