In 2025, approximately 23 million people lived in the São Paulo metropolitan area, making it the biggest in Latin America and the Caribbean and the sixth most populated in the world. The homonymous state of São Paulo was also the most populous federal entity in the country. The second place for the region was Mexico City with 22.75 million inhabitants. Brazil's cities Brazil is home to two large metropolises, only counting the population within the city limits, São Paulo had approximately 11.45 million inhabitants, and Rio de Janeiro around 6.21 million inhabitants. It also contains a number of smaller, but well known cities such as Brasília, Salvador, Belo Horizonte and many others, which report between 2 and 3 million inhabitants each. As a result, the country's population is primarily urban, with nearly 88 percent of inhabitants living in cities. Mexico City Mexico City's metropolitan area ranks sevenths in the ranking of most populated cities in the world. Founded over the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan in 1521 after the Spanish conquest as the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the city still stands as one of the most important in Latin America. Nevertheless, the preeminent economic, political, and cultural position of Mexico City has not prevented the metropolis from suffering the problems affecting the rest of the country, namely, inequality and violence. Only in 2023, the city registered a crime incidence of 52,723 reported cases for every 100,000 inhabitants and around 24 percent of the population lived under the poverty line.

In 2024, approximately 11.9 million people lived in São Paulo, making it the largest municipality in Brazil and one of the most populous cities in the world. The homonymous state of São Paulo was also the most populous federal entity in the country. Brazil's cities Brazil is home to two large metropolises: São Paulo with close to 11.9 million inhabitants, and Rio de Janeiro with around 6.7 million inhabitants. It also contains a number of smaller but well-known cities, such as Brasília, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, and many others, which report between 2 and 3 million inhabitants each. As a result, the country's population is primarily urban, with nearly 88 percent of inhabitants living in cities. While smaller than some of the other cities, Brasília was chosen to be the capital because of its relatively central location. The city is also well-known for its modernist architecture and utopian city plan, which is quite controversial - criticized by many and praised by others. Sports venues capitals A number of Brazil’s medium-sized and large cities were chosen as venues for the 2014 World Cup, and the 2015 Summer Olympics also took place in Rio de Janeiro. Both of these events required large sums of money to support infrastructure and enhance mobility within a number of different cities across the country. Billions of dollars were spent on the 2014 World Cup, which went primarily to stadium construction and renovation but also to a number of different mobility projects. Other short-term spending on infrastructure for the World Cup and the Rio Olympic Games was estimated at 50 billion U.S. dollars. While these events have poured a lot of money into urban infrastructure, a number of social and economic problems within the country remain unsolved.

This statistics shows the leading metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of Hispanic or Latino population in the United States in 2023. Among the ** largest metropolitan areas, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas was ranked first with **** percent of the population reporting as Hispanic or Latino in 2023.

As of 2022, Brazilian cities had some of the most used bus rapid transit (BRT) systems in the world, with Rio de Janeiro recording just over *********** passengers, the largest BRT ridership in the world. São Paulo ranked fourth, with *********** annual passengers. While Brazilian cities have some of the largest riderships, in terms of length, the largest bus rapid transit system in the world is in Jakarta, Indonesia. Bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT) differs slightly from conventional urban bus transit in that BRT is intended to provide higher capacity and lower transport times. This is generally achieved through a combination of dedicated bus lanes, multiple car vehicles, buses having right of way, and greater distance between stops. BRT systems are most popular in Latin America. Rapid transit in Latin America Coexisting with its extensive use of BRT, Latin America also has a considerable network of metro train systems. ** cities in Latin America have a metro train network and the region has an annual metro ridership consistently larger than North America. However, the Latin American metro network is somewhat limited in scope, having an overall track length lower than its ridership would suggest and with many systems having been built relatively recently.

The highest city in the world with a population of more than one million is La Paz. The Capital of Bolivia sits ***** meters above sea level, and is more than 1,000 meters higher than the second-ranked city, Quito. La Paz is also higher than Mt. Fuji in Japan, which has a height of 3,776 meters. Many of the world's largest cities are located in South America. The only city in North America that makes the top 20 list is Denver, Colorado, which has an altitude of ***** meters.

Bogotá, the Colombian capital city, was home to one of the most saturated metropolitan areas in Latin America in 2021, based on the annual number of hours lost in congestion over a year. In Bogotá, drivers spent an average of 94 hours per year held up in traffic jams. Compared to 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the Latin American cities analyzed saw decreases in traffic delays. For instance, São Paulo registered a 13.5 percent fall in congestion, with an average of 45 hours lost in 2021. By contrast, traffic jam delays in Mexico City have increased by over 39 percent since 2020. According to another study, Bogotá is also the city with the worst traffic congestion levels in Latin America.

As of January 2025, the province of Buenos Aires registered the highest number of inhabitants, with over 17.8 million. Córdoba and Santa Fe followed far behind with 3.91 and 3.58 million, respectively. The city of Buenos Aires ranked as the third most populated metropolitan area of Latin America, only behind São Paulo and Mexico City.

There has been an overall increase in the number of people living within the city limits of Lima throughout the time frame displayed. The population in the Peruvian capital growth has been steady since 2020, surpassing the 10 million inhabitants during 2022 and leading to reach its highest peak in 2024 with 10.29 million people. The metropolitan area of Lima also ranked as one of the most populous in Latin America. A crucial part of Peru's economic output The total GDP of Lima reached around 246 billion Peruvian soles, which represents almost half of the total economic output of the country. The industry that contributed the most to Lima's GDP was by far services; nonetheless, the importance of manufacturing makes it the second-largest contributor. Other sectors that are important for the nation, like mining and some agricultural activities, stayed at the bottom part of the list.

Unemployment and poverty The unemployment rate of the Peruvian capital exceeded the 7.5 percent mark during March 2024. While the figure appears as quite an improvement over 2020 and 2021 data, when it reached over 16 percent, it still hasn't fully recovered to the figures before the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, the poverty rate presented a growing trend from 2017 to 2023, reaching 9.5 percent of Lima's residents living under the poverty line.