According to the

National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia The Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Bolivia or National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia is a branch of the Government of Bolivia which specifically collects factual data in the country of Bolivia in South America. The Institute compiles ...

(INE), a city is classified as an

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an ope ...

where the

city limit City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate lim ...

s are identifiable, and its

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

is recognized. Bolivia has 1,384 cities. As of 21 November 2012, the date of the most-recent national census, 53 cities have a population of at least 10,000 in Bolivia, as enumerated by the INE. These 53 cities have a population of 6,162,346, accounting for 61.4% of the country's population. The largest city is

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; "Holy Cross of the Mountain Range"), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River in the eastern Tropical Lowlands of Bolivia ...

, with a population of 1,441,406, a 29.4% increase from the last census date of 5 September 2001. La Guardia had the highest percentage increase, 801.5%, from 2001 to 2012. From 2001 to 2012, Bolivia had a population increase of 21.1%. Of the 53 cities, 42 had a higher increase than 21.1%, 8 had lower increase and 3 had a small decrease. The three cities that had a negative population growth from 2001 to 2012 are La Paz (–4.1%),

Yacuíba Yacuiba is a city in southern Bolivia and the capital city of Gran Chaco Province in the Tarija Department. It lies three kilometers from the Argentine border. It has a population of approximately 80,000 and lies above sea level. Yacuiba is on ...

(–4.2%), and Santa Ana del Yacuma (–5.4%). With the exception of the Department of La Paz, each department's capital city is the largest city in its respective department. The Department of Santa Cruz has the most cities (18), and Pando and Chuquisaca have the least (1). 200px, An enlargeable map of the Plurinational State of Bolivia Pueblos originarios de Bolivia

List

Notes

*A In 2001, Yapacaní did not exist. The INE consolidated 19 cities, which had a 2001 population of 16,572, for the 2012 census to form Yapacaní.

References

{{South America in topic, List of cities in Bolivia, List of cities in Bolivia

Cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...