Language

Official language
Spanish

T-index
1.4%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Other languages
The Caracas dialect, which is common in the capital city of Caracas. This dialect is viewed as the standard Spanish of the country and is used by the media. Other dialects are Lara, Zulian, Margaritan and Andean.

Spanish is the most popularly spoken language in Venezuela, although approximately 40 different languages are spoken throughout the country. Venezuela’s 1999 Constitution recognised Spanish and the nation’s indigenous languages as official languages. Most of the languages spoken in Venezuela are still unclassified. Venezuela’s ethnic population includes Mestizos, who make up about 51.6% of the total inhabitants and 43.6% of the population is of European descent. 3.6% of Venezuelans have African ancestry, while 3.2% are Amerindians.

Chinese (400,000), Portuguese (254,000) and Italian (200,000), are the most spoken languages in Venezuela after the official language of Spanish. Wayuu is the most spoken indigenous language with 170,000 speakers.

English
Very low proficiency (EF) – 73 of 112 countries/regions in the world- 15/20 position in Latin America.

Demography

Capital: Caracas
Currency: Bolívar venezuelano
Population: 28.7 m
Population density: 32/km2

Economy

GDP: $482,36 billion USD (2020)
GDP per capita: 16,055.6 USD ‎(2020) ‎
Exports: $4.26 billion (2020)

Statistics

Internet users: 72% penetration, 20.87 million
Unemployment rate: 9.14% (2020)
Urbanisation: 88.21% (2020)
Literacy: 97.13% (2019)

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numerals with comma as decimal separator

Date format: dd – mm – yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 0058

Economy

Imports
$5.89 billion (2020).  Refined Petroleum ($942M), Corn ($310M), Rice ($248M), Raw Sugar ($180M), and Soybean Oil ($158M), importing mostly from China ($1.52B), United States ($1.09B), Brazil ($782M), India ($758M), and Turkey ($236M).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 48% have an account with a financial institution
• 24% have a credit card
• 2.4% have a mobile money account
• 19% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
Ease of conducting business is below average (rated 30.2 out of 100) ranked 21st out of 21 Latin American countries ranked 188th out of 190 countries worldwide (2019, World Bank)

Exports
$4.26 billion (2020).  Crude Petroleum ($2.62B), Iron Reductions ($276M), Acyclic Alcohols ($208M), Refined Petroleum ($181M), and Crustaceans ($136M), exporting mostly to India ($2.03B), China ($464M), Malaysia ($387M), Spain ($302M), and Italy ($184M).

Main local online stores
Linio, Zapacos, Tuticket.com, TodoClon.com, Traetelo.com, EPA, Macro, Zelvas

Economic freedom
‘Repressed’ (rated 25.9 out of 100) ranked 30th out of 30 Latin American countries ranked 179th out of 186 countries worldwide (2019, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal)

Media

Media language Castillan

Information channels
Political polarisation is mirrored in the media, a process that began under the late president Hugo Chavez, whose critics accused him of persecuting hostile media operators during his 1999–2013 rule. Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro say he has continued these tactics, which have also been condemned by media freedom groups. Anti-government and exiled media have emerged online. Many journalists have fled Venezuela because of threats and physical dangers, says Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Print media are often affected by “strange newsprint shortages”, RSF says. Some newspapers have reported being forced to stop printing after being denied hard currency to buy newsprint and ink. The government’s main TV mouthpiece is Venezolana de Television (VTV), which carries Mr Maduro’s speeches and reports on the activities of his ministers. Its coverage routinely ignores the opposition. Telecoms regulators have barred many of VTV’s competitors from cable networks. Globovision, a one-time critical channel, changed its editorial line after it was sold to government-linked owners in 2013. Venezuela is the main shareholder in Telesur, a Caracas-based pan-American TV. Governments with a stake in the venture are all left wing or left of centre. The government and its opponents use social media as a battleground. Officials and the military operate an array of interlocking Twitter accounts, as does the opposition movement. During street violence in early 2019, NetBlocks, a digital rights organisation, documented disruptions in access to Twitter, Facebook and video streaming app Periscope.

The press

El Nacional – online only, Caracas
Ultimas Noticias – Caracas-based daily
El Universal – Caracas-based daily
Panorama – online only, Maracaibo-based
El Carabobeno – online only, Valencia-based

Television

Venezolana de Television – state-run
Televen – private
Venevision – private
Globovision – private
Telesur – Caracas-based pan-American TV

Radio

Radio Nacional de Venezuela – state-run
Union Radio Noticias – commercial news network

News agency

Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN) – state-run, pages in English
LaPatilla – news website

Internet Data

Internet users
72% penetration, 20.87 million

Share of web traffic by device
36.79% mobile phones, 60.51% computers (laptops and desktops), 2.67% tablet devices, others 0.03%

Median speed of mobile Internet connection. 5.76 Mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
36.51 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 76.5%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 85.5%

Most popular web search engines
Google (97.04%), Yahoo (1.68%), Bing (1.07%), Duckduckgo (0.11%), Baidu (0.04%), Ecosia (0.03%) 

Most used social media
Twitter (34.66%), Facebook (25.5%), Instagram (18.34%), YouTube (11.94%), Pinterest (8.98%), Vkongtakte (0.24%)

Social statistics

Life expectancy
72.25 yrs (2020)

Gender
While it remains true that Latin-American men often discriminate against women at work (machismo), in Venezuela, this is changing. Every day, women are demonstrating (in real terms) they can be as competitive as men at any position, if not more. 

Healthcare expenditure:
3.2% of GDP (2016)

Religion
In reference to religion, Venezuelans are mainly Catholic, some Jewish and some Anglican. Religion is not a sensitive issue or topic. All religions are respected.