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.

As of 2023, Brazil's population was almost the populations of all other South American countries combined. The only Portuguese-speaking country in the region had around 216 million inhabitants, more than four times the second place, Colombia, who had around 52 million inhabitants in the same year.

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.

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

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 2021, Ecuador had a population density of 72 people per squared kilometer, the highest in South America. Colombia ranked second, with 42 people per km2 of land area. When it comes to total population in South America, Brazil had the largest number, with over 216 million inhabitants.

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).

As of the first month of 2024, more than nine out of 10 people living in the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Antigua & Barbuda, and Chile were online, putting the countries in the top position regarding internet access in Latin America. Meanwhile, more than 85 percent of the populations of Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Brazil Guyana, and Jamaica were online. On the other hand, less than half of the population of Haiti had access to the internet. Overall, the internet penetration rate in Latin America stood at 74.63 percent. Growth in mobile connectivity… With investments in 4G infrastructure forecast to reach around 211.5 billion U.S. dollars by 2030, the improvement of mobile connectivity is radically changing the picture of access to the internet in Latin America and the Caribbean. One of the best examples is Peru, where the gap between urban and rural areas has greatly diminished in 2021, making its online audiences the fifth largest on the continent in 2023. …at an unequal rate Despite the improvements, Latin America and the Caribbean still face an enormous gap in internet access: the internet penetration rate in the subregion of South America was 80.6 percent in 2023, while only 68.4 percent of people in the Caribbean had access to the web. Despite its investments in mobile connectivity, most of the web traffic in Venezuela still originated from desktop devices in 2023, and only 70.9 Ecuadorians had access to mobile internet in 2023.

It was forecast that, in 2023, around 81.79 percent of the Brazilian population would have accessed the web. The internet penetration rate in that South American country was projected to reach over 90 percent three years later and 98 percent by 2029. In the samer, Brazil was the largest connected market in Latin America and had the fifth-biggest online population worldwide.

Connection in the palm of the hand More than 55 percent of the web traffic in Brazil was generated via mobile devices, as most users accessed the internet through mobile devices. Out of roughly 156 million Brazilians who accessed the web in 2023, more than 154 million did so using a mobile phone. Moreover, almost over 90 million people in Brazil used the internet exclusively through cell phones.

Interpersonal communication Once online, Brazilians enjoy staying in touch with each other. Around four out of five internet users in that Portuguese-speaking country were on social media. Furthermore, the percentage of people online in Brazil exchanging messages over the internet is even higher: over 92 percent users turned to messaging solutions.

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, the construction industry in Mexico was the largest in Latin America and the Caribbean, amounting to over 121 billion U.S. dollars. Brazil came in second, followed by Argentina, Chile, and Peru. The most populated countries in Latin America were the ones with the largest construction GDP figures.

In 2022, social media advertising spending in Latin America and the Caribbean was expected to amount to 5.29 billion U.S. dollars, up from 4.11 dollars billion in 2021. The figure was forecast to grow further and reach 9.14 billion dollars by 2026.Largest marketsBrazil is by far the largest social media advertising market in Latin America, with an estimated 2020 spending of 1.42 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Mexico with 868 million. The next in the ranking is Argentina with 240 million, which is slightly more than a fourth of Mexico’s and approximately 17 percent of Brazil’s expenditure. AudienceThe number of social media users in Brazil is also the highest among the above-mentioned markets (in line with the size of the general population of the countries). In 2020, the South American country had social network user base of 141.5 million people. In Mexico, the figure stood at 80.1 million and in Argentina at 32.4 million. Facebook is the most popular social network in all three of the markets.Statista’s Digital Market Outlook offers forecasts, detailed market insights and essential performance indicators of the most significant areas in the Digital Economy, including various digital goods and services for 150 countries worldwide.

The South American nation with the highest prison population rate in 2024 was Uruguay, with 449 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Brazil, with 389 prisoners. The country in South America with the lowest prison population rate was Ecuador, with 179 per 100,000 persons.

In 2024, citizens originally from Colombia were the most common South American nationality in Spain, with about 251,000 residents. The Venezuela population in June of that year was over 208,000, making this group the second-largest nationality in Spain.

As of 2023, Venezuela was the second South American country with the highest share of population whose habitual food intake is insufficient to maintain an active and healthy life, only behind Bolivia. Venezuela's prevalence of undernourishment was estimated at 17.6 percent between 2021 and 2023, whereas the South American regional average stood at 5.9 percent.

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.

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.

Argentina is the country with the second largest Italian population in the world. As of January 2019, around 842.6 thousand Italian citizens who were residents abroad were living in Argentina. This represents almost 16 percent of all Italians living abroad worldwide, according to the Registry of Italian Residents Abroad. Brazil was the second favorite Latin American destination for Italians who lived abroad, with over 447 thousand Italian citizens registered there.

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.