La Paz is one of the nine departments that make up the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Its capital is Nuestra Señora de La Paz, seat of the Central Government and the Legislative Power, which is at an altitude of 3640 m, and its most populated city, El Alto. It is located in the west of the country, bordering the north with Pando, east with Beni and Cochabamba, south with Oruro, southwest with Chile and west with Peru and Lake Titicaca. With 133 985 km² it is the third most extensive department -behind Santa Cruz and Beni-, with 2 706 351 habs. In 2012, the most populated and with 20.2 inhabitants / km², the second most densely populated, behind Cochabamba.
The department was created from the Intendance of La Paz of the Real Audiencia de Charcas, by Supreme Decree of January 23,1826. According to official data of the National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia, in 2016 the economy of the entire Department of La Paz reached US $ 9,484 million dollars, which represents 27.85% of the Total Economy of Bolivia. In terms of per capita income, the department closed the year 2016 with US $ 3,337 dollars on average for each paceño.