"Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela" redirects here. For the period when it was known as the "Republic of Venezuela" from 1953 to 1999, see Republic of Venezuela.
^ The "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela" has been the full official title since the adoption of the Constitution of 1999, when the state was renamed in honor of Simón Bolívar.
^ Area totals include only Venezuelan-administered territory.
^ On 1 October 2021, a new bolivar was introduced, the Bolívar digital (ISO 4217 code VED) worth 1,000,000 VES.
Venezuela,[a] officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,[b] is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. Venezuela comprises an area of 916,445 km2 (353,841 sq mi), and its population was estimated at 29 million in 2022.[13] The capital and largest urban agglomeration is the city of Caracas.
The territory of Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 amid resistance from Indigenous peoples. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American territories to declare independence from the Spanish and to form part of the first federal Republic of Colombia (Gran Colombia). It separated as a full sovereign country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional military dictators until the mid-20th century. Since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments, as an exception where most of the region was ruled by military dictatorships, and the period was characterized by economic prosperity.
Venezuela is a developing country having the world's largest known oil reserves and has been one of the world's leading exporters of oil. Previously, the country was an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa, but oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues. The excesses and poor policies of the incumbent government led to the collapse of Venezuela's entire economy.[24][25] The country struggles with record hyperinflation,[26][27]shortages of basic goods,[28] unemployment,[29] poverty,[30] disease, high child mortality, malnutrition, environmental issues, severe crime and corruption. These factors have precipitated the Venezuelan refugee crisis where more than seven million people have fled the country.[31] By 2017, Venezuela was declared to be in default regarding debt payments by credit rating agencies.[32][33] The crisis in Venezuela has contributed to a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation.
^Corrales, J. (2022). Autocracy Rising: How Venezuela Transitioned to Authoritarianism. G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Brookings Institution Press. p. intro. ISBN978-0-8157-3807-7.
^"Annex tables"(PDF). World Urbanization Prospects: The 1999 Revision. United Nations. Archived(PDF) from the original on 28 August 2003. Retrieved 13 March 2007.
^Smilde, David (14 September 2017). "Crime and Revolution in Venezuela". NACLA Report on the Americas. 49 (3): 303–308. doi:10.1080/10714839.2017.1373956. ISSN1071-4839. S2CID158528940. Finally, it is important to realize that the reductions in poverty and inequality during the Chávez years were real, but somewhat superficial. While indicators of income and consumption showed clear progress, the harder-to-change characteristics of structural poverty and inequality, such as the quality of housing, neighborhoods, education, and employment, remained largely unchanged.
Venezuela OverviewArchived 29 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine. The World Bank. Accessed 17 November 2014. "Economic growth and the redistribution of resources associated with these missions have led to an important decline in moderate poverty, from 50% in 1998 to about 30% in 2012. Likewise, inequality has decreased, reducing the Gini Index from 0.49 in 1998 to 0.39 in 2012, which is among the lowest in the region."
^Cite error: The named reference UN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^남민우, 기 (2 May 2018). 화폐경제 무너졌는데…최저임금 인상에 목매는 베네수엘라 [The monetary economy collapsed... Venezuela clamors for minimum wage hike]. 朝鮮日報 (The Chosun Ilbo) (in Korean). Archived from the original on 12 September 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2018 – via chosun.com. Venezuela's fall is considered to be mainly caused by the populist policy
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