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 2023, Guatemala was the most populated country in Central America with over 17.5 million inhabitants. Honduras followed in second with over 10 million. In contrast, Belize was the least populated with less than half a million inhabitants.

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.

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.

This dataset provides values for GDP reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

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.

The average for 2024 based on 19 countries was 19884 U.S. dollars. The highest value was in Puerto Rico: 44125 U.S. dollars and the lowest value was in Haiti: 2801 U.S. dollars. The indicator is available from 1990 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Latin America's e-commerce market is poised for significant growth, with Brazil leading the charge. The country's e-commerce revenue is expected to reach 148 billion U.S. dollars by 2030, up from 86 billion in 2024. Mexico follows as the second-largest market, projected to grow from 72 billion to 104 billion U.S. dollars in the same period. This growth reflects the increasing importance of the digital market in the region. Mobile commerce and cross-border sales Mobile commerce is revolutionizing Latin America's e-commerce sector. By the end of 2025, mobile retail e-commerce sales in the region are forecast to reach approximately 106 billion U.S. dollars, a fourfold increase from 2019. Additionally, cross-border online sales are gradually increasing, expected to account for 17 percent of the total e-commerce market in Latin America by 2025, up from 13 percent in 2022. This trend indicates a slowly expanding appetite for international products among Latin American consumers. Evolving payment landscape Latin America's e-commerce sector is witnessing a shift in payment preferences. Account-to-account (A2A) payments are gaining traction, accounting for 24 percent of total e-commerce transaction value in 2024. Countries like Brazil, Peru, and Colombia are expected to see the highest increase in A2A payments by 2030. Meanwhile, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) methods are becoming increasingly popular, particularly in Mexico and Colombia. Digital wallets are also on the rise, with Argentina leading the region in adoption for online purchases. These diverse payment options are reshaping the e-commerce landscape and driving further growth across Latin America.

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.

Abstract

Gallup Worldwide Research continually surveys residents in more than 150 countries, representing more than 98% of the world's adult population, using randomly selected, nationally representative samples. Gallup typically surveys 1,000 individuals in each country, using a standard set of core questions that has been translated into the major languages of the respective country. In some regions, supplemental questions are asked in addition to core questions. Face-to-face interviews are approximately 1 hour, while telephone interviews are about 30 minutes. In many countries, the survey is conducted once per year, and fieldwork is generally completed in two to four weeks. The Country Dataset Details spreadsheet displays each country's sample size, month/year of the data collection, mode of interviewing, languages employed, design effect, margin of error, and details about sample coverage.

Gallup is entirely responsible for the management, design, and control of Gallup Worldwide Research. For the past 70 years, Gallup has been committed to the principle that accurately collecting and disseminating the opinions and aspirations of people around the globe is vital to understanding our world. Gallup's mission is to provide information in an objective, reliable, and scientifically grounded manner. Gallup is not associated with any political orientation, party, or advocacy group and does not accept partisan entities as clients. Any individual, institution, or governmental agency may access the Gallup Worldwide Research regardless of nationality. The identities of clients and all surveyed respondents will remain confidential.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

SAMPLING AND DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY With some exceptions, all samples are probability based and nationally representative of the resident population aged 15 and older. The coverage area is the entire country including rural areas, and the sampling frame represents the entire civilian, non-institutionalized, aged 15 and older population of the entire country. Exceptions include areas where the safety of interviewing staff is threatened, scarcely populated islands in some countries, and areas that interviewers can reach only by foot, animal, or small boat.

Telephone surveys are used in countries where telephone coverage represents at least 80% of the population or is the customary survey methodology (see the Country Dataset Details for detailed information for each country). In Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in the developing world, including much of Latin America, the former Soviet Union countries, nearly all of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, an area frame design is used for face-to-face interviewing.

The typical Gallup Worldwide Research survey includes at least 1,000 surveys of individuals. In some countries, oversamples are collected in major cities or areas of special interest. Additionally, in some large countries, such as China and Russia, sample sizes of at least 2,000 are collected. Although rare, in some instances the sample size is between 500 and 1,000. See the Country Dataset Details for detailed information for each country.

FACE-TO-FACE SURVEY DESIGN

FIRST STAGE In countries where face-to-face surveys are conducted, the first stage of sampling is the identification of 100 to 135 ultimate clusters (Sampling Units), consisting of clusters of households. Sampling units are stratified by population size and or geography and clustering is achieved through one or more stages of sampling. Where population information is available, sample selection is based on probabilities proportional to population size, otherwise simple random sampling is used. Samples are drawn independent of any samples drawn for surveys conducted in previous years.

There are two methods for sample stratification:

METHOD 1: The sample is stratified into 100 to 125 ultimate clusters drawn proportional to the national population, using the following strata: 1) Areas with population of at least 1 million 2) Areas 500,000-999,999 3) Areas 100,000-499,999 4) Areas 50,000-99,999 5) Areas 10,000-49,999 6) Areas with less than 10,000

The strata could include additional stratum to reflect populations that exceed 1 million as well as areas with populations less than 10,000. Worldwide Research Methodology and Codebook Copyright © 2008-2012 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved. 8

METHOD 2:

A multi-stage design is used. The country is first stratified by large geographic units, and then by smaller units within geography. A minimum of 33 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs), which are first stage sampling units, are selected. The sample design results in 100 to 125 ultimate clusters.

SECOND STAGE

Random route procedures are used to select sampled households. Unless an outright refusal occurs, interviewers make up to three attempts to survey the sampled household. To increase the probability of contact and completion, attempts are made at different times of the day, and where possible, on different days. If an interviewer cannot obtain an interview at the initial sampled household, he or she uses a simple substitution method. Refer to Appendix C for a more in-depth description of random route procedures.

THIRD STAGE

Respondents are randomly selected within the selected households. Interviewers list all eligible household members and their ages or birthdays. The respondent is selected by means of the Kish grid (refer to Appendix C) in countries where face-to-face interviewing is used. The interview does not inform the person who answers the door of the selection criteria until after the respondent has been identified. In a few Middle East and Asian countries where cultural restrictions dictate gender matching, respondents are randomly selected using the Kish grid from among all eligible adults of the matching gender.

TELEPHONE SURVEY DESIGN

In countries where telephone interviewing is employed, random-digit-dial (RDD) or a nationally representative list of phone numbers is used. In select countries where cell phone penetration is high, a dual sampling frame is used. Random respondent selection is achieved by using either the latest birthday or Kish grid method. At least three attempts are made to reach a person in each household, spread over different days and times of day. Appointments for callbacks that fall within the survey data collection period are made.

PANEL SURVEY DESIGN

Prior to 2009, United States data were collected using The Gallup Panel. The Gallup Panel is a probability-based, nationally representative panel, for which all members are recruited via random-digit-dial methodology and is only used in the United States. Participants who elect to join the panel are committing to the completion of two to three surveys per month, with the typical survey lasting 10 to 15 minutes. The Gallup Worldwide Research panel survey is conducted over the telephone and takes approximately 30 minutes. No incentives are given to panel participants. Worldwide Research Methodology and Codebook Copyright © 2008-2012 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved. 9

Research instrument

QUESTION DESIGN

Many of the Worldwide Research questions are items that Gallup has used for years. When developing additional questions, Gallup employed its worldwide network of research and political scientists1 to better understand key issues with regard to question development and construction and data gathering. Hundreds of items were developed, tested, piloted, and finalized. The best questions were retained for the core questionnaire and organized into indexes. Most items have a simple dichotomous ("yes or no") response set to minimize contamination of data because of cultural differences in response styles and to facilitate cross-cultural comparisons.

The Gallup Worldwide Research measures key indicators such as Law and Order, Food and Shelter, Job Creation, Migration, Financial Wellbeing, Personal Health, Civic Engagement, and Evaluative Wellbeing and demonstrates their correlations with world development indicators such as GDP and Brain Gain. These indicators assist leaders in understanding the broad context of national interests and establishing organization-specific correlations between leading indexes and lagging economic outcomes.

Gallup organizes its core group of indicators into the Gallup World Path. The Path is an organizational conceptualization of the seven indexes and is not to be construed as a causal model. The individual indexes have many properties of a strong theoretical framework. A more in-depth description of the questions and Gallup indexes is included in the indexes section of this document. In addition to World Path indexes, Gallup Worldwide Research questions also measure opinions about national institutions, corruption, youth development, community basics, diversity, optimism, communications, religiosity, and numerous other topics. For many regions of the world, additional questions that are specific to that region or country are included in surveys. Region-specific questions have been developed for predominantly Muslim nations, former Soviet Union countries, the Balkans, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, China and India, South Asia, and Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

The questionnaire is translated into the major conversational languages of each country. The translation process starts with an English, French, or Spanish version, depending on the region. One of two translation methods may be used.

METHOD 1: Two independent translations are completed. An independent third party, with some knowledge of survey research methods, adjudicates the differences. A professional translator translates the final version back into the source language.

METHOD 2: A translator

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.

The United States' total Imports in 2024 were valued at US$3.36 Trillion, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. The United States' main import partners were: Mexico, China and Canada. The top three import commodities were: Machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers; Electrical, electronic equipment and Vehicles other than railway, tramway. Total Exports were valued at US$2.06 Trillion. In 2024, The United States had a trade deficit of US$1.29 Trillion.

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, 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.

Brazil, the most populated country and the economy with the highest GDP in Latin America, had the largest market research revenue in the region in 2022. Out of all the Latin American and Caribbean countries included in the study, Brazil ranked first, with a market research revenue of *** million U.S. dollars, followed by Mexico, with *** million U.S. dollars.

Venezuela is the Latin American country with the largest gold reserves. As of June 2024, Venezuela's Central Bank held up to 161 tons of gold reserves. Brazil and Mexico completed the top three gold holding countries in the region with 130 and 120 tons, respectively.

As of August 2025, Brazil was home to ****** million Facebook users. In Latin America, it was followed by Mexico and Colombia with approximately *** million and ** million Facebook users, respectively. In the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic was the country with the largest number of people on the social media platform. Facebook’s forecasted future Brazil is expected to continue building up its Facebook audience in the coming years. It is estimated that by 2025, the South American nation will reach nearly ***** million users on the social network. By that same year, more than ***** million Mexicans are forecast to be on Facebook, according to another source. Despite such awaited growth, Facebook’s market share decreased in most of the six largest Latin American countries between 2019 and 2020 – the exception was Chile, where an increase of *** percent was recorded. Concurrently, Instagram, also owned by Facebook, Inc., experienced an increase in its market share across the region. Pandemic Facebook posting In March 2020, when COVID-19 was officially characterized by the World Health Organization as a pandemic, Facebook users in Brazil made nearly ** percent more posts than they had during the same month a year prior. Furthermore, the contents of posts addressing the virus, made during the month of March throughout Latin America, were more visual than textual. Namely, ** percent of posts using the words ‘coronavirus’ or ‘COVID-19’ consisted of videos and almost ********* of them contained photos, whereas only *** percent included users’ statuses. At that same time, Latin American governments flocked to the social network to communicate with the region's inhabitants, increasing their Facebook posting behavior by almost ** percent in one year.

In 2023, Puerto Rico and The Bahamas were the states with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Latin America and the Caribbean. The average GDP generated per person in the Bahamas amounted to 34,749 U.S. dollars, whereas the average wealth created per capita in Puerto Rico was estimated at around 34,749 U.S. dollars. In that same year, this region's lowest GDP per capita was that of Haiti, at less than 1,693 U.S. dollars per person per year. The largest economies in Latin America GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year. It is an important indicator to measure the economic strength of a country and the average wealth of its population. By far, the two largest economies in the region are Brazil and Mexico, both registering GDPs three times bigger than the third place, Argentina. Nonetheless, they are the two most populated countries by a great margin.
Key economic indicators of Latin America Latin America emerges as an important region in the world economy, as of 2023, around 7.3 percent of the global GDP, a similar share to the Middle East. Nevertheless, the economic development of most of its countries has been heavily affected by other factors, such as corruption, inequality, inflation, or crime and violence. Countries such as Venezuela, Suriname, and Argentina are constantly ranking among the highest inflation rates in the world. While Jamaica, Ecuador, and Haiti rank as some of the most crime-ridden states.

As of August 2023, there were *** national parks in Latin America. Brazil registered the largest number up until that month, with *** national parks. Mexico followed with **, while Chile and Costa Rica recorded ** and ** national parks, respectively. At that time, Mexico and Brazil were the countries with the largest number of zoos and aquariums in the Latin American region.