Emerging Medical Marketplace Overview Latin America: Columbia

The Republic of Colombia lies in the northwestern part of South America. The national language is Spanish; however, a few native dialects exist among the indigenous population. The national currency is the Colombian peso. Colombia’s 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of coast in the north of the country are bordered by the Caribbean Sea, and the country’s 800 miles (1,300 km) of coast to the west are bordered by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia’s land borders are Panama to the northwest, Venezuela and Brazil to the east, and Peru and Ecuador to the south. The country’s total area of 440,831 square miles (1,141,748 square km) includes the San Andrés y Providencia archipelago, located off the Nicaraguan coast in the Caribbean. Colombia’s population of 39.6 million is largely concentrated in the mountainous interior; Bogotá, the national capital, is situated on a high plateau in the northern Andes Mountains.