The La Paz Department of

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

comprises with a 2024

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

population of 3,022,566 inhabitants. It is situated at the western border of Bolivia, sharing

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...

with the neighboring

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. It contains the Cordillera Real mountain range, which reaches altitudes of . Northeast of the Cordillera Real are the '' Yungas'', the steep eastern slopes of the

Andes Mountains The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

that make the transition to the Amazon River basin to the northeast. The capital of the department is the city of La Paz and is the administrative city and

seat of government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation's Capital city, capital is also seat of its governmen ...

/national

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of Bolivia. Altiplano_de_La_Paz_Bolivia

Provinces

The Department of La Paz is divided into 20 provinces (''provincias'') which are further subdivided into 85

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

(''municipios'') and - on the fourth level - into

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

. The provinces with their capitals are:

Government

The chief executive office of Bolivia's departments (since May 2010) is the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

; before then, the office was called the

Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

, and until 2006 the prefect was appointed by the

President of Bolivia The president of Bolivia (), officially known as the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (), is head of state and head of government of Bolivia and the captain general of the Armed Forces of Bolivia. According to the Bolivian C ...

and then the governor is elected by the voters. The current governor, Santos Quispe, was elected on 11 April 2021 and took office on 3 May. Under the 2009 Constitution, Bolivian departments have an elected legislature, known as the Departmental Legislative Assembly. The La Paz Assembly has 45 members including five indigenous / natives minority representatives. The most recent governor election results (2021) are as follows:

Past executives

Demographics

Languages

The languages spoken in the department are mainly Spanish, Aymara, Quechua and Guaraní. The following table shows the number of people belonging to the recognized group of speakers.obd.descentralizacion.gov.bo
(Spanish)

Places of interest

* Apolobamba Integrated Management Natural Area * Cotapata National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area *

Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve and Communal Lands Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve and Communal Lands (''Reserva de Biosfera y Tierra Comunitaria de Origen Pilón Lajas'') is a protected area in Bolivia located in the departments of La Paz Department (Bolivia), La Paz (Sud Yungas Province, Sud Yung ...

* Chacaltaya

Towns and villages

* Arapata * Belén, Aroma * Khasani * La Chojlla * Machacamarca, Aroma * Marquirivi * Palcoco * Pasto Pata * Puerto Guaqui

References

External links

La Paz City Guide

Weather in La Paz

Bolivian Music and Web Varieties

Full information of La Paz Department
{{Authority control Departments of Bolivia