Distillers Colombia
A one-page guide to Colombia for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Bogota
- Official languages
- Spanish (other languages official in their territories)
- Currency
- Colombian peso (COP)
- Time zone
- UTC-5
- Area
- 1,140,619 km²
People
- Population
- 53.4 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 1.0% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 78.8%
- Aged under 15
- 20.0%
- Aged 65 and over
- 10.2%
- Life expectancy
- 77.9 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$457.4 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$8,562 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 2.64201548985928% (2025)
- Inflation
- 5.14222911946201% (2025)
Climate
Tropical, varying by altitude: about 82.5% of the country is below 1,000 m and classed as warm; zones range from rainforest and savanna to desert and mountain climates.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18 (purchase age; selling to minors prohibited)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 4.8 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 79%, wine 4%, spirits 18% (2022)
- Traditional drinks
- Aguardiente (anise-flavoured sugarcane spirit), Rum (Caribbean coast)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia: Colombia (basics, climate, ports); Wikipedia: Legal drinking age; World Bank Open Data (population, GDP, growth, inflation, area); WHO Global Health Observatory: total alcohol per capita; UN Comtrade (HS 2208 trade); Wikipedia: Aguardiente; Wikipedia: Bavaria Brewery (Colombia); Portafolio - aguardiente monopoly ends (Feb 2025). Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.