Since the 1970s, Venezuela has gone from being the richest nation in South America to a new-poor society in search of an identity. Once known as the Saudis of the West, Venezuelans have seen their economic fortunes decline in exact proportion to the overall decline in global oil prices. Nonetheless, Venezuela's many problems remained hidden from view until relatively recently, when tough measures heralded the kind of economic crises so painfully familiar to other Latin American countries. Runaway inflation, currency devaluations and even food riots have marked this new phase in Venezuelan history, to which the country is still trying to adapt. The projected population for 2010 is estimated to be approximately 28,809 million, with a birth rate of 29.9 per thousand and a birth rate of 29.9 per thousand. low mortality rate of 4.7 per thousand. Today the estimated population is 23,542,649 inhabitants with a growth rate of 1.6%. Caracas, the capital, and the state of Miranda, which are the areas with the greatest commercial and financial activity, have a population of 7.7 million people. The industrial and agricultural centers, which are the states of Aragua, Carabobo and Lara, have a total population of approximately 5 million people. Zulia state, which is the major cattle-raising and oil-producing state, has a population of over 3 million people. Guyana, located in the state of Bolivar, has the most important mineral reserves and has a population of 1,300,000 inhabitants. The mortality rate is 26.17 per thousand and the birth rate is 21.09 per thousand. Despite its growth, the population density is still low. With just nine people per square kilometre, Venezuela is one of the least densely populated countries in the Western Hemisphere. The Venezuelan population is very young. About 70% are under 40 years old. 33% of the population is aged between 0 and 14 years. This is followed by 63% aged between 15 and 64 and only 4% of the population is aged 65 and over. There is male domination over women with a total population ratio of 1.02 male/female. Venezuela has a total area of ​​912,050 square kilometers, of which 882,050 square kilometers is land and 30,000 square kilometers is water. That's just over double the size of California. Venezuela is the most urbanized country in Latin America. The urban population represents approximately 87% of the total, but is distributed unevenly across the territory. The migration rate as of July 2000 was -0.