Colombia Fun Facts

By Christopher Minster

Colombia borders Brazil, Venezuela, Panama, Peru, and Ecuador.

Total landmass of Colombia is roughly 1,140,000 square kilometers, which is slightly less than twice the size of Texas or France.

Highest point: Pico Cristóbal Colón, 5,775 m (note: nearby Pico Simón Bolívar has the same elevation)

Colombia is the oldest democracy in Latin America.

Colombia is the world’s third-leading producer of women’s lingerie.

Experts believe there are 14,000 species of butterfly in the world: about 3,000 of them, or 20%, are found in Colombia.

Columbia has the world’s greatest diversity of orchid species (3,500) and birds (1,754 species). It is also #2 in amphibians and #3 in reptiles.

95% of the world’s emeralds come from Colombia.

There are 32 departments (states) in Colombia.

Colombian María Isabel Urrutia is the only South American to win Olympic gold in weightlifting.

There are 80 different indigenous tribes in Colombia, and they speak 64 different languages.

Colombia has been to the soccer World Cup four times.

Population: roughly 45 million

Religion: Roman Catholic 90%, other 10%

In 2007, the Economist magazine ranked 121 countries according to how peaceful they were and how hard they strived for peace. Norway was first, Iraq was 121^st.  Colombia was ranked 116^th, dead last in Latin America, behind countries like Uganda, Pakistan and Lebanon. (in case you’re curious, the USA came in 96^th, between Yemen and Iran). 

Tourism in Colombia fell 21% between 1995 and 1999 

In 2002, the World Markets Research Center ranked Colombia #1 as the riskiest country to suffer a terrorist attack. 

It is estimated that 55% of Columbia’s population lives below the poverty line.

Colombia’s literacy rate: 92.5%

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Columbia is home to 593 endangered species, which puts them 8^th on the international list. Ecuador is first, with 2,151 species.

Some experts estimate that Colombia can produce 545 metric tons of pure cocaine annually. The country is the world’s largest grower of the coca plant.

Brazil produces the most coffee annually in the world: Colombia is second.

It is estimated that people drink 400 billion cups of coffee each year, second only to water.

After petroleum, coffee is the world’s second most traded commodity.

Colombia provides 12% of the world’s coffee.