Municipalities of Bolivia facts for kids
Municipalities in Bolivia are like local towns or areas that have their own government. In Spanish, they are called municipios. These areas are the third level of how Bolivia is divided up, after bigger areas called departments and provinces. Sometimes, a whole province is just one municipality! Bolivia has about 340 municipalities in total.
How Local Governments Work
Each municipality in Bolivia is led by a person called a mayor. The mayor is in charge of running things. For a long time, from 1878 to 1942 and again from 1949 to 1987, the national government chose the mayors.
When Did People Start Voting for Mayors?
People started voting for their local mayors in 1942, thanks to a new law. Then, in 1985, another important law brought back local elections. This law also created a group of people called the municipal council. This council helps make decisions for the municipality.
How Municipalities Grew in Bolivia
Before 1994, only cities and towns were organized as municipalities. But in 1994, a big change happened. The whole country was divided into municipalities, even rural areas. This was part of a plan called decentralization, which meant giving more power to local areas.
Thanks to a law called the Law of Popular Participation, the number of municipalities grew a lot! There were only 24 in 1994, but by 2005, there were 327. By 2010, there were 337, and now there are around 340.
Many of these municipalities, about 187 of them, are home to mostly indigenous people. Most of these are in the Andean departments of Bolivia. To create a new municipality, an area usually needs to have at least 10,000 residents. If it's near a border, it needs at least 5,000 residents.
Exploring Bolivia's Municipalities
Bolivia's municipalities are spread across its nine departments. Each department has many municipalities, working together to manage local services and represent their communities. Here are some examples of municipalities you can find in different departments:
Beni Department
- Guayaramerín Municipality
- Riberalta Municipality
- Trinidad Municipality, Beni
Cochabamba Department
- Cochabamba Municipality
- Quillacollo Municipality
- Sacaba Municipality
Chuquisaca Department
- Sucre Municipality, Bolivia
- Tarabuco Municipality
- Monteagudo Municipality
La Paz Department, Bolivia
- El Alto Municipality, La Paz
- La Paz Municipality
- Copacabana Municipality, La Paz
Oruro Department
- Oruro Municipality
- Challapata Municipality
- Huanuni Municipality
Pando Department
- Cobija Municipality
- Puerto Rico Municipality
- Bella Flor Municipality
Potosí Department
- Potosí Municipality
- Uyuni Municipality
- Tupiza Municipality
Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia)
- Santa Cruz de la Sierra Municipality
- Montero Municipality
- Warnes Municipality
Tarija Department
- Tarija Municipality
- Villamontes Municipality
- Bermejo Municipality
See also
In Spanish: Municipios de Bolivia para niños
