Which Is More Powerful

Boliva or Mongolia

Did you know..."in Bolivia the voting age is split based on your marital status? You are allowed to vote at 18 if you are married, but if you aren't, you have to wait until you're 21?" (Encarta Encyclopedia) "Mongolia only has about 6.5 telephones for each thousand persons." (CIA World Factbook)

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For the facts and figures... As reported from the CIA World Factbook, the population of Mongolia consists of just over 2 billion people. Their society is made up of mostly Russians and Chinese people. Mongolia is landlocked country has easy access to the rivers that flow through it; they are used for transportation and irrigation. Its land is also rich in natural resources such as copper, gold, silver, uranium and coal.

Recently the economy has been quite stable and growing at a small percentage every year, since the opening of the free Market economy. In the past Mongolia had relied on the Soviet Union for support, upon its collapse "Mongolia lost nearly one-third of its GDP over-night." (CIA World Factbook) The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is considerably small coming in at $5.3 billion dollars, with a near $2,000 GDP per capita. Because of the mining of its natural resources, Mongolia's export economy only has room to grow. (Let's just hope that Uranium exportation doesn't become number one.) As for its external debt, it is around $1.1 billion, and Mongolia receives only $215 million in aid.

In my research, I also found that it is a requirement for all men age 18-25 must serve 12 months in the military. They spend just a little over two percent of their GDP on the military which amounts to $23.1 million. "In 2003 the army had about 7,500 soldiers and the air defense forces had about 800 personnel. In addition there were about 5,900 border guards and internal troops." (Encarta Encyclopedia) Its military as of recently reported by the UNDP, has been receiving specialty training courses from the United States of America and in return, the Mongolian Army has been going to Iraq for peacekeeping missions. Currently no world views can be found against Mongolia - which is one of the most positive aspects when comparing it to Bolivia.

Bolivia has 6 billion (+/-) more people then Mongolia, but because of the land size, it is more densely populated. It is made up of indigenous people of Latin American, some of which can be traced back to the Mayans or the Incas. Being a landlocked state, Bolivia too has rivers and lakes by which is used for trade, transportation, and irrigation. There is a lack of paved roadways in Bolivia, so during the rainy seasons there is a great amount of difficulty traveling around.

The economy was one of the most confusing and disappointing aspects of my research; in my initial predictions of whom the stronger nation was I first looked at the GDP and saw that it was extraordinarily larger then Mongolia. However, when looking closer, I looked at the GDP per capita and saw that it isn't that much more then Mongolia. Bolivia clocks in its GDP at $22.33 billion, while only sustaining $2,600 GDP per capita. It is very sad.

This is where my main argument comes in. Brazil's government is not stable enough to sustain the economy of their people. Its government lacks greatly in the health sector. There is only one doctor per 2,600 people; this to me is a clear sign that there is a lack of education and a lack of technological advances in the state. They do have a mandatory education for children, but it is only mandatory up to 13 years of age. Because of the great divide between the rich and the poor, I think that the poorer people are less likely to keep their children in school.

The one thing that Bolivia has going for itself economically (legally) is the sale of its natural gas. However, again, because of the miss-steps of the government, such as allowing foreign investors into the market and then stone-walling them, there has been a great deal of problems and protests with that. Bolivia is very dependent on foreign aid, cashing in $681 million dollars, while sitting $5.4 billion dollars in external debt.

The military of Bolivia is quite astonishing to me; the hardest thing to swallow about the facts was that boys as young as 14, can be recruited, and that it is estimated that 40% of the arm is under 18. Their military is voluntary, unless there are not enough annual volunteers, then a mandatory service of 12 months is enacted. In 2003, there were 31,500 enlisted men. There are clashes on many occasions between the military and the citizens of Bolivia.

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After a lot of close consideration of the statistics (that were almost useless) and the history of both Bolivia and Mongolia, I have concluded, against my own prediction, that Mongolia would be the stronger of the two countries. Many reasons have brought me to these conclusions; In particular, the current crisis of the government in Bolivia ultimately led me to choose Mongolia. The power in Bolivia is not structurally sound enough to support the