 The number of protests then declined into mid-2014 only to increase slightly in late 2014 into 2015 following the drop in the price of oil and due to the shortages in Venezuela; with protests denouncing shortages increasing nearly fourfold, from 41 demonstrations in July 2014 to 147 in January 2015.In January 2015, there were 518 protests compared to the 445 in January 2014, with the majority of these protests involving shortages in the country.In the first half of 2015, there were 2,836 protests, with the number of protests dropping from 6,369 in the first half of 2014.