Although now classed as a middle-income country, Colombia is home to Latin America’s longest-running conflict – and only Sudan has higher numbers of internally displaced people.
Dissatisfied with Colombia’s inequity – land and wealth in the hands of the few – left-wing guerrilla groups emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. Rightwing paramilitary organisations funded by powerful landowners formed in opposition.
Fuelled by the cocaine trade, the civil war peaked in the 1980s. In recent years Colombia has experienced relative peace, but still has more than 3.2 million internally displaced people.
As a result of disrupted education and poverty, a large number of children live on the streets and child labour is common.
Meanwhile, young people in cities are at risk of enrolment into illegal armed groups, drug and alcohol addiction, teenage pregnancy, family breakdown and domestic violence.
Although the economy has grown recently, corruption is endemic, while half of Colombia’s people live under the poverty line.
As well as suffering the most extreme poverty, rural people have been affected by fumigation used in US-sponsored coca-eradication programmes. Colombia’s government denies side effects, but human rights groups claim damage to health and legitimate crops.
Colombia is prone to natural disasters, with more than 11 million people affected each year by droughts, earthquakes and flooding