Factbook
History of Colombia — Timeline
Key dates in the history of Colombia, from the Magna Factbook and the Universal Encyclopedia.
1830Colombia was one of three countries that emerged after the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830 -- the others are Ecuador and Venezuela.
2016After four years of formal peace negotiations, the Colombian Government signed a final accord with the FARC in 2016 that called for its members to demobilize, disarm, and reincorporate into society and politics.
2023Generation mix — fossil fuels: 34% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); solar: 1.3% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); wind: 0.1% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); hydroelectricity: 62.1% of total installed capacity (2023 est.) Energy use: 29.305 million Btu/person (2023 est.).
2023Industries: textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds Agriculture: sugarcane, oil palm fruit, milk, rice, plantains, potatoes, bananas, maize, chicken, avocados (2023) Electricity access: 100% (2022 est.).
2023Languages: Spanish (official) 98.9%, indigenous 1%, Portuguese 0.1%; 65 indigenous languages exist (2023 est.) Religions: Roman Catholic 63.6%, Protestant 17.2% (Evangelical 16.7%, Adventist 0.3%, other Protestant 0.2%), Jehovah's Witness 0.6%, Church of Jesus Christ 0.1%, other 0.3%, believer, 0.2%.
2023Major urban areas: 11.508 million BOGOTA (capital), 4.102 million Medellin, 2.864 million Cali, 2.349 million Barranquilla, 1.381 million Bucaramanga, 1.088 million Cartagena (2023) prior to COVID-19, one of the most consistent growth economies; declining poverty; large stimulus package has mitigated economic fallout, but delayed key infrastructure investments; successful inflation management; sound flexible exchange rate regime; domestic economy suffers from lack of trade integration and infrastructure Inflation: 6.6% (2024 est.).
2023agnostic 1%, atheist 1%, none 14.2%, unspecified 1.8% (2023 est.) Urban population: 82.4% of total population (2023).
2024Military spending: 3.4% of GDP (2024 est.).
2025Population: 49.8 million (2025 estimate).
