Production Transformation Policy Review of Colombia

Country profile

Colombia is a unitary country with an administrative structure born of the constitutional reform of 1991. It is composed of 32 administrative departments and the Capital District of Bogota. Departments are divided into a total of 1 101 municipalities. Among them, five – Cartagena, Barranquilla, Bogotá, Buenaventura, Santa Marta and Villa de Mompox – are categorised as special districts due to their particular political, commercial, historical, industrial, cultural or environmental characteristics, according to a new regime adopted in 2013, and updated in 2017. Each department has a local government with a governor and assembly directly elected for four-year terms, and each municipality is headed by a mayor and a local council. The 1991 Constitution also accords special status to certain territories: 87 indigenous territories that account for 3.4% of the total population (DANE, 2006[1]).

Administrative departments of Colombia

Main economic indicators of Colombia 1970-2017

	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2017
Population
Population, total (million)	22.1	27.7	34.3	40.4	45.9	48.7
Labour force, total (million)	5.4	8.4	11.7	16.8	25.6	28.9
Unemployment, total (% of total labour force) (national estimate)	10.6	9.1	10.2	20.5	10.9	8.4
Employment-to-population ratio			55.2	51.5	60.2	63.0
Aggregate economy
GDP, USD million, (constant prices and constant PPPs, 2010)	106 840.5	180 159.7	254 290.3	328 894.6	490 405.4	637 206.3
GDP, USD million, current	7 198.4	33 400.7	402 74.2	99 886.6	28 7018.2	309 191.4
GDP per capita, USD, current	326.3	1 204.2	1 175.1	2 472.2	6 250.7	6 272.7
GDP per capita, USD, (constant prices and constant PPPs, 2010)	4 942.8	6 524.5	7 451.0	8 162.0	10 776.0	12 927.3
GDP growth (verge previous 10 years)	5.2	5.5	3.5	2.8	4.1	3.8b
Gross fixed capital formation (% of GDP)	18.1	16.8	16.6	14.1	21.9	23.4.c
Inflation, consumer prices (annual %)	6.9	26.5	29.1	9.2	2.3	4.3
External sector
Trade (% of GDP)	30.1	31.8	35.4	32.7	33.7	34.9
Exports of goods and services USD million constant 2010 prices)	5 875.7	10 258.1	18 501.0	30 642.1	45 739.2	55 785.4
Imports of goods and services (USD million constant 2010 prices)	4 979.1	8 634.4	9 761.7	23 003.0	50 988.4	72 770.4
External balance on goods and services (% of GDP)	-1.5	0.6	5.7	-0.8	-1.8	-4.5c
Economic activities
Agriculture value added, USD million constant 2010 prices ( % of Gross value added)d	9 278.2 (25.7)	14 209.1 (19.9)	19 080.5 (16.7)	15 234.5 (8.9)	18 661.9 (7.1)	22 257.7c (6.6)
Industry value added, USD million constant 2010 prices ( % of Gross value added	22 668.0 (38)	38 397.3 (37.6)	57 256.8 (40.2)	62 273.1 (35)	91 903.4 (35)	112 285.8c (33.5)
Of which manufacturing (% of Gross value added)	13 250.6 (21.2)	23 702.0 (23.9)	31 676.5 (20.6)	26 189.6 (15)	36 620.7 (13.9)	41 189.4c (12.3)
Services value added, constant 2010/USD (% of GDP)	27 595.8 (46)	49 325.6 (47.6)	66 631.8 (45.4)	100 726.4 (61.6)	152 335.2 (57.9)	200 370.3 (59.8)
Total natural resources rents (% of GDP)	0.5	4.5	7.3	5.1	6.3	3.5c
Energy
Electricity production from renewable sources, excluding hydroelectric (% of total)	1.5d	1.1	0.8	1.2	4.1	3.1e
Electricity production from hydroelectric sources (% of total)	65.1	69.9	75.6	74.4	68.0	71.1e
Renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption)			38.3	28.0	27.9	24.5e
Renewable electricity output (% of total electricity output)			76.4	75.5	72.1	74.2e
Science and technology indictors
GERD (Gross domestic expenditure Research and development expenditure % of GDP)	..	..	..	0.1	0.2	0.3
Percentage GERD financed by private sector	..	..	..	21.0	23.8	49.2c
Researchers in R&D (per million people)	..	..	70.0g	99.3	182.3	114.9f
High-technology exports (% of manufactured exports)	..	..	..	7.7	5.1	9.8c
Fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people)	..	..	..	..	5.7	11.8f
Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people)	..	..	..	5.7	95.8	117.1f

Note: ^a Estimated value ^b from 2011 to 2017 ^c 2016, ^d1975, ^e2014, ^f2015, ^g1995,

Source: OECD National accounts, IE Statistics, International Telecommunication Union, World Telecommunication/ICT Development Report and database, United Nations Comtrade database, ILOSTT database, International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics, United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics and World Bank Statistics