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.

In 2023, it was estimated that approximately 664 million people lived in Latin America and the Caribbean. Brazil is the most populated country in the region, with an estimated 216.4 million inhabitants in that year, followed by Mexico with more than 128.5 million.

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 2023, Mexico was the largest gold-producing country in Latin America, with an estimated output of 120 metric tons. It was followed by Peru, with a production of 90 metric tons. The two regional leaders also rank among the top gold producers worldwide.

Lucky finders of the golden ticket

Gold mining has been an important part of the history of many Latin American countries, sometimes dating back to pre-colonial times. Centuries later, the segment still plays a major role in their economy. For example, gold exports from Peru contributed an average of 10 billion U.S. dollars in recent years to the Andean country, with Switzerland, India, and Canada among the main countries of destination. Meanwhile, on the northern side of the region, gold remains the most important metal in the Mexican mining sector, accounting for nearly one third of the sector's production value. In turn, annual gold exports from the North American country stood at around 4.5 billion U.S. dollars through the second half of the past decade.

A safe bet

Unlike many commodities, gold has endured as a valuable resource. Its chemical stability and resistance, combined with a relatively scarce offer, have led this precious metal to be frequently seen as an appealing investment. Perceived as carrying reduced risk, demand is usually at the highest in times of uncertainty. In fact, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the average price of gold reached just under 1.8 thousand U.S. dollars per troy ounce, one of the highest values on record.

Chilean retailer S.A.C.I. Falabella generated a revenue of nearly 9.4 trillion Chilean pesos in 2023, marking a slight decrease from the previous year. The company has seen an overall increase in revenue over the time period recorded.

An overview of S.A.C.I. Falabella

Headquartered in the Chilean capital of Santiago, S.A.C.I. Falabella operates a diverse range of businesses ranging from retail to financial services and real estate, with a significant footprint in Latin America. The company’s portfolio includes home improvement business Sodimac, supermarket chain Tottus, and its eponymous Falabella department store chain, which is the largest department store in the region. The company also reached a franchise agreement with IKEA in 2018, which kick-started the introduction of the Swedish furniture retailer’s presence in Latin America.

In 2023, Falabella recorded a net profit of approximately 60 billion Chilean pesos and had over 83,000 people under its employment. The majority of these employees were part of the company’s home improvement sector, which employed over 36,200 people that year, while operating a total of 261 Sodimac home improvement stores across Latin America. The largest share of stores was located in Chile, with Peru and Brazil following in second and third place, respectively.

Chile’s furniture market

Chile’s furniture market recorded an estimated revenue of 4.77 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, a figure that is expected to follow an upwards trend and reach over 6.5 billion U.S. dollars in the next half-decade. While not exactly known for its furniture and home improvement industry – with metals and agricultural products featuring among its main exports – the South American country is ripe for opportunity. The Swedish furniture giant IKEA, which operates just three stores in South America, officially broke into the region in 2022 with its very first store located right in Santiago de Chile.

Brazil is the Latin American country affected the most by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of July 2024, 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.

In 2024, the highest homicide rate among 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries surveyed was in Haiti, with around 62 murders committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Trinidad and Tobago came in second, with a homicide rate of 46, while Honduras ranked seventh, with 25. In the same year, the lowest rate was recorded in El Salvador, with a homicide rate of 1.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. A violence-ridden region Violence and crime are some of the most pressing problems affecting Latin American society nowadays. More than 40 of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world are located in this region, as well as one of the twenty countries with the least peace in the world according to the Global Peace Index. Despite governments’ large spending on security and high imprisonment rates, drug and weapon trafficking, organized crime, and gangs have turned violence into an epidemic that affects the whole region and a solution to this issue appears to be hardly attainable. The cost of violence in Mexico Mexico stands out as an example of the great cost that violence inflicts upon a country, since beyond claiming human lives, it also affects everyday life and has a negative impact on the economy. Mexicans have a high perceived level of insecurity, as they do not only fear becoming victims of homicide, but also of other common crimes, such as assault or rape. Such fear prevents people from performing everyday activities, for instance, going out at night, taking a taxi or going to the movies or the theater. Furthermore, the economic toll of violence in Mexico is more than considerable. For example, the cost of homicide and violent crime amounted to 2099.8 and 1778.1 billion Mexican pesos in 2023, respectively.

In a survey carried out in 2024, almost one third of respondents in Colombia and Brazil thought corruption was one of the country's main issues. Peru registered the highest level of concern, with 52 percent of respondents claiming to be worried about financial or political corruption. Mexico, on the other hand, was the country with the lowest share of respondents who were worried about corruption among those surveyed, at only 17 percent.

The Amazon extends for approximately 8.4 million square kilometers, across nine South American countries. Nearly two thirds of its land area is located in Brazil. Peru and Bolivia follow, with around 11 and eight percent shares of the Amazon land area, respectively.

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.

When asked about the social networks they used, approximately 94 percent of surveyed users in Peru stated being on Facebook. WhatsApp was the second most used social platform, adopted by 86 percent of those surveyed, while TikTok, a video-sharing social network service, was used by 18 percent of participants.

A Facebook inclined population In 2020, Peru was home to over 24 million internet users. According to forecasts, by the end of that year, nearly 80 percent of the online population in the South American country was expected to be on Facebook. Although over time the social network became popular across all age groups, its prevalence remains strongest among those generations who experienced its development at first hand, with individuals between the ages of 18 and 35 making up over half of users in Peru.

TikTok: a growing influential platform Among the most prominent social networks of 2020 in Peru was the video-sharing platform TikTok. It was estimated that by year-end, the app would have over five million active users in the Andean nation, making it the third largest Latin American country in terms of audience behind Mexico and Brazil, respectively. Whether performing dance challenges, making political statements, or simply having fun, TikTok is rapidly becoming a part of the regular repertoire of social media users across the region.

Based on a comparison of coronavirus deaths in 210 countries relative to their population, Peru had the most losses to COVID-19 up until July 13, 2022. As of the same date, the virus had infected over 557.8 million people worldwide, and the number of deaths had totaled more than 6.3 million. Note, however, that COVID-19 test rates can vary per country. Additionally, big differences show up between countries when combining the number of deaths against confirmed COVID-19 cases. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

The difficulties of death figures

This table aims to provide a complete picture on the topic, but it very much relies on data that has become more difficult to compare. As the coronavirus pandemic developed across the world, countries already used different methods to count fatalities, and they sometimes changed them during the course of the pandemic. On April 16, for example, the Chinese city of Wuhan added a 50 percent increase in their death figures to account for community deaths. These deaths occurred outside of hospitals and went unaccounted for so far. The state of New York did something similar two days before, revising their figures with 3,700 new deaths as they started to include “assumed” coronavirus victims. The United Kingdom started counting deaths in care homes and private households on April 29, adjusting their number with about 5,000 new deaths (which were corrected lowered again by the same amount on August 18). This makes an already difficult comparison even more difficult. Belgium, for example, counts suspected coronavirus deaths in their figures, whereas other countries have not done that (yet). This means two things. First, it could have a big impact on both current as well as future figures. On April 16 already, UK health experts stated that if their numbers were corrected for community deaths like in Wuhan, the UK number would change from 205 to “above 300”. This is exactly what happened two weeks later. Second, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which countries already have “revised” numbers (like Belgium, Wuhan or New York) and which ones do not. One work-around could be to look at (freely accessible) timelines that track the reported daily increase of deaths in certain countries. Several of these are available on our platform, such as for Belgium, Italy and Sweden. A sudden large increase might be an indicator that the domestic sources changed their methodology.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.