The statistic shows the largest countries in South America, based on land area. Brazil is the largest country by far, with a total area of over 8.5 million square kilometers, followed by Argentina, with almost 2.8 million square kilometers.

Based on land area, Brazil is the largest country in Latin America by far, with a total area of over 8.5 million square kilometers. Argentina follows with almost 2.8 million square kilometers. Cuba, whose surface area extends over almost 111,000 square kilometers, is the Caribbean country with the largest territory.

Brazil: a country with a lot to offer

Brazil's borders reach nearly half of the South American subcontinent, making it the fifth-largest country in the world and the third-largest country in the Western Hemisphere. Along with its landmass, Brazil also boasts the largest population and economy in the region. Although Brasília is the capital, the most significant portion of the country's population is concentrated along its coastline in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

South America: a region of extreme geographic variation

With the Andes mountain range in the West, the Amazon Rainforest in the East, the Equator in the North, and Cape Horn as the Southern-most continental tip, South America has some of the most diverse climatic and ecological terrains in the world. At its core, its biodiversity can largely be attributed to the Amazon, the world's largest tropical rainforest, and the Amazon river, the world's largest river. However, with this incredible wealth of ecology also comes great responsibility. In the past decade, roughly 80,000 square kilometers of the Brazilian Amazon were destroyed. And, as of late 2019, there were at least 1,000 threatened species in Brazil alone.

In 2024, Brazil and Mexico were expected to be the countries with the largest gross domestic product (GDP) in Latin America and the Caribbean. In that year, Brazil's GDP could reach an estimated value of 2.4 trillion U.S. dollars, whereas Mexico's amounted to almost two trillion U.S. dollars. GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a given year. It measures the economic strength of a country and a positive change indicates economic growth.

As of 2021, Ecuador had a population density of ** people per squared kilometer, the highest in South America. Colombia ranked second, with ** people per km2 of land area. When it comes to total population in South America, Brazil had the largest number, with over *** million inhabitants.

Brazil is by far the largest coffee producing country in Latin America, with an average annual production of more than ** million 60-kilogram bags. In the 2023/24 crop year, the country reached an output of **** million bags, representing over one third of the global coffee production that year. Colombia ranked second in the region, with almost **** million bags produced. Brazil: a robust coffee producer Even on a global scale, Brazil leads its competitors by a wide margin. Home to most of the world’s arabica beans, the Portuguese speaking nation produces more coffee than Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, and Ethiopia combined. However, Brazil’s numbers falter when it comes to exports to United States, who make up the largest population of coffee consumers in the world. In 2021, Colombia led the coffee import market in the U.S., surpassing Brazil by about 100 million U.S. dollars. Colombia: a competitive coffee market Famous for its mild arabica roast, Colombia’s presence as a competitive coffee powerhouse goes without saying. In 2021, the South American country’s coffee exports generated over ***** billion U.S. dollars. That same year, Colombia’s coffee imports amounted to approximately *** thousand tons, while domestic consumption was estimated at over *** million bags. Ultimately, with a population of ** million people, Colombia is a significant coffee player in both production and consumption.

In the beginning of March 2020, Chile reported its first cases of COVID-19. By the end of the month, online marketplace Mercado Libre had seen online orders grow by *** percent, making it the Latin American country with the largest increase in online orders during this period. Meanwhile, Colombia ranked second, with online orders growing by *** percent, followed by Mexico with a *** percent growth rate.

In 2022, Latin America and the Caribbean accounted for around ****** million social media users, ranking as the fifth most popular region for this type of platform worldwide. Brazil and Mexico were the countries with the continent’s biggest social network audiences, registering ****** million and ***** million users each in the measured period. Additionally, Brazil is also the fifth largest market for social media worldwide.

Meta’s new contenders

The products owned by social media giant Meta (formerly known as Facebook Inc.) still reign across the social media landscape in Latin America and the Caribbean, as Facebook is still used by almost ** percent of the continent’s population. However, new competitors like Telegram and content-focused networks like TikTok are challenging Meta’s hegemony. The ByteDance-owned company TikTok has already surpassed Instagram in Mexico, Colombia, and Peru regarding the number of users, becoming the second-largest network in these countries.

Hardships on internet access

Even though Latin America increases its connectivity in traffic via mobile devices, the inequality in access to the internet throughout the continent also is also reflected in the presence of its populations on social media platforms. Almost ** percent of people living in South America have access to these networks, against ** percent of those living in Central America and only ** percent of those living in the Caribbean.

Guyana was the South American country 20360the highest gross national income per capita, with 20,360 U.S. dollars per person in 2023. Uruguay ranked second, registering a GNI of 19,530 U.S. dollars per person, based on current prices. Gross national income (GNI) is the aggregated sum of the value added by residents in an economy, plus net taxes (minus subsidies) and net receipts of primary income from abroad. Which are the largest Latin American economies? Based on annual gross domestic product, which is the total amount of goods and services produced in a country per year, Brazil leads the regional ranking, followed by Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. Many Caribbean countries and territories hold the highest GDP per capita in this region, measurement that reflects how GDP would be divided if it was perfectly equally distributed among the population. GNI per capita is, however, a more exact calculation of wealth than GDP per capita, as it takes into consideration taxes paid and income receipts from abroad. How much inequality is there in Latin America? In many Latin American countries, more than half the total wealth created in their economies is held by the richest 20 percent of the population. When a small share of the population concentrates most of the wealth, millions of people don't have enough to make ends meet. For instance, in Brazil, about 5.32 percent of the population lives on less than 3.2 U.S. dollars per day.

In 2024, it was estimated that approximately 662 million people lived in Latin America and the Caribbean. Brazil is the most populated country in the region, with an estimated 211.999 million inhabitants in that year, followed by Mexico with more than 130.861 million.

As of 2023, Brazil was the Latin American country with the largest coal reserves, estimated at roughly 7.3 billion short tons. Colombia ranked second, with approximately five billion tons that year. Meanwhile, Peru trailed in third place, with coal reserves amounting to around 1.7 billion tons.

In 2024, green coffee production in Colombia amounted to around ***** million 60-kilogram bags. This represents an increase of about ** percent compared to the previous year. How big is Colombia's coffee production? Colombia is the second largest coffee producer in Latin America, ranking only behind global leader Brazil. In fact, Colombia alone accounted for nearly *** percent of the worldwide coffee production in 2019. And while the area planted with coffee in Colombia has been continuously decreasing in recent years, the country still dedicates more than *** thousand hectares of land to this crop. Colombia only produces arabica coffee. Consumption of coffee Besides being key players in coffee production in Latin America, Colombians also rank high in consumption. The South American country is the third highest consumer of coffee in the region, with nearly *** million 60kg bags consumed in the latest crop year. Colombians predominantly preferred consuming roasted ground coffee over soluble coffee, with the former accounting for around ** percent of the domestic coffee consumption.

Brazil is the Latin American country affected the most by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of May 2025, the country had reported around 38 million cases. It was followed by Argentina, with approximately ten million confirmed cases of COVID-19. In total, the region had registered more than 83 million diagnosed patients, as well as a growing number of fatal COVID-19 cases. The research marathon Normally, the development of vaccines takes years of research and testing until options are available to the general public. However, with an alarming and threatening situation as that of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists quickly got on board in a vaccine marathon to develop a safe and effective way to prevent and control the spread of the virus in record time. Over two years after the first cases were reported, the world had around 1,521 drugs and vaccines targeting the COVID-19 disease. As of June 2022, a total of 39 candidates were already launched and countries all over the world had started negotiations and acquisition of the vaccine, along with immunization campaigns. COVID vaccination rates in Latin America As immunization against the spread of the disease continues to progress, regional disparities in vaccination coverage persist. While Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico were among the Latin American nations with the most COVID-19 cases, those that administered the highest number of COVID-19 doses per 100 population are Cuba, Chile, and Peru. Leading the vaccination coverage in the region is the Caribbean nation, with more than 406 COVID-19 vaccines administered per every 100 inhabitants as of January 5, 2024.For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

Mexico is the country with the largest number of native Spanish speakers in the world. As of 2024, 132.5 million people in Mexico spoke Spanish with a native command of the language. Colombia was the nation with the second-highest number of native Spanish speakers, at around 52.7 million. Spain came in third, with 48 million, and Argentina fourth, with 46 million. Spanish, a world language As of 2023, Spanish ranked as the fourth most spoken language in the world, only behind English, Chinese, and Hindi, with over half a billion speakers. Spanish is the official language of over 20 countries, the majority on the American continent, nonetheless, it's also one of the official languages of Equatorial Guinea in Africa. Other countries have a strong influence, like the United States, Morocco, or Brazil, countries included in the list of non-Hispanic countries with the highest number of Spanish speakers. The second most spoken language in the U.S. In the most recent data, Spanish ranked as the language, other than English, with the highest number of speakers, with 12 times more speakers as the second place. Which comes to no surprise following the long history of migrations from Latin American countries to the Northern country. Moreover, only during the fiscal year 2022. 5 out of the top 10 countries of origin of naturalized people in the U.S. came from Spanish-speaking countries.

In 2023, Brazil was the country with the largest area of bananas harvested, with around ******* hectares. Ranking second was Colombia, with a total area of bananas and plantains harvested of ******* hectares. That year, the total area of bananas and plantains harvested in Latin America and the Caribbean amounted to over *********** hectares.

Brazil is by far the leading country in Latin America and the Caribbean based on total hydropower capacity, with an installed capacity of nearly 110 gigawatts in 2024. Colombia trailed in second, with a generation capacity of 13.2 gigawatts. In 2024, Latin America's hydropower generation capacity neared 201 gigawatts.

The Consumer Price Index gauges the price changes in a basket of goods and services in a defined time period. It can been noticed that in November 2024, restaurants and hotels was the category that experienced the second largest increase compared to the same month of the previous year, with 8.41 percent. Only behind education with a 10.62 percent increase.

In 2024,Mexico led the ranking of countries with the largest number of active military personnel in Latin America and the Caribbean, with 412,000 soldiers. It was followed by Brazil with 360,000 military personnel.

In 2023, Mexico produced 2.9 million metric tons of avocado, making it the largest producer in the Americas. Ranking second was Colombia, with about one million metric tons produced. That year, Mexico and Colombia were also the countries with the largest area of avocados harvested. However, El Salvador and Panama reported the largest yield.

Colombia is the Latin American country with the largest number of amphibian species on the IUCN Red List, with a total of 300 amphibians under threat in 2024. Ecuador followed second, with 292 threatened amphibian species. Accordingly, Ecuador is one top of the Latin American countries with the highest number of threatened living species.

In 2024, citizens originally from Colombia were the most common South American nationality in Spain, with about ******* residents. The Venezuela population in June of that year was over *******, making this group the second-largest nationality in Spain.