The statistic shows the largest countries in Central America, based on land area. Nicaragua is the largest country in the subregion, with a total area of over 130 thousand square kilometers, followed by Honduras, with more than 112 thousand 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.

As of 2024, Guatemala was the most populated country in Central America with over 17.85 million inhabitants. Honduras followed in second with over 10.66 million. In contrast, Belize was the least populated, with less than half a million inhabitants.

As of 2024 estimates, Costa Rica registered the highest gross domestic product (GDP) in Central America with around 83 billion USD, closely followed by Panama. In contrast, Belize ranked with the lowest GDP with just over 2.7 billion USD.

From 2022 to 2024, among the Central American countries, Guatemala had the highest prevalence of food insecurity, accounting for **** percent of the population. It was followed by El Salvador and Honduras. Food insecurity is defined as the lack of regular access to enough safe and nutritious food, leading to a healthy lifestyle.

In 2025, 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 2.3 trillion U.S. dollars, whereas Mexico's amounted to almost 1.8 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 2024, Panama registered the highest unemployment rate in Central America with 8.4 percent, followed by Honduras, with 8.01 percent, and Costa Rica, with 6.88 percent. This indicator describes the unemployment rate which can be defined by either the national definition, the ILO harmonized definition, or the OECD harmonized definition. The latter defines it as the number of unemployed people divided by the total labour force.

In 2023, Brazil ranked first by total population among the 24 territories presented in the ranking. Brazil's total population amounted to 211.14 million people, while Mexico and Colombia, the second and third territories, had records amounting to 129.74 million people and 52.32 million people, respectively.

The share of population in Central America (including Mexico) whose habitual food intake is insufficient to maintain an active and healthy life was estimated at 8.9 percent between 2018 and 2020. The Central American country with the highest prevalence of undernourishment in this period was Nicaragua, with 19.3 percent. Overall, in the Latin America and Caribbean region, the subregion with the highest undernourishment prevalence was the Caribbean.

In 2021, only Nicaragua registered a decline in international tourist arrivals among all Central American countries. It was also the country with the lowest volume of inbound tourism in that year. In contrast, El Salvador was registered the highest number of international visitor arrivals in the region, with approximately **** million.

Panama had the largest e-commerce market size of the Central American countries examined, amounting to approximately *** billion U.S. dollars in 2021. Guatemala and Costa Rica followed, with over ***** billion dollars each. That year, retail accounted for most of e-commerce in Central America.

In 2019, Panama was the Central American country with the highest movement of cruise passengers on the Caribbean coastline. Nearly *** thousand cruise passengers disembarked in Panamanian ports situated on the Caribbean coast, while over *** thousand cruise travelers departed from there that same year. Honduras registered the second highest cruise passenger traffic on the Atlantic side in Central America, nevertheless with only around *** percent of the number recorded by Panama.

As of 2024, Nicaragua registered the highest inflation rate in Central America with 4.64 percent, followed by Honduras and Belize. In contrast, Costa Rica registered the deflation of 0.41 percent. This indicator measures inflation based upon the year on year change in the average consumer price index. The latter expresses a country's average level of prices based on a typical basket of consumer goods and services. The values shown here refer to the year-on-year change in this index measure, expressed in percent.

In 2022, Panama, Guatemala, and, Costa Rica were the largest electricity-producing countries in Central America, each with an output of more than ** terawatt-hours. Costa Rica also had the largest share of electricity produced from renewables in Central America that year.

The Central American nation with the highest prison occupancy rate, as of April 2025, was Guatemala, when the level stood at almost 300 percent of its official capacity. Nicaragua followed with 177.6 percent of occupancy level. The lowest prison occupancy rate was found in Belize, which, with 67 percent, was the only country whose prison system was not overcrowded. That year, El Salvador had the highest prison population rate in Central America.

As of 2024, Panama registered the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in Central America with around 36,570 PPP USD. In contrast, Honduras had the lowest GDP per capita with less than 6,690 USD.

Costa Rica was the Central American country with the highest theft rate by far. According to the latest data, it was estimated that approximately *** thefts were reported per 100,000 inhabitants. Panama registered ****** such crime reports per 100,000, the second highest figure.

In 2019, Panama was the largest Central American market for motor vehicles sales, with nearly ** thousand new units registered or sold. Costa Rica followed in second, with around **** thousand vehicles sold. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico reported the highest sales of motor vehicles in the Caribbean that year.

As of February 2025, Guatemala was the Central American country with the highest number of mobile internet connections, with approximately **** million users accessing the internet through a mobile device. Although Costa Rica ranked fifth with *** million mobile internet users, they had the highest internet penetration rate in Central America at that point in time.

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.