Market Research Companies in Bolivia

Key figures for researchers

Population

11,365,333 (2024 census, final results)¹

Largest departments

Santa Cruz 3.12m, La Paz 3.02m, Cochabamba 2.01m (2024 census, first results)²

Largest municipalities

Santa Cruz de la Sierra 1,606,671, El Alto 885,035, La Paz 755,732, Cochabamba 661,484 (2024 census, preliminary)³

Urban / rural

69.0% / 31.0% (2024 census)¹

Age structure

27.0% under 15, 7.4% aged 65 and over (2024 census)¹

Households

3.1 people on average; 25.9% are one-person households (2024 census)¹

First language learned

Spanish 8.1m, Quechua 1.39m, Aymara 774,874 people (2024 census)⁵

Households with internet

76.3% (53.9% in rural areas) (2024 census)¹

Internet users

80 per 100 people (2024)⁸

Mobile subscriptions

98 per 100 people (2024)⁹

GDP per capita

about US$5,150 (2025)¹⁰

Research guide

Research landscape

Bolivia is a small research market organised around its three main metropolitan areas: La Paz and El Alto, Santa Cruz de la Sierra (the largest municipality, in the eastern lowlands) and Cochabamba. Local agencies typically offer consumer, social and opinion research and fieldwork, and Bolivia is often covered as part of multi-country Andean or South American studies.

The 2024 census is the reference for sampling. Its first results, published in August 2024, counted 11,312,620 people; the final results, presented on 28 August 2025, give 11,365,333. Check which version your agency uses for quotas and weighting. INE publishes census tables, including language tables, down to the municipality.

Languages and fieldwork

Under Article 5 of the Constitution, the official languages are Spanish and all the languages of the indigenous nations and peoples, and the national and departmental governments must use at least two of them. In the 2024 census, which asked people which language they first learned to speak, about 8.1 million named Spanish, 1.39 million Quechua, 774,874 Aymara and 43,870 Guaraní. Questionnaires are written in Spanish, with Quechua or Aymara versions or bilingual interviewers for rural and older targets in the Andean departments.

Santa Cruz (3.12 million people), La Paz (3.02 million) and Cochabamba (2.01 million) are by far the largest departments, according to the first census results. The preliminary figures by municipality put Santa Cruz de la Sierra first (1,606,671), ahead of El Alto (885,035), La Paz (755,732) and Cochabamba (661,484), followed by Oruro, Sucre, Tarija and Potosí. El Alto and La Paz are different municipalities with different profiles, so set quotas for each. A national sample should also cover the 31.0% of people who live in rural areas.

Which methods work

In the 2024 census, 76.3% of households had internet access (against 9.6% in 2012) and 90.8% had a fixed or mobile phone. There were about 80 internet users and 98 mobile subscriptions per 100 people in 2024. Online and mobile surveys work for urban targets, and questionnaires must work well on a phone.

Rural coverage is lower: 53.9% of rural households had internet and 81.6% had a phone. Adults aged 19 and over have 10.6 years of schooling on average, but 11.7 in urban areas and 7.9 in rural areas. Face-to-face (CAPI) interviews remain the reference for rural, older and lower-income targets, and telephone interviews (CATI) can reach a wider audience than online panels. Focus groups and in-depth interviews are mostly held in La Paz, Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba.

Timing

The rainy season is the main fieldwork constraint. Rains usually start in November (in 2025, La Paz municipality reported them from October), and floods and landslides can cut roads in many departments. In the 2024–2025 season, Civil Defence counted at least 42 deaths and 186,056 affected families between November and March, and described March as the hardest month. Allow extra time for rural fieldwork from November to March.

Supreme Decree 2750 sets the national holidays: 1 January, 22 January (Plurinational State Day), Carnival Monday and Tuesday, Good Friday, 1 May, Corpus Christi, 21 June (Andean, Amazonian and Chaco New Year), 6 August (Independence Day), 2 November and 25 December. Each year, a supreme decree confirms the calendar and can move or add days: in 2026, Supreme Decree 5521 moved 22 January to 23 January and 21 June to 22 June, and added 5 June and 7 August as national holidays. The national holidays left in 2026 are 2 November and 25 December. In 2027, plan around Carnival (8 and 9 February), Good Friday (26 March), 1 May, Corpus Christi (27 May), 21 June, 6 August, 2 November and 25 December, and check the 2027 decree, which may move some days or add others.

The Carnival of Oruro, proclaimed by UNESCO in 2001 and inscribed on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008, lasts ten days, and its main procession brings together more than 28,000 dancers and 10,000 musicians: avoid fieldwork in Oruro during Carnival. Departmental holidays differ from one department to another, so ask your agency for the official holiday calendar of each department in your sample. Oruro lies at an altitude of 3,700 metres, and La Paz and El Alto are also at high altitude, which makes fieldwork more tiring for interviewers and visitors who are not used to it.

Data protection

Bolivia does not yet have a comprehensive data protection law, and there is no dedicated data protection authority. Draft bills have been discussed since 2019, and Draft Law No. 349/2020-2021 was still pending in the Legislative Assembly in 2025. Article 130 of the Constitution creates the Acción de Protección de Privacidad, which lets a person challenge the use of their data and protect their privacy, image, honour and reputation in court.

In practice, the main rules come from Telecommunications Law No. 164 and its regulation, Supreme Decree No. 1793 (November 2013): processing personal data through ICT services requires the prior, informed and express consent of the person, given in writing or by an equivalent means. Sector regulators (ASFI for finance, ATT for telecommunications) supervise data use in their own sectors. There is no database registration or data protection officer requirement. Ask your agency how consent is collected and recorded, and agree in writing on how data and recordings will be transferred to you.

Working with a local agency

• Share a clear brief: objectives, target, sample size, departments and cities, urban/rural split, method, languages and deadline.
• Agree on which census figures are used for quotas and weighting (2024 final results), and whether El Alto and La Paz are treated separately.
• Ask who does the fieldwork outside La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, and whether interviewers speak Quechua or Aymara where needed.
• Agree on rainy season contingency: travel time, back-up dates and supervision of rural interviews.
• Ask how consent is documented, as no general data protection law yet applies.
• Compare several proposals: you can send one request to up to 5 companies from this page.