Economy of Colombia

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Economy of Colombia

Currency	Colombian peso (COP)
Fiscal year	Calendar year
Trade organizations	WTO, OECD, Pacific Alliance, CAN
Country group	Developing /Emerging[1] Upper middle income economy[2]
Statistics
Population	52,400,145 (2023)[3]
GDP	$334.689 billion (nominal, 2023)[4] $1.01 trillion (PPP, 2023)[4]
GDP rank	46th (nominal, 2023) 32nd (PPP, 2023)
GDP growth	7.5% (2022)[5] 1.0% (2023f)[5] 1.9% (2024f)[5]
GDP per capita	$6,980 (nominal, 2023)[4] $19,460 (PPP, 2023)[4]
GDP per capita rank	93th (nominal, 2023) 82nd (PPP, 2023)
GDP by sector	agriculture: 7.2% industry: 30.8% services: 62.1% (2017 est.)[6]
Inflation (CPI)	3.5% (2020 est.)[7]
Population below poverty line	27% in poverty (2018)[8] 27.8% on less than $5.50/day (2018)[9]
Gini coefficient	51.7 high (2018)[10]
Human Development Index	0.758 high (2022)[11] (91th) 0.568 medium IHDI (85th) (2022)[12]
Labor force	26,788,369 (2019)[13] 56.5% employment rate (2022)[14]
Labor force by occupation	agriculture: 17% industry: 21% services: 62% (2011 est.)[6]
Unemployment	12.2% (March 2020)[15] 12.2% (2020 est.)[7] 21.8% youth unemployment (March 2020)[16]
Average gross salary	Col$1,761,494 / $384 monthly[17] (2022)
Main industries	textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds, shipbuilding, electronics industry, home appliance
External
Exports	$39.48 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Export goods	petroleum, coal, coffee, gold, bananas, cut flowers, coke (fuel), ferroalloys, emeralds
Main export partners	United States 28.5%  Panama 8.6%  China 5.1% (2017)[6]
Imports	$44.24 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Import goods	industrial equipment, transportation equipment, electric machinery and equipment, organic chemicals, pharmaceutical products, medical and optical equipment
Main import partners	United States 26.3%  China 19.3%  Mexico 7.5%  Brazil 5%  Germany 4.1% (2017)[6]
FDI stock	$179.6 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[6] Abroad: $55.51 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[6]
Current account	−$10.36 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Gross external debt	$124.6 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[6]
Public finances
Government debt	49.4% of GDP (2017 est.)[6][note 1]
Budget balance	−2.7% (of GDP) (2017 est.)[6]
Revenues	83.35 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Expenses	91.73 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Economic aid	$32 billion
Credit rating	Standard & Poor's:[18] BBB+ (Domestic) BBB (Foreign) A-(T&C Assessment)
Foreign reserves	$47.13 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[6]
Main data source: CIA World Fact Book All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of Colombia is the fourth largest in Latin America as measured by gross domestic product^[19] and the third-largest economic power in South America.^[20][21] Colombia has experienced a historic economic boom over the last decade. Throughout most of the 20th century, Colombia was Latin America's 4th and 3rd largest economy when measured by nominal GDP, real GDP, GDP (PPP), and real GDP at chained PPPs. Between 2012 and 2014, it became the 3rd largest in Latin America by nominal GDP. As of 2018, the GDP (PPP) per capita has increased to over US$14,000, and real gross domestic product at chained PPPs increased from US$250 billion in 1990 to nearly US$800 billion.^[4] Poverty levels were as high as 65% in 1990, but decreased to under 30% by 2014, and 27% by 2018. They decreased by an average of 1.35% per year since 1990.^[8]

Petroleum is Colombia's main export, representing over 45% of Colombia's exports. Manufacturing represents nearly 12% of Colombia's exports, and grows at a rate of over 10% a year. Colombia has the fastest growing information technology industry in the world, and has the longest fibre optic network in Latin America.^[22] Colombia also has one of the largest shipbuilding industries in the world outside Asia.

Modern industries like shipbuilding, electronics, automobile, tourism, construction, and mining, grew dramatically during the 2000s and 2010s. However, most of Colombia's exports are still commodity-based. Colombia is Latin America's 2nd-largest producer of domestically made electronics and appliances, following Mexico. Colombia had the fastest-growing major economy in the Western world in 2014, behind only China worldwide.^[23][24]

Since the early 2010s, the Colombian government has shown interest in exporting modern Colombian pop culture to the world (which includes video games, music, films, television shows, fashion, cosmetics, and food) as a way of diversifying the economy and entirely changing the image of Colombia. This has inspired a national campaign, similar to the Korean Wave.^[25] Colombia is only behind Mexico in cultural exports, and is already a regional leader in cosmetic and beauty exports.^[26]

Wealth is poorly distributed and Colombia is among the most unequal societies in the world, with a Gini index of approximately 0.̟6. For example, according to the World Bank, in 2010 the richest 20% of the population owned 60.2% of the wealth and the poorest 20% only 3%, and 15.8% of Colombians lived on less than $2 a day.^[27][28] In 2021, more than 54% of Colombian families are food insecure and more than 560,000 children under the age of five are chronically undernourished.^[29]

The informal economy is estimated at 47% in 2020. There is no welfare state in Colombia, which has almost no unemployment or pension insurance system. As a result, only one million elderly people have pensions (and five million are without^[30]) and social assistance is very low. Many people in their 70s and 80s are forced to continue working or beg. ^{[citation needed]} The country is said to be the most unequal in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

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