Economy

Imports
$73.5 billion (2022).  Refined Petroleum ($6.26B), Cars ($2.73B), Broadcasting Equipment ($2.64B), Corn ($2.02B), and Packaged Medicaments ($1.77B), importing mostly from United States ($19.4B), China ($18.1B), Brazil ($5.16B), Mexico ($3.6B), and Germany ($2.24B).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 45% have an account with a financial institution
• 14% have a credit card
• 4.7% have a mobile money account
• 12% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
Ease of conducting business is medium (rated 70.1 out of 100). Ranked 3rd out of 32 Caribbean and Latin American countries. Ranked 67th out of 190 countries worldwide (2019, World Bank).

Exports
$60.3 billion (2022). Crude Petroleum ($16.1B), Coal Briquettes ($12.9B), Coffee ($4.15B), Refined Petroleum ($2.64B), and Gold ($2.59B), exporting mostly to United States ($15.6B), Panama ($5.84B), Netherlands($3.67B), India ($2.55B), and Brazil ($2.39B).

Main local online stores
mercadolibre.com.co, dafiti.com.co and linio.com.co, asivendo.com.ar and mercadoshops.com.co

Economic freedom
‘Mostly free’ (rated 59.2 out of 100). Ranked 19th out of 32 Latin American countries. Ranked 84h out of 186 countries worldwide (2024, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Global Innovation Index
Ranked 5th out of 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries, 66th out of 132 worldwide.

The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Internet Data

Internet users
75.7% penetration, 39.51 million.

Share of web traffic by device
68.18% mobile phones, 31.09% computers (laptops and desktops), 0.66% tablet devices and 0.06% other devices.

Median download speed of mobile Internet connection
12.26  Mbps

Average speed of fixed Internet connection
111.81 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 147.5%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 94.4%

Most popular web search engines
Google (93.7%), Bing (3.93%), Yahoo (2.09%), DuckDuckGo (0.09%), YANDEX (0.08%), Ecosia (0.06%).

Most used social media
Facebook (56.69%), Instagram (22.13%), YouTube (8.89%), Pinterest (8.56%), Twitter (2.27%), LinkedIN (0.23%).

Social statistics

Life expectancy
74 yrs (2022).

Healthcare expenditure
9.02% of GDP (2021).

Education expenditure
86.8% of total expenditure in public institutions (2021).

Co2 emissions
1.6 metric tons per capita (2020)

Gender
Colombia is increasingly equalitarian with regard to the gender issue; however, women are not well perceived in some types of jobs. It is common these days to see women in high-ranking corporate positions and gender is not an issue at all if their level of education is comparable to that of her colleagues. In the lower income classes, women have less access to education and they are still normally perceived as the ones in charge of their kids, with the man providing for the family.

Religion
Colombia is mainly catholic country, but there is a proliferation of Christian sects coming mainly from the US. There is a Jewish minority and almost no Islamic presence at all (besides diplomats from Arabic countries).

Cultural Curiosities
Like many countries, Colombia was heavily influenced by Spanish colonization, which lasted more than 300 years. Drug consumption is a sensitive topic in Colombia. Many families have been affected by the violence caused by the criminal organizations that traffic narcotics, so if you want to discuss it, do so in a serious manner – joking about it in formal settings is strongly discouraged.

Corruption perceptions Index
Colombia scored 39 out of 100, ranked 91 out 180 countries worldwide.

World Happiness Index
Colombia ranked 66 out of 146 countries, with a score of 5.781.

Graduates (tertiary education)
Colombia has one of the lowest shares (23%) of tertiary-educated adults (25-64 year-olds) among OECD countries. Although the share of tertiary-educated younger adults (25-34 year-olds) is slightly higher, at 29%, it is still among the lowest of the OECD countries. The shortage of tertiary-educated adults may explain why having a tertiary degree carries an earnings advantage that is surpassed only by Chile: adults with tertiary degrees earn over twice as much in Colombia as adults with an upper secondary education, whereas on average among OECD countries tertiary-educated adults are only paid 57% more. The earnings advantage increases with age in Colombia: while 25-34 year-olds with tertiary degrees earn 95% more than their peers with upper secondary degrees, 45-54 year-olds earn 166% more.

The majority of adults with tertiary education (82%) are in employment in Colombia, a sign that the tertiary education system is relevant to the labour market. However, access to the labour market varies between regions: Colombia exhibits high regional variation in employment rates among tertiary-educated adults, ranging from 76% in Chocó to 86% in Nariño and the capital region.

The private sector plays an important role in Colombian tertiary education, particularly at bachelor’s and master’s level where 60-70% of students are enrolled compared to 30% on average across OECD countries. In contrast, only 20% of short-cycle tertiary students enrol in private institutions in Colombia compared to 40% on average across OECD countries.