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.

As of 2024, Barbados was the most densely populated country in Latin America and the Caribbean, with approximately 652 people per square kilometer. In that same year, Argentina's population density was estimated at approximately 16.7 people per square kilometer.

Graph and download economic data for Population Growth for Developing Countries in Latin America and Caribbean (SPPOPGROWLAC) from 1961 to 2023 about Caribbean Economies, Latin America, population, and rate.

Chart and table of Latin America And The Caribbean population from 1950 to 2025. United Nations projections are also included through the year 2100.

In 2023, the total population in Latin America & the Caribbean remained nearly unchanged at around 664.16 million inhabitants. Nevertheless, 2023 still represents a peak in the total population in Latin America & the Caribbean with 664.16 million inhabitants. The total population of a country refers to the de facto number of people residing in a country, regardless of citizenship or legal status.

The statistic shows age distribution in Latin America & Caribbean between 2013 to 2023. In 2023, around 22.88 percent of the population of Latin America & Caribbean was between 0 and 14 years old, 67.6 percent was between 15 and 64 and 9.53 percent was 65 years old and over.

The population of Latin America and the Caribbean increased from 175 million in 1950 to 515 million in 2000. Where did this growth occur? What is the magnitude of change in different places? How can we visualize the geographic dimensions of population change in Latin America and the Caribbean? We compiled census and other public domain information to analyze both temporal and geographic changes in population in the region. Our database includes population totals for over 18,300 administrative districts within Latin America and the Caribbean. Tabular census data was linked to an administrative division map of the region and handled in a geographic information system. We transformed vector population maps to raster surfaces to make the digital maps comparable with other commonly available geographic information. Validation and error-checking analyses were carried out to compare the database with other sources of population information. The digital population maps created in this project have been put in the public domain and can be downloaded from our website. The Latin America and Caribbean map is part of a larger multi-institutional effort to map population in developing countries. This is the third version of the Latin American and Caribbean population database and it contains new data from the 2000 round of censuses and new and improved accessibility surfaces for creating the raster maps.

Venezuela and Brazil were among the Latin American countries with the highest percentage of population with a bank account. In 2021, it was found that 84 percent of Venezuelans had an account at a bank or other type of financial institution, whereas in Brazil that share also amounted to 84 percent.

The Latin America and the Caribbean Population Time Series data set provides total population estimates using spatially consistent and comparable Units for Latin American municipalities or equivalent administrative Units for the years 1990 and 2000. The data set consists of two vector polygon layers: one layer displays population estimates for subnational administrative Units in 1990 and 2000, including population counts, density, and percent change, at the municipality level or equivalent (level 2); a second layer summarizes this information at the country level (level 0).

Chart and table of Latin America The Caribbean Ibrd Only Countries population from 1950 to 2025. United Nations projections are also included through the year 2100.

The Latin America and Caribbean nation with the highest prison population rate in 2024 was El Salvador, with 1.086 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, the only country to achieve four digits, followed by Cuba with 794 prisoners. Guatemala and Haiti Jamaica had the lowest prison population rates, 123 and 63 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively.

As of the first month in 2024, around 94.4 percent of people in the Bahamas were online, making the archipelagic nation the country with the highest percentage of its population using the internet in Latin America and the Caribbean. Meanwhile, more than 90 percent of Chileans were connected to the internet, while this was true for over 83.2 percent of Mexico's population.

This horizontal bar chart displays male population (people) by countries yearly using the aggregation sum and is filtered where the region is South America. The data is from the countries entity.

As of February 2025, more than 76 percent of the population of Uruguay was on social media. On the other hand, approximately 22 percent of Haitians used social networking platforms. Among the largest Latin American markets, Brazil had the lowest social media penetration rate at 67.8 percent, just below Colombia and Argentina. Online networking among Chilean young adults intensifies Young adults are the primary audience of social media in Chile. Nearly half of all Facebook users in the South American country were between 18 and 34 years old. The same age group accounted for almost 80 percent of Chilean users of LinkedIn. This generation has also been devoting more of its time to this type of online activity. During a 2020 survey, people aged 18 to 29 in Chile said they spent 4.1 average hours per day on social media. Obstacles for the expansion of social media in Brazil A handful of issues still set part of Brazil’s online population apart from social networks. The country ranked fifth in average internet connection speed in Latin America. Furthermore, almost one third of surveyed Brazilians said it was likely that their online accounts would get hacked in 2021. Finally, personal preferences may also play a relevant role. Around one out of four persons surveyed in Brazil stated it was likely that they would use social media less throughout 2020.

In 2023, Argentina was the Latin American country with the highest share of mobile internet connectivity, reaching 76 percent of its population. Chile and Mexico followed, with 74 and 70 percent, respectively. The mobile internet penetration rate in Latin America is forecast to reach 72 percent by 2030.

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.

Graph and download economic data for Population Ages 15 to 64 for Developing Countries in Latin America and Caribbean (SPPOP1564TOZSLAC) from 1960 to 2023 about Caribbean Economies, Latin America, 15 to 64 years, and population.

In 2024, approximately 22.81 million people lived in the São Paulo metropolitan area, making it the biggest in Latin America and the Caribbean and the fifth 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 22.51 million inhabitants.

Brazil's cities

Brazil is home to two large metropolises, only counting the population within the city limits, São Paulo had approximately 12.4 million inhabitants, and Rio de Janeiro around 6.8 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 85 percent of inhabitants living in cities.

Mexico City

Mexico City's metropolitan area ranks fifth 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 2021, the city registered a crime incidence of 45,336 reported cases for every 100,000 inhabitants and around 32 percent of the population lived under the poverty line.

In 2022, Chile was the country with the highest share of employees in the total employed population in Latin America and the Caribbean. As of that time, almost 75 percent of workers had “paid employment jobs”, or jobs where the incumbents held employment contracts that entitle them to basic remuneration. However, the share of employeres in the country that year amounted to only 3.2 percent.

This horizontal bar chart displays rural population (people) by ISO 3 country code using the aggregation sum and is filtered where the region is South America. The data is about countries per year.