Education
Education in Venezuela is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 14. The adult literacy rate in the late 1980s was nearly 90 percent. The country's 19,900 elementary schools had a total annual enrollment of some 2.9 million pupils and were staffed by more than 112,000 teachers; some 2280 secondary and technical schools had a combined enrollment of more than 1 million students.
About 441,700 students were enrolled in institutions of higher education, which included the Central University of Venezuela (1721) and Andrés Bello Catholic University (1953), in Caracas; the University of the Andes (1785), in Mérida; the University of Zulia (1891), in Maracaibo; and the Polytechnical Institute (1962), in Barquisimeto.
Economy
With an annual per capita income of more than $3200 in the late 1980s, Venezuela enjoyed the highest living standard of any South American country. The economy is based primarily on the petroleum industry. Diversification of industry, however, is the long-range goal of the government and has resulted in temporary government control of some industries. The government also controls the prices of certain products and services and has established incentives and programs to develop the economy in specific sectors. The annual national budget in the late 1980s included revenue of about $12.9 billion and expenditure of about $13.7 billion.
Climate
The climate of Venezuela is tropical on the Llanos and along the coast, and temperate in the mountainous regions. The average temperatures in Caracas and Maracaibo are 18.3° C (65° F) and 27.2° C (81° F) respectively, for January, and 20.6° C (69° F) and 29.4° C (85° F) respectively, for July. Average annual precipitation in Caracas is 833 mm (32 in), and in Maracaibo it is 577 mm (23 in).
List of Universities in VENEZUELA
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North America
North America
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