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.

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.

About this dataset

Context

This list ranks the 269 cities in the South Carolina by Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) population, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau. It also highlights population changes in each cities over the past five years.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates, including:

• 2019-2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
• 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
• 2017-2021 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
• 2016-2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
• 2015-2019 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

Variables / Data Columns

• Rank by Hispanic Native American Population: This column displays the rank of cities in the South Carolina by their Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) population, using the most recent ACS data available.
• cities: The cities for which the rank is shown in the previous column.
• Hispanic Native American Population: The Hispanic Native American population of the cities is shown in this column.
• % of Total cities Population: This shows what percentage of the total cities population identifies as Hispanic Native American. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.
• % of Total South Carolina Hispanic Native American Population: This tells us how much of the entire South Carolina Hispanic Native American population lives in that cities. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.
• 5 Year Rank Trend: TThis column displays the rank trend across the last 5 years.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

This statistic shows the biggest cities in El Salvador in 2020. In 2020, approximately 284 thousand people lived in Soyapango, making it the biggest city in El Salvador.

In 2022, approximately 11.45 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 11.45 million inhabitants, and Rio de Janeiro with 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 85 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 around 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.

Santiago, Chile's capital and largest city, was considered the smartest city in Latin America in 2019. That year, the city achieved an overall score of 59.45 points. Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina, ranked second, with 54.71 score points. Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic's Santo Domingo was the highest ranking Caribbean city, with a 40.39 score.

In 2025, the degree of urbanization worldwide was at 58 percent. North America as well as Latin America and the Caribbean were the regions with the highest level of urbanization, with over four-fifths of the population residing in urban areas. The degree of urbanization defines the share of the population living in areas that are defined as "cities". On the other hand, less than half of Africa's population lives in urban settlements. Globally, China accounts for over one-quarter of the built-up areas of more than 500,000 inhabitants. The definition of a city differs across various world regions - some countries count settlements with 100 houses or more as urban, while others only include the capital of a country or provincial capitals in their count. Largest agglomerations worldwideThough North America is the most urbanized continent, no U.S. city was among the top ten urban agglomerations worldwide in 2023. Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan was the largest urban area in the world that year, with 37.7 million inhabitants. New York ranked 13th, with 21.4 million inhabitants. Eight of the 10 most populous cities are located in Asia. ConnectivityIt may be hard to imagine how the reality will look in 2050, with 70 percent of the global population living in cities, but some statistics illustrate the ways urban living differs from suburban and rural living. American urbanites may lead more “connected” (i.e. internet-connected) lives than their rural and/or suburban counterparts. As of 2021, around 89 percent of people living in urban areas owned a smartphone. Internet usage was also higher in cities than in rural areas. On the other hand, rural areas always have, and always will attract those who want to escape the rush of the city.

This statistic shows the ten biggest cities in Argentina in 2019. In 2019, approximately 15.17 million people lived in Buenos Aires, making it the biggest city in Argentina.

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.

During the last census, Iztapalapa registered a total of 1.8 million inhabitants, a population higher than the eight States with the lowest population in Mexico. Gustavo A. Madero and Álvaro Obregón ranked second and third, respectively. In contrast, Milpa Alta registered only 152,685 inhabitants.

As of 2024, an estimate of 7.93 million people lived in Bogotá — the capital of Colombia and most populated city in the country. With 2.62 million, Medellín ranked second that year in the list of largest Colombian cities. Cali, located at the southwest of the country, followed closely behind with nearly 2.3 million inhabitants.

The statistic depicts the ten largest cities in Mexico in 2020. In 2020, Mexico City had around 8.84 million residents which made it the largest city in Mexico.

Population of Mexico

Mexico is a federal republic located in North America, sharing borders with the United States to the north, and to the southeast with Guatemala and Belize. With a total area of over 1.9 million square kilometers, it is the fourteenth largest nation in the world and the fifth largest in the Americas.

In 2014, Mexico’s total population amounted to approximately 120 million people. A little under two thirds of Mexico’s total population is of Mestizo ethnicity. The total population has steadily grown over the past decade, despite being the source to the largest migration flow between countries in the world; in 2010, around 11.6 million immigrants from Mexico lived in the United States. The migration flow between the United States and Mexico has however, decreased over the past ten years: Between 1995 and 2000, over 2.9 million migrants emigrated from Mexico to the United States. This was more than the double of migrants who emigrated from Mexico to the United States between 2005 and 2010. Each year, Mexico's population grows by about 1.24 percent compared to the previous year. Mexico City, the country’s capital and largest city, is home to approximately 8.6 million people.

In 2021, there were more than 250 thousand deaths attributable to air pollution in Latin America and the Caribbean. Brazil was the country with the largest number of deaths, at approximately 68 thousand. Mexico followed, with slightly over 50 thousand deaths. An invisible killer among Brazilians In Brazil, fine-particle outdoor pollution (PM2.5) – meaning particles with a diameter smaller than 2.5 micrometers – typically accounts for more than 70 percent of air pollution-related deaths due to air pollution. In its fine form, particulate matter has been credited as a leading cause of respiratory-related diseases, the third most prominent cause of death among Brazilians. Coal and waste burning, industrial activities, and heavy vehicular traffic are some of the main causes of ambient air pollution. The burden of fuel burning Although Brazil and Mexico have the highest death tolls due to air pollution in Latin America – a result not entirely unexpected give they have the largest populations in the region – they do not necessarily have the region's highest urban pollution levels. Instead, Chile had some of the most polluted cities in Latin America in 2023. These high levels have been mostly ascribed to a cultural tradition of wood-fired cooking. A similar situation can be found in Haiti. In 2023, the Caribbean country – which ranked fourth in deaths due to air pollution in Latin America, despite not even making it to the top ten in terms of population – has by far the largest share of population exposed to household air pollution from solid fuels in the region.

Bogotá topped the list of best cities for startups in Colombia in 2024, registering a total score of 1.55 That year, this city also ranked third in the list of leading cities for startups in Latin America and the Caribbean. Medellín, the second-largest city in the country, followed second in the Colombian ranking with a score of 3.89 points.

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.

As of August 2023, the province of Buenos Aires registered the highest number of inhabitants, with over 17.8 million. Córdoba and Santa Fe followed far behind with 3.88 and 3.63 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.

In 2023, California had the highest Hispanic population in the United States, with over 15.76 million people claiming Hispanic heritage. Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois rounded out the top five states for Hispanic residents in that year. History of Hispanic people Hispanic people are those whose heritage stems from a former Spanish colony. The Spanish Empire colonized most of Central and Latin America in the 15th century, which began when Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492. The Spanish Empire expanded its territory throughout Central America and South America, but the colonization of the United States did not include the Northeastern part of the United States. Despite the number of Hispanic people living in the United States having increased, the median income of Hispanic households has fluctuated slightly since 1990. Hispanic population in the United States Hispanic people are the second-largest ethnic group in the United States, making Spanish the second most common language spoken in the country. In 2021, about one-fifth of Hispanic households in the United States made between 50,000 to 74,999 U.S. dollars. The unemployment rate of Hispanic Americans has fluctuated significantly since 1990, but has been on the decline since 2010, with the exception of 2020 and 2021, due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Of the cities who have experienced cost of living increases, the top three are located in Latin America, two in Mexico and one in Costa Rica. Each moved 38, 39, and 48 spots in the ranking respectively since 2022. Due to increases in interest rates, the Mexican peso and Costa Rican colón have both appreciated against the U.S. Dollar. Comparatively, Singapore and Zurich were ranked the most expensive cities in the world.

A total of over 234.474 crimes were reported in Mexico City in 2023. Cuauhtémoc was the municipality with the highest number of reported crimes, with over 33,000 cases. Followed by Iztapalapa and Gustavo A. Madero, the two most populous municipalities in Mexico City.

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 one billion passengers, the largest BRT ridership in the world. São Paulo ranked fourth, with 417 million annual passengers. While Brazilian cities have some of the largest 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, busses 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. 19 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.