Health in Bolivia

Figure 1. Evolution of life expectancy at birth in Bolivia compared to the worldwide trend during the 1950-2023 period.
Figure 2. Child mortality rate of Bolivia compared to the world during the 1990-2019 period.

Considering the main health indicators, Bolivia has made improvements over the last decades. Since 1950, life expectancy at birth (Figure 1) has considerably improved from 40.7 years to 68.6 years in 2023, falling a little behind the world trend (73.2 years).[1] Child mortality rate (Figure 2) has greatly decreased since 1950, from 39.2% to 2.95% in 2019, being slighly lower than the world's rate (3.71%).[2] Maternal health although has improved considerably, maternal mortality ratio (Figure 3) continues to be higher (205.49 deaths per 100,000 live births) than the world's ratio (158.84 deaths per 100,000 live births) in 2021.[3]

According to data from the United Nations Development Programme, Bolivia has a human development index (HDI) value of 0.698 for 2022, positioning in the medium human development category at position 120 out of 193.[4] Since the 90s, HDI value increased from 0.546 to 0.698.[4]

However, according to the Human Rights Measurement Initiative, Bolivia falls into the category in the very bad in ensuring the exercise of right to health, with 74.7% of the HMRI value[5] for 2021, for which, better management of its income is required for improvement.

Figure 3. Maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births of Bolivia compared to the world during the 1990-2021 period.
  1. ^ "Global Health Data Explorer: Life Expectancy". Our World in Data. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
  2. ^ "Global Health Data Explorer: Child Mortality Rate". Our World in Data. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
  3. ^ "Global Health Data Explorer: Maternal Mortality Ratio". Our World in Data. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
  4. ^ a b United Nations Development Programme. "Human Development Reports: Human Development Index. Country: Bolivia". Retrieved 2024-09-15.
  5. ^ "Bolivia". Human Rights Tracker. Retrieved 2024-09-15.