Editing Latin America (section)

==Demographics==
{{Further|Latin Americans}}
{{see also|Demographics of South America|Afro-Latin Americans | Asian Latin Americans | Indigenous peoples of South America|White Latin Americans}}{{Historical populations
|title       = Historical populations
|type        = Latin America and the Caribbean
|percentages = pagr
|align       = right
|footnote    = Source: [https://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbilpart1.pdf "UN report 2004 data" (PDF)]
|1750 |16000000
|1800 |24000000
|1850 |38000000
|1900 |74000000
|1950 |167000000
|2001 |511000000
|2013 |603191486
}}

===Life expectancy===
{{Main|List of countries in the Americas by life expectancy}}
List of countries by [[life expectancy]] at birth for 2023 according to the [[World Bank Group]].<ref name='wbg_total'>{{cite web|title=Life expectancy at birth, total|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN|publisher=The World Bank Group|date=15 April 2025|access-date=28 April 2025|archive-date=February 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202140034/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name='wbg_male'>{{cite web|title=Life expectancy at birth, male|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.MA.IN|publisher=The World Bank Group|date=15 April 2025|access-date=28 April 2025|archive-date=March 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210311024618/http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.MA.IN|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name='wbg_female'>{{cite web|title=Life expectancy at birth, female|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.FE.IN|publisher=The World Bank Group|date=15 April 2025|access-date=28 April 2025|archive-date=March 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312055808/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.FE.IN|url-status=live}}</ref> This service doesn't provide data for French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint Barthélemy.

{{static row numbers}}{{mw-datatable}}{{sort under}}{{Table alignment}}
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-datatable static-row-numbers sort-under sticky-table-head sticky-table-col1 col1left col2center col3center col4center col5center col6center col8center col10center col12center col14center col16center" style=text-align:right;
|+ {{sro|World Bank Group (2023)}}
|- class="sortbottom static-row-header"
! rowspan=2 style="vertical-align:middle;"|Countries and<br>territories
! colspan=4|2023
! colspan=11 style="border-left-width:2px;"|Historical data
! rowspan=2 style="border-left-width:2px; text-align:middle;"|{{nobr|recovery from}}<br>[[COVID-19]]:<br>2019→2023
|- class="sortbottom static-row-header"
! style="vertical-align:middle;" class=sticky-table-none|All
! style="vertical-align:middle;"|Male
! style="vertical-align:middle;"|Female
! style="vertical-align:middle;"|{{tooltip|Sex gap|Difference in life expectancy for female and male}}
! style="border-left-width:2px; vertical-align:middle; padding-left:1em;"|2014
! style="text-align:left;"|{{tooltip|2014<br>→2019|Change of life expectancy from 2014 to 2019}}
! style="vertical-align:middle;"|2019
! style="text-align:left;"|2019<br>→2020
! style="vertical-align:middle;"|2020
! style="text-align:left;"|2020<br>→2021
! style="vertical-align:middle;"|2021
! style="text-align:left;"|2021<br>→2022
! style="vertical-align:middle;"|2022
! style="text-align:left;"|2022<br>→2023
! style="vertical-align:middle;"|2023
|-
| {{flaglist|Puerto Rico}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 81.69 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 78.03 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 85.24 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 7.21 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 80.04 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.40 || 81.44 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.43 || 80.01 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.24 || 79.77 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.34 || 79.43 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 2.26 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 81.69 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.25
|-
| {{flaglist|Chile}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 81.17 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 79.24 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 83.08 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 3.84 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 79.71 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.61 || 80.32 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.97 || 79.35 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.47 || 78.88 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.30 || 79.18 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.99 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 81.17 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.84
|-
| {{flaglist|Costa Rica}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 80.80 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 78.13 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 83.42 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 5.29 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 80.23 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.07 || 80.30 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.57 || 79.72 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.67 || 78.05 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.27 || 79.32 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.48 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 80.80 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.50
|-
| {{flaglist|Saint Martin}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 80.22 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 76.77 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 83.84 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 7.07 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 79.73 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.35 || 80.08 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.01 || 80.08 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.12 || 80.21 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.03 || 80.24 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.01 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 80.22 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.15
|-
| {{flaglist|Panama}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 79.59 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 76.65 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 82.56 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 5.90 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 77.36 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.15 || 78.51 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −2.18 || 76.33 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.67 || 77.00 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 2.32 || 79.32 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.27 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 79.59 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 1.08
|-
| {{flaglist|Uruguay}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 78.14 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 74.19 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 81.92 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 7.73 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 77.19 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.31 || 77.50 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.88 || 78.38 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −2.95 || 75.43 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.03 || 76.47 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.67 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 78.14 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.64
|-
| {{flaglist|Cuba}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 78.08 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 75.67 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 80.52 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 4.85 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 77.83 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.41 || 77.41 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.01 || 77.41 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −4.21 || 73.20 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 4.43 || 77.63 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.46 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 78.08 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.67
|-
| {{flaglist|Peru}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 77.74 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 75.41 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 80.12 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 4.71 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 75.26 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.02 || 76.28 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −2.44 || 73.83 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −2.24 || 71.60 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 5.24 || 76.83 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.91 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 77.74 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 1.46
|-
| {{flaglist|Colombia}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 77.72 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 74.95 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 80.45 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 5.50 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 75.95 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.84 || 76.79 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −2.04 || 74.76 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −2.06 || 72.70 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 3.81 || 76.51 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.22 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 77.72 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.93
|-
| {{flaglist|Argentina}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 77.39 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 74.81 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 79.88 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 5.07 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 76.27 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.58 || 76.85 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.97 || 75.88 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.93 || 73.95 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.86 || 75.81 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.59 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 77.39 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.55
|-
| {{flaglist|Ecuador}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 77.39 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 74.66 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 80.14 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 5.47 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 76.14 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.14 || 77.29 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −5.28 || 72.00 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.74 || 72.75 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 3.83 || 76.58 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.81 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 77.39 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.11
|-
| {{flaglist|Brazil}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 75.85 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 72.76 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 78.98 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 6.22 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 74.82 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.99 || 75.81 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.30 || 74.51 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.47 || 73.04 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.83 || 74.87 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.98 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 75.85 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.04
|-
| {{flaglist|Mexico}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 75.07 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 72.24 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 77.81 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 5.57 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 74.40 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.13 || 74.53 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −4.08 || 70.45 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.70 || 69.75 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 4.22 || 73.97 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.10 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 75.07 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.54
|-
| {{flaglist|Nicaragua}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 74.95 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 72.31 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 77.42 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 5.11 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 72.79 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.97 || 73.76 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −3.00 || 70.77 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.29 || 70.48 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 3.98 || 74.46 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.48 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 74.95 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 1.18
|-
| {{flaglist|Paraguay}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 73.84 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 70.89 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 76.95 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 6.07 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 73.42 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.25 || 73.67 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.95 || 72.72 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −4.61 || 68.11 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 4.21 || 72.32 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.52 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 73.84 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.18
|-
| {{flaglist|Dominican Republic}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 73.72 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 70.53 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 76.97 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 6.44 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 73.14 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.03 || 73.11 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.48 || 72.64 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.88 || 71.76 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 2.45 || 74.21 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.49 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 73.72 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.61
|-class=static-row-header
|style="text-align:center;"| '''World''' ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| '''73.33''' ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| '''70.95''' ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| '''75.84''' ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| '''4.89''' ||style="border-left-width:2px;padding-left:1em;"| '''71.78''' ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| '''1.09''' || '''72.87''' ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| '''−0.68''' || '''72.18''' ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| '''−0.97''' || '''71.22''' ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| '''1.75''' || '''72.97''' ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| '''0.36''' ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| '''73.33''' ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| '''0.46'''
|-
| {{flaglist|Honduras}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 72.88 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 70.35 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 75.50 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 5.16 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 71.03 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.09 || 72.12 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.26 || 70.86 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.37 || 69.49 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 3.22 || 72.72 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.17 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 72.88 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.76
|-
| {{flaglist|Guatemala}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 72.60 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 70.31 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 74.88 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 4.56 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 70.94 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.70 || 71.64 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.67 || 69.97 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −2.11 || 67.86 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 3.35 || 71.21 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.40 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 72.60 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.96
|-
| {{flaglist|Venezuela}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 72.51 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 68.72 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 76.50 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 7.78 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 72.84 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.07 || 72.77 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.40 || 72.37 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.83 || 71.54 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.03 || 72.57 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.05 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 72.51 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:crimson;"| −0.25
|-
| {{flaglist|El Salvador}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 72.10 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 67.52 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 76.26 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 8.74 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 71.14 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.58 || 71.72 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.48 || 70.24 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.30 || 69.94 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 2.03 || 71.97 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.13 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 72.10 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.37
|-
| {{flaglist|Bolivia}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 68.58 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 66.13 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 71.14 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 5.02 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 66.97 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.85 || 67.82 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −4.91 || 62.91 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.48 || 61.43 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 6.01 || 67.43 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.15 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 68.58 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.76
|-
| {{flaglist|Haiti}} ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 64.94 ||style="background:#eaf3ff;"| 61.73 ||style="background:#fee7f6;"| 68.30 ||style="background:#fff8dc;"| 6.57 ||style="border-left-width:2px; padding-left:1em;"| 62.97 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.36 || 64.33 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −0.55 || 63.77 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:crimson;"| −1.16 || 62.61 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 1.34 || 63.95 ||style="background:#fffae0;color:darkgreen;"| 0.99 ||style="background:#e0ffd8;"| 64.94 ||style="background:#fffae0;border-left-width:2px;color:darkgreen;"| 0.61
|}

===Largest cities===
{{multiple image
| align             = center
| caption_align     = center
| direction         = horizontal
| width             = 150
| header_background = 
| header_align      = center
| header            = Latin American cities
| image1            = SP from Altino Arantes Building.jpg
| width1            = 150
| caption1          = [[São Paulo]]
| image2            = Vista aérea de la Ciudad de México desde el Auditorio Nacional 10.jpg
| width2            = 200
| caption2          = [[Mexico City]]
| image3            = Buenos Aires Puerto Madero 13.jpg
| width3            = 200
| caption3          = [[Buenos Aires]]
| image4            = CostaneraCenter2016.jpg
| width4            = 200
| caption4          = [[Santiago]]
| image5            = Sanisidroskyscrapers.jpg
| width5            = 200
| caption5          = [[Lima]]
| image6            = BOG17.png
| width6            = 200
| caption6          = [[Bogotá]]
}}

[[Urbanization]] accelerated starting in the mid-twentieth century, especially in [[Capital city|capital cities]], or in the case of Brazil, traditional economic and political hubs founded in the colonial era. In Mexico, the rapid growth and modernization in country's north has seen the growth of [[Timeline of Monterrey, Mexico|Monterrey]], in [[Nuevo León]]. The following is a list of the ten largest metropolitan areas in Latin America. Entries in "bold" indicate they are ranked the highest.<ref name="brookingsgdp">{{cite web|url=https://www.brookings.edu/research/global-metro-monitor/|title=Global Metro Monitor 2014|date=January 22, 2015|publisher=[[Brookings Institution]]|access-date=January 22, 2015|archive-date=January 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107040203/https://www.brookings.edu/research/global-metro-monitor/|url-status=live}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! City !! Country !! 2017 population !! 2014 GDP ([[GDP (PPP)|PPP]], $million, USD) !! 2014 GDP per capita, (USD)
|-
||[[Greater Mexico City|Mexico City]] || {{Flagicon|Mexico}} Mexico || 23,655,355 || $403,561 || $19,239 
|-
||[[Greater São Paulo|São Paulo]] || {{Flagicon|Brazil}} Brazil || 23,467,354 || '''$430,510''' || $20,650 
|-
||[[Greater Buenos Aires|Buenos Aires]] || {{Flagicon|Argentina}} [[Argentina]] || 15,564,354 || $315,885 || $23,606 
|-
||[[Greater Rio de Janeiro|Rio de Janeiro]] || {{Flagicon|Brazil}} Brazil || 14,440,345|| $176,630 || $14,176
|-
||[[Lima Metropolitan Area|Lima]]||{{Flagicon|Peru}} [[Peru]]|| 9,804,609 || $176,447 || $16,530 
|-
||[[Metropolitan Area of Bogotá|Bogotá]] || {{Flagicon|Colombia}} [[Colombia]] || 7,337,449 || $209,150 || $19,497
|-
||[[Santiago Metropolitan Region|Santiago]] || {{Flagicon|Chile}} Chile || 7,164,400 || $171,436 || $23,290
|-
||[[Greater Belo Horizonte|Belo Horizonte]] || {{Flagicon|Brazil}} Brazil || 6,145,800 || $95,686 ||  $17,635
|-
||[[Guadalajara Metropolitan Area|Guadalajara]] || {{Flagicon|Mexico}} Mexico || 4,687,700 || $80,656 || $17,206 
|-
||[[Monterrey Metropolitan area|Monterrey]] || {{Flagicon|Mexico}} Mexico || 4,344,200 || $122,896 || '''$28,290'''
|}

===Race and ethnicity===
{{Main|Ethnic groups in Latin America|Race and ethnicity in Latin America}}
[[File:Ignacio María Barreda - Las castas mexicanas.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Eighteenth-century Mexican Casta painting showing 16 castas hierarchically arranged. [[Ignacio Maria Barreda]], 1777. Real Academia Española de la Lengua, Madrid.]]{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}
Latin American populations are diverse, with descendants of the Indigenous peoples, Europeans, Africans initially brought as slaves, and Asians, as well as new immigrants. 

Mixing of groups was a fact of life at contact of the Old World and the New, but colonial regimes established legal and social discrimination against non-white populations simply on the basis of perceived ethnicity and skin color. [[Social class]] was usually linked to a person's racial category, with European-born Spaniards and Portuguese on top. During the colonial era, with a dearth initially of European women, European men and Indigenous women and African women produced what were considered mixed-race children. In Spanish America, the so-called ''Sociedad de [[castas]]'' or ''Sistema de castas'' was constructed by white elites to try to rationalize the processes at work. In the sixteenth century the Spanish crown sought to protect Indigenous populations from exploitation by white elites for their labor and land. The crown created the'' {{Interlanguage link| República de indios|es|República de indios en la Nueva España}}'' to paternalistically govern and protect Indigenous peoples. It also created the ''República de Españoles'', which included not only European whites, but all non-Indigenous peoples, such as Black, mulattoes, and mixed-race castas who were not dwelling in Indigenous communities. In the religious sphere, the Indigenous were deemed perpetual neophytes in the Catholic faith, which meant Indigenous men were not eligible to be ordained as Catholic priests; however, Indigenous were also excluded from the jurisdiction of the [[Inquisition]]. Catholics saw military conquest and religious conquest as two parts of the assimilation of Indigenous populations, suppressing Indigenous religious practices and eliminating the Indigenous priesthood. Some worship continued underground. Jews and other non-Catholics, such as Protestants (all called "Lutherans") were banned from settling and were subject to the Inquisition. Considerable mixing of populations occurred in cities, while the countryside was largely Indigenous. At independence in the early nineteenth century, in many places in Spanish America formal racial and legal distinctions disappeared, although slavery was not uniformly abolished.

[[File:Latin America Ethnic Distribution by Country.png|thumb|300px|Map of ethno-racial distribution by country.]]

Significant black populations exist in Brazil and Spanish Caribbean islands such as Cuba and Puerto Rico and the circum-Caribbean mainland (Venezuela, Colombia, Panama), as long as in the southern part of South America and Central America (Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Peru) a legacy of their use in plantations. All these areas also have significant white populations. In Brazil, coastal Indigenous peoples largely died out in the early sixteenth century, with Indigenous populations surviving far from cities, sugar plantations, and other European enterprises. Many mixed-race people in much of Latin America are tri-racial, usually of European, African, and Indigenous blood, where European (mostly Spanish/Portuguese) tends to be the strongest of the three. In most of Brazil and the Spanish Caribbean, the average ancestral mix is European and African blood, with much smaller amounts of indigenous blood. While the opposite is true in many mainland Spanish-speaking Latin American countries like Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama, where the average ancestral mix is of European and indigenous blood, with smaller amounts of African. But in Mexico, and other places in northern Central America and southern South America, mixed race people tend to be completely of European and indigenous blood.

Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Brazil have dominant Mulatto/Triracial populations ("Pardo" in Brazil), in Brazil and Cuba, there is equally large white populations and smaller black populations, while Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are more Mulatto/Triracial dominated, with significant Black and white minorities. Parts of Central America and northern South America are more diverse in that they are predominantly made up of Mestizos and whites but also have large numbers of Mulattos, Black, and Indigenous people, especially Colombia, Venezuela, and Panama. 
[[File:Italian immigrants buenos aires.jpg|thumb|297x297px|Italian immigrants arriving in Buenos Aires, during the [[Great European immigration wave to Argentina|great european immigration wave to Argentina]].]]The [[Southern Cone]] region—encompassing [[Argentine Primera División|Argentina]], [[Uruguay]], and [[Chile]]—is predominantly [[White Latin Americans|White]] due to the massive [[European immigration to the Americas|European immigration]] that occurred from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Vidart |first1=Daniel |url=https://anaforas.fic.edu.uy/jspui/bitstream/123456789/9985/1/Nuestra_tierra_39.pdf |title=El legado de los inmigrantes II |last2=Pi Hugarte |first2=Renzo |publisher=Editorial "Nuestra Tierra" |pages=52 |trans-title=Our land, the legacy of immigrants II}}</ref> The rest of Latin America, including México, northern [[Central America]]—Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras— and central South America—Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay—are dominated by mestizos but also have large white and indigenous minorities. Black people make up the majority of the French Caribbean, but is sometimes not considered part of Latin America.
In the nineteenth century, a number of Latin American countries sought immigrants from Europe and Asia. With the abolition of black slavery in 1888, the Brazilian monarchy fell in 1889. By then, another source of cheap labor to work on coffee plantations was found in Japan. Chinese male immigrants arrived in Cuba, Mexico, Peru and elsewhere. With political turmoil in Europe during the mid-nineteenth century and widespread poverty, Germans, Spaniards, and Italians immigrated to Latin America in large numbers, welcomed by Latin American governments both as a source of labor as well as a way to increase the size of their white populations. In Argentina, many [[Afro-Argentines]] married Europeans.<ref>Andrews, George Reid. 1980. The Afro-Argentines of Buenos Aires, 1800–1900, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press</ref>

In twentieth-century Brazil, sociologist [[Gilberto Freyre]] proposed that Brazil was a "[[racial democracy]]", with less discrimination against Black people than in the U.S.<ref>Gilberto Freyre. ''The Masters and the Slaves: A Study in the Development of Brazilian Civilization''. Samuel Putnam (trans.). Berkeley: [[University of California Press]].</ref> Even if a system of legal racial segregation was never implemented in Latin America, unlike the United States, subsequent research has shown that in Brazil there's discrimination against darker citizens, and that whites remain the elites in the country.<ref>[[Thomas Skidmore|Thomas E. Skidmore]]. ''Black into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought''. New York: [[Oxford University Press]], 1974.</ref><ref>[[France Winddance Twine]] Racism in a Racial Democracy: The Maintenance of White Supremacy in Brazil,(1997) Rutgers University Press</ref> In Mexico, the mestizo population was considered the true embodiment of "[[La raza cósmica|the cosmic race]]", according to Mexican intellectual [[José Vasconcelos]], thus erasing other populations. There was considerable discrimination against Asians, with calls for the expulsion of [[Chinese immigration to Mexico|Chinese]] in northern Mexico during the [[Mexican Revolution]] (1910–1920) and racially motivated [[Torreón massacre|massacres]]. In a number of Latin American countries, Indigenous groups have organized explicitly as Indigenous, to claim human rights and influence political power. With the passage of anti-colonial resolutions in the [[United Nations General Assembly]] and the signing of resolutions for Indigenous rights, the Indigenous are able to act to guarantee their existence within nation-states with legal [[standing]].

===Language===
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Placard piemontèis a San Fransesch an Argentin-a.jpg|thumb|Trilingual sign in San Francisco, Argentina, in [[Argentine Spanish|Spanish]], [[Italian language in Argentina|Italian]] and [[Piedmontese language|Piedmontese]].]]

[[File:Map-Most Widely Spoken Native Languages in Latin America.png|thumb|Most widely spoken Native languages in Latin America:<br>'''{{color|blue|Quechua}}''', '''{{background color|black|{{color|#f9dc38|Guaraní}}}}''', '''{{background color|black|{{color|#ff9922|Aymara}}}}''', '''{{color|#cc0000|Náhuatl}}''', '''{{color|#006600|Mayan Languages}}''', '''Mapudungun''']]

[[Spanish language|Spanish]] is the predominant language of Latin America. It is spoken as first language by about 60% of the population. [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] is spoken by about 30%, and about 10% speak other languages such as [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]], [[Mayan languages]], [[Guarani language|Guaraní]], [[Aymara language|Aymara]], [[Nahuatl]], [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[Italian language|Italian]]. Portuguese is spoken mostly in Brazil, the largest and most populous country in the region. Spanish is the official language of most of the other countries and territories on the Latin American mainland, as well as in Cuba, Puerto Rico (where it is co-official with English), and the Dominican Republic. French is spoken in Haiti and in the French [[overseas department]]s of [[Guadeloupe]], [[Martinique]], and [[French Guiana|Guiana]]. It is also spoken by some [[Panamanians]] of Afro-[[Antilles|Antillean]] descent. Dutch is the official language in [[Suriname]], [[Aruba]], [[Curaçao]] and [[Bonaire]]. (As Dutch is a [[Germanic languages|Germanic language]], the territories are not necessarily considered part of Latin America.) However, the native and co-official language of [[Aruba]], [[Bonaire]], and [[Curaçao]], is [[Papiamento]], a [[creole language]] largely based on Portuguese and Spanish that has had a considerable influence from Dutch and other [[Portuguese-based creole languages]].

[[Indigenous languages of the Americas|Amerindian languages]] are widely spoken in Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay and Mexico, and to a lesser degree, in Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, and Chile. In other Latin American countries, the population of speakers of Indigenous languages tend to be very small or even non-existent, for example in Uruguay. Mexico is possibly contains more Indigenous languages than any other Latin American country, but the most-spoken Indigenous language there is Nahuatl.

In Peru, [[Quechua languages|Quechua]] is an official language, alongside Spanish and other Indigenous languages in the areas where they predominate. In Ecuador, while [[Quichua]] holds no official status, it is a recognized language under the country's constitution; however, it is only spoken by a few groups in the country's highlands. In Bolivia, [[Aymara language|Aymara]], Quechua and [[Guaraní language|Guaraní]] hold official status alongside Spanish. Guaraní, like Spanish, is an official language of Paraguay, and is spoken by a majority of the population, which is, for the most part, bilingual, and it is co-official with Spanish in the Argentine province of [[Corrientes]]. In Nicaragua, Spanish is the official language, but on the country's Caribbean coast English and Indigenous languages such as [[Miskito language|Miskito]], [[Sumo languages|Sumo]], and [[Rama language|Rama]] also hold official status. Colombia recognizes all Indigenous languages spoken within its territory as official, though fewer than 1% of its population are native speakers of these languages. [[Nahuatl]] is one of the 62 Native languages spoken by Indigenous people in Mexico, which are officially recognized by the government as "national languages" along with Spanish.

Other European languages spoken in Latin America include: English, by half of the current population in Puerto Rico, as well as in nearby countries that may or may not be considered Latin American, like [[Belize]] and [[Guyana]], and spoken by descendants of British settlers in Argentina and Chile. German is spoken in southern Brazil, southern Chile, portions of Argentina, Venezuela and Paraguay; [[Italian language in Brazil|Italian in Brazil]], Argentina, Venezuela, and Uruguay; [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], and [[Russian language|Russian]] in southern Brazil and Argentina; and [[Welsh language|Welsh]], in southern Argentina.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1163503|title=Reference for Welsh language in southern Argentina, Welsh immigration to Patagonia|publisher=Bbc.co.uk|date=July 22, 2008|access-date=April 23, 2013|archive-date=March 12, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312033518/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1163503|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.1stclassargentina.com/tours/WelshImmigration.html|title=The Welsh Immigration to Argentina|work=1stclassargentina.com|access-date=October 4, 2009|archive-date=March 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319080522/http://www.1stclassargentina.com/tours/WelshImmigration.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.andesceltig.com/|title=Reference for Welsh language in southern Argentina, Welsh immigration to Patagonia|publisher=Andesceltig.com|date=September 29, 2009|access-date=April 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917174822/http://andesceltig.com/|archive-date=September 17, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Non-European or Asian languages include Japanese in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay, [[Korean language|Korean]] in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Chile, Arabic in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and Chile, and Chinese throughout South America. Countries like Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil have their own dialects or variations of German and Italian.

In several nations, especially in the Caribbean region, [[creole languages]] are spoken. The most widely-spoken creole language in Latin America and the Caribbean is [[Haitian Creole]], the predominant language of Haiti, derived primarily from French and certain West African tongues, with [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Amerindian]], English, Portuguese and Spanish influences as well. Creole languages of mainland Latin America, similarly, are derived from European languages and various African tongues. The aforementioned Papiamento, commonly spoken on the Dutch Caribbean [[ABC islands (Leeward Antilles)|ABC Islands]], is a [[Portuguese-based creole languages|Portuguese-based creole]].

The [[Garifuna language]] is spoken along the Caribbean coast in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize, mostly by the [[Garifuna people]], a mixed-race [[Zambo]] people who were the result of mixing between Indigenous Caribbeans and escaped Black slaves. Primarily an [[Arawakan languages|Arawakan language]], it has influences from Caribbean and European languages.

Archaeologists have deciphered over 15 pre-Columbian distinct writing systems from Mesoamerican societies. Ancient [[Maya civilization|Maya]] had the most sophisticated textually written language, but since texts were largely confined to the religious and administrative elite, traditions were passed down orally. Oral traditions also prevailed in other major Indigenous groups including, but not limited to the [[Aztecs]] and other Nahuatl speakers, [[Quechua people|Quechua]] and Aymara of the Andean regions, the [[K'iche' people|Quiché]] of Central America, the [[Tupi-Guaraní]] in today's Brazil, the [[Guaraní people|Guaraní]] in Paraguay and the [[Mapuche]] in Chile.<ref>{{cite book|last=Meade|first=Teresa A.|author-link=Teresa Meade|title=History of Modern Latin America: 1800 to the Present|date=2016|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Chichester, UK|isbn=978-1-118-77248-5|page=13|edition=2nd}}</ref>

===Religion===
{{Main|Religion in Latin America}}
[[File:Santuario de Las Lajas, Ipiales, Colombia, 2015-07-21, DD 21-23 HDR-Edit.JPG|thumb|The [[Las Lajas Sanctuary]] in southern [[Colombia]], Department of [[Nariño Department|Nariño]]]]
[[File:Catedral Arequipa, Peru.jpg|thumb|[[Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa|Cathedral of Arequipa]], in Southern [[Peru]]]]
[[File:Catedral 1899.jpg|thumb|[[Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral]], where the remains of [[José de San Martín|General José de San Martín]] lie, the [[Libertadores|Libertador]] of Argentina, Chile and Perú.]]
The vast majority of Latin Americans are [[Christians]] (90%),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/global-religious-landscape-christians.aspx|title=Christians|date=December 18, 2012|work=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|access-date=May 13, 2016|archive-date=December 21, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221010337/http://www.pewforum.org/global-religious-landscape-christians.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> mostly Roman Catholics belonging to the [[Latin Church]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html|title=CIA – The World Factbook – Field Listing – Religions|access-date=March 17, 2009|archive-date=December 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220203407/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> About 70% of the Latin American population considers itself Catholic.<ref>Fraser, Barbara J., [http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0503707.htm In Latin America, Catholics down, church's credibility up, poll says] {{webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20050628212330/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0503707.htm |date=June 28, 2005}} Catholic News Service June 23, 2005</ref> In 2012 Latin America constitutes in absolute terms the second [[Christianity by country|world's largest Christian population]], after Europe.<ref name="Survey1">{{cite web|url=https://www.pewforum.org/files/2014/01/global-religion-full.pdf|title=The Global Religious Landscape|publisher=Pewforum.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170125173538/https://www.pewforum.org/files/2014/01/global-religion-full.pdf|access-date=May 7, 2020|archive-date=January 25, 2017}}</ref>

According to the detailed Pew multi-country survey in 2014, 69% of the Latin American population is Catholic and 19% is Protestant. Protestants are 26% in Brazil and over 40% in much of Central America. More than half of these are converts from Roman Catholicism.<ref>Alec Ryrie, "The World's Local Religion" [http://www.historytoday.com/alec-ryrie/worlds-local-religion ''History Today'' (2017) online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922033834/http://www.historytoday.com/alec-ryrie/worlds-local-religion |date=September 22, 2017 }}</ref><ref name="Religion in Latin America"/>
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|+Religion in Latin America (2014)<ref name="Religion in Latin America">{{cite web|title=Religion in Latin America, Widespread Change in a Historically Catholic Region|date=November 13, 2014|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/13/religion-in-latin-america/|publisher=[[Pew Research Center]]|access-date=March 4, 2015|archive-date=August 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210821110257/https://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/13/religion-in-latin-america/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
! Country !! Catholic (%) !! Protestant (%) !! Irreligion (%) !! Other (%) 
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Paraguay}} [[Paraguay]]
| 89
| 7
| 1
| 2
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Mexico}} [[Mexico]]
| 81
| 9
| 7
| 4
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Colombia}} [[Colombia]]
| 79
| 13
| 6
| 2
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Ecuador}} [[Ecuador]]
| 79
| 13
| 5
| 3
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Bolivia}} [[Bolivia]]
| 77
| 16
| 4
| 3
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Peru}} [[Peru]]
| 76
| 17
| 4
| 3
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Venezuela}} [[Venezuela]]
| 73
| 17
| 7
| 4
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Argentina}} [[Argentina]]
| 71
| 15
| 12
| 3
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Panama}} [[Panama]]
| 70
| 19
| 7
| 4
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Chile}} [[Chile]]
| 64
| 17
| 16
| 3
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Costa Rica}} [[Costa Rica]]
| 62
| 25
| 9
| 4 
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Brazil}} [[Brazil]]
| 61
| 26
| 8
| 5
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Dominican Republic}} [[Dominican Republic]]
| 57
| 23
| 18
| 2
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Puerto Rico}} [[Puerto Rico]]{{refn|group=sn|Note: Puerto Rico is [[Political status of Puerto Rico|a territory]] of the {{flagicon|United States}} [[United States]].}}
| 56
| 33
| 8
| 2
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|El Salvador}} [[El Salvador]]
| 50
| 36
| 12
| 3
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Guatemala}} [[Guatemala]]
| 50
| 41
| 6
| 3
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Nicaragua}} [[Nicaragua]]
| 50
| 40
| 7
| 4
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Honduras}} [[Honduras]]
| 46
| 41
| 10
| 2
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagicon|Uruguay}} [[Uruguay]]
| 42
| 15
| 37
| 6
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="text-align:left;"| '''Total'''
| '''69'''
| '''19'''
| '''8'''
| '''3'''
|}
{{reflist|group=sn}}

===Migration===
{{See also|Latin American diaspora}}
The entire hemisphere was settled by migrants from Asia, Europe, and Africa. Indigenous Amerindian populations settled throughout the hemisphere before the arrival of Europeans in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the forced migration of slaves from Africa.

In the post-independence period, a number of Latin American countries sought to attract European immigrants as a source of labor as well as to deliberately change the proportions of racial and ethnic groups within their borders. Chile, Argentina, and Brazil actively recruited labor from Catholic southern Europe, where populations were poor and sought better economic opportunities. Many nineteenth-century immigrants went to the United States and Canada, but a significant number arrived in Latin America. Although Mexico tried to attract immigrants, it largely failed.<ref>Burden, David K. La Idea Salvadora: Immigration and Colonization Politics in Mexico, 1821–1857. University of California, Santa Barbara, 2005.</ref> As black slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888, coffee growers recruited Japanese migrants to work in coffee plantations. There is a significant population of Japanese descent in Brazil. Cuba and Peru recruited Chinese labor in the late nineteenth century. Some Chinese immigrants who were excluded from immigrating to the U.S. settled in northern Mexico. When the U.S. acquired its southwest by conquest in the [[Mexican American War]], Latin American populations did not cross the border to the U.S., the border crossed them.

In the twentieth century there have been several types of migration. One is the movement of rural populations within a given country to cities in search of work, causing many Latin American cities to grow significantly. Another is international movement of populations, often fleeing repression or war. Other international migration is for economic reasons, often unregulated or undocumented. Mexicans immigrated to the U.S. during the violence of the [[Mexican Revolution]] (1910–1920)<ref>Gutmann, Myron P., et al. "The demographic impact of the Mexican Revolution in the United States." Austin: Population Research Center, University of Texas (2000)</ref> and the religious [[Cristero War]] (1926–29);<ref>Young, Julia G. "Cristero Diaspora: Mexican Immigrants, The US Catholic Church, and Mexico's [[Cristero War]], 1926–29." The Catholic Historical Review (2012): 271–300.</ref> during World War II, Mexican men worked in the U.S. in the [[bracero program]]. Economic migration from Mexico followed the crash of the Mexican economy in the 1980s.<ref>Durand, Jorge, and Douglas S. Massey. "Mexican migration to the United States: A critical review." Latin American Research Review 27.2 (1992): 3–42.</ref>
Spanish refugees fled to Mexico following the fascist victory in the [[Spanish Civil War]] (1936–38), with some 50,000 exiles finding refuge at the invitation of President [[Lázaro Cárdenas]].<ref>Sánchez-Albornoz, Nicolás. "The Spanish Exiles in Mexico and Beyond." Exile and the politics of exclusion in the Americas (2012)</ref> Following World War II a larger wave of refugees to Latin America, many of them Jews, settled in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, and Venezuela. Some were only transiting through the region, but others stayed and created communities.<ref>Adams, Jacqueline.  Introduction: Jewish Refugees' Lives in Latin America after Persecution and Impoverishment in Europe. Comparative Cultural Studies: European and Latin American Perspectives 11: 5–17, 2021</ref> A number of Nazis escaped to Latin America, living under assumed names, in an attempt to avoid attention and prosecution.

In the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, middle class and elite Cubans moved to the U.S., particularly to Florida. Some fled Chile for the U.S. and Europe after the 1973 military coup.<ref>Wright, Thomas C., and Rody Oñate Zúniga. "Chilean political exile." ''[[Latin American Perspectives]]'' 34.4 (2007): 31–49.</ref> Colombians migrated to Spain and the United Kingdom during the region's political turmoil, compounded by the rise of [[drug trafficking|narcotrafficking]] and [[guerrilla warfare]].<ref>Bermudez, Anastasia. "The "diaspora politics" of Colombian migrants in the UK and Spain." International Migration 49.3 (2011): 125–143.</ref> During the Central American wars of the 1970s to the 1990s, many Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans migrated to the U.S. to escape narcotrafficking, gangs, and poverty. As living conditions deteriorated in Venezuela under [[Hugo Chávez]] and [[Nicolás Maduro]], many left for neighboring Colombia and Ecuador. In the 1990s, economic stress in Ecuador during the [[La Década Perdida]] triggered considerable migration to Spain and to the U.S.<ref>Bertoli, Simone, Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga, and Francesc Ortega. "Immigration policies and the Ecuadorian exodus." The World Bank Economic Review 25.1 (2011): 57–76.</ref>

Some Latin American countries seek to strengthen links between migrants and their states of origin, while promoting their integration in the receiving state. These emigrant policies focus on the rights, obligations and opportunities for participation of emigrated citizens who already live outside the borders of the country of origin. Research on Latin America shows that the extension of policies towards migrants is linked to a focus on civil rights and state benefits that can positively influence integration in recipient countries. In addition, the tolerance of dual citizenship has spread more in Latin America than in any other region of the world.<ref>{{cite web|author=Pedroza, L.|author2=Palop, P.|author3=Hoffmann, B.|year=2018|title=Emigrant Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean: FLASCO-Chile.|url=https://www.giga-hamburg.de/sites/default/files/md_pdf/emigrant-policies-LatinAmerica-and-theCaribbean.pdf|access-date=May 9, 2019|archive-date=May 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509092619/https://www.giga-hamburg.de/sites/default/files/md_pdf/emigrant-policies-LatinAmerica-and-theCaribbean.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Education===
{{See also|Education in Latin America}}
[[File:World map of countries by literacy rate.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|right|World map indicating literacy rate by country in 2015 (2015 CIA ''[[World Factbook]]''). Grey = no data.]]
[[File:AEXCNBA 1934-1984 - Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, frente, desde Bolívar y Moreno.jpg|thumb|[[Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires]], one of the most prestigious schools in Latin America. Its alumni includes two [[Nobel Prize|Nobel]] laureates and four Presidents of Argentina.]]
Despite significant progress, education access and school completion remains unequal in Latin America. The region has made great progress in educational coverage; almost all children attend [[primary school]], and access to [[secondary education]] has increased considerably. Quality issues such as poor teaching methods, lack of appropriate equipment, and overcrowding exist throughout the region. These issues lead to adolescents dropping out of the educational system early. Most educational systems in the region have implemented various types of administrative and institutional reforms that have enabled reach for places and communities that had no access to education services in the early 1990s. School meal programs are also employed to expand access to education, and at least 23 countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region have large-scale school feeding activities, altogether reaching 88% of primary school-age children in the region.<ref>Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF). 2022. [https://gcnf.org/global-reports/ School Meal Programs Around the World: Results from the 2021 Global Survey of School Meal Programs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129061612/https://gcnf.org/global-reports/ |date=January 29, 2023 }}. GCNF: Seattle.</ref> Compared to prior generations, Latin American youth have seen an increase in their levels of education. On average, they have completed two more years of school than their parents.<ref name="Welti">{{cite book|last=Welti|first=Carlos|title=The World's Youth: Adolescence in Eight Regions of the Globe|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|isbn=0521006058|editor-last=Brown|editor-first=B.|edition=[Online-Ausg.].|location=Cambridge, U.K.|chapter=Adolescents in Latin America: Facing the Future with Skepticism}}</ref>

However, there are still 23 million children in the region between the ages of 4 and 17 outside of the formal education system. Estimates indicate that 30% of preschool age children (ages 4–5) do not attend school, and for the most vulnerable populations, the poor and rural, this proportion exceeds 40 percent. Among primary school age children (ages 6 to 12), attendance is almost universal; however there is still a need to enroll five million more children in the primary education system. These children mostly live in remote areas, are Indigenous or Afro-descendants and live in extreme poverty.<ref name=Survey>[BID/EDU Stakeholder Survey 1993/2003, February 8, 2011]</ref>

Among people between the ages of 13 and 17 years, only 80% are full-time students, and only 66% of these advance to secondary school. These percentages are lower among vulnerable population groups: only 75% of the poorest youth between the ages of 13 and 17 years attend school. Tertiary education has the lowest coverage, with only 70% of people between the ages of 18 and 25 years outside of the education system. Currently, more than half of low income or rural children fail to complete nine years of education.<ref name=Survey/>

===Crime and violence===
{{main|Crime and violence in Latin America}}
[[File:Homicide rates per 100000 people world, UNODC 2012.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|2012 map of countries by [[List of countries by intentional homicide rate|homicide rate]]. As of 2015, the Latin American countries with the highest rates were El Salvador (108.64 per 100,000 people), Honduras (63.75) and Venezuela (57.15). The countries with the lowest rates were Chile (3.59), Cuba (4.72) and Argentina (6.53).]]
Latin America and the Caribbean have been cited by numerous sources to be the most dangerous regions in the world.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/142442/latin-america-most-dangerous-world-region-in-terms-of-violence-calderon-.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024043050/http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/142442/latin-america-most-dangerous-world-region-in-terms-of-violence-calderon-.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 24, 2012|title=Latin America the Most Dangerous Region in terms of Violence|access-date=August 28, 2013}}</ref> Studies have shown that Latin America contains the majority of the world's [[List of cities by murder rate|most dangerous cities]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4404176.stm|work=BBC News|title=Latin America: Crisis behind bars|date=November 16, 2005|access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-date=September 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908172128/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4404176.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Crime and violence prevention and public security are now important issues for governments and citizens in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Homicide rates in Latin America are the highest in the world. From the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, homicide rates increased by 50 percent. Latin America and the Caribbean experienced more than 2.5 million murders between 2000 and 2017.<ref>{{cite news|title=Latin America Is the Murder Capital of the World|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/400-murders-a-day-the-crisis-of-latin-america-1537455390|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=September 20, 2018|access-date=July 26, 2019|archive-date=March 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323151839/https://www.wsj.com/articles/400-murders-a-day-the-crisis-of-latin-america-1537455390|url-status=live}}</ref> There were a total of 63,880 murders in Brazil in 2018.<ref>{{cite news|title=A Year of Violence Sees Brazil's Murder Rate Hit Record High|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/10/world/americas/brazil-murder-rate-record.html|work=The New York Times|date=August 10, 2018|access-date=July 26, 2019|archive-date=August 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816111814/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/10/world/americas/brazil-murder-rate-record.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The most frequent victims of such homicides are young men, 69 percent of them between the ages of 15 and 19. Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with the highest homicide rate per year per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015 were: El Salvador 109, Honduras 64, Venezuela 57, Jamaica 43, Belize 34.4, [[St. Kitts and Nevis]] 34, Guatemala 34, [[Trinidad and Tobago]] 31, [[the Bahamas]] 30, Brazil 26.7, Colombia 26.5, the Dominican Republic 22, [[St. Lucia]] 22, [[Guyana]] 19, Mexico 16, Puerto Rico 16, Ecuador 13, [[Grenada]] 13, [[Costa Rica]] 12, Bolivia 12, Nicaragua 12, Panama 11, [[Antigua and Barbuda]] 11, and Haiti 10.<ref name="Homicide Statistics database.">{{cite web|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5?locations=ZJ&year_high_desc=false|title=Intentional homicides (per 100,000 people)|publisher=UN Office on Drugs and Crime's International Homicide Statistics database.|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=September 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922100402/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5?locations=ZJ&year_high_desc=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Most of the countries with the highest homicide rates are in Africa and Latin America. Countries in Central America, like El Salvador and Honduras, top the list of homicides in the world.<ref name="murder rates2">{{cite web|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-06-27/map-here-are-countries-worlds-highest-murder-rates|title=Map: Here are countries with the world's highest murder rates|date=June 27, 2016 |publisher=UN Office on Drugs and Crime's International Homicide Statistics database.|access-date=February 1, 2017|archive-date=February 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201131042/https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-06-27/map-here-are-countries-worlds-highest-murder-rates|url-status=live}}</ref>

Brazil has more overall [[homicide]]s than any country in the world, at 50,108, accounting for one in 10 globally. Crime-related violence is the biggest threat to public health in Latin America, striking more victims than [[HIV/AIDS]] or any other infectious disease.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usinfo.state.gov/dhr/Archive/2005/Apr/21-965427.html|title=Crime Hinders Development, Democracy in Latin America, U.S. Says – US Department of State|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213142246/http://usinfo.state.gov/dhr/Archive/2005/Apr/21-965427.html|archive-date=February 13, 2008}}</ref> Countries with the lowest homicide rate per year per 100,000 inhabitants as of 2015 were: Chile 3, Peru 7, Argentina 7, Uruguay 8 and Paraguay 9.<ref name="Homicide Statistics database."/><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/37/4/751|title="Understanding the uneven distribution of the incidence of homicide in Latin America"|date=2008 |doi=10.1093/ije/dyn153 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601042340/http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/37/4/751|archive-date=June 1, 2010 |last1=Briceno-Leon |first1=R. |last2=Villaveces |first2=A. |last3=Concha-Eastman |first3=A. |journal=International Journal of Epidemiology |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=751–757 |pmid=18653511 }} ''International Journal of Epidemiology''</ref>

=== Public health ===
[[File:Healthy life expectancy bar chart -Latin America.png|thumb|Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in Latin America in 2019<ref name="who">{{cite web|title=Life expectancy and Healthy life expectancy, data by country|language=en|publisher=World Health Organization|url=https://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.688|date=December 4, 2022}}</ref>]]

==== '''Health Development in Latin America''' ====
Latin America has made notable progress in developing healthcare throughout the recent decades, and this is mostly driven even by both domestic policy and international collaborations. Some developments that were utilized: 

* The Pan American Health Organization. (''This section is an excerpt from [[Pan American Health Organization]]).'' The '''Pan''' '''American Health Organization''' ('''PAHO''') is a [[List of specialized agencies of the United Nations|specialized agency]] of the [[United Nations]] (UN) in charge of international health cooperation in the [[Americas]]. This organization has played a crucial role in making efforts to combat communicable and noncommunicable diseases, strengthen health systems, and respond to emergencies and disasters. 
* Public/Private Initiatives and Partnerships. An example that has been in place since 2015 is the Salud Mesoamérica Initiative (SMI).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Salud Mesoamérica Initiative (SMI) {{!}} Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation |url=https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/health-policy-planning/evaluations/smi |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.healthdata.org |language=en}}</ref> This research project that focuses on the inequalities in heath outcomes and access in [[Central America]]. It is a model that supports the transformation of [[Health Systems Global|health systems]] in each country, to bring coverage, access to healthcare, and health services among the poor in Mesoamérica, in particular women and children. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Iniciativas de financiamiento basados en resultados {{!}} bid-saludmesoamerica |url=https://www.saludmesoamerica.org/es |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.saludmesoamerica.org |language=es}}</ref>

==== Water ====
[[File:Palacio aguas corrientes 1890s.jpg|thumb|[[Palacio de Aguas Corrientes|Palace of Running Waters]], water pumping station and headquarters of [[Obras Sanitarias de la Nación]] soon after being inaugurated in Buenos Aires, Argentina.]]{{Excerpt|Water supply and sanitation in Latin America}}

==== Reproductive rights ====
{{Excerpt|Reproductive rights in Latin America}}

==== HIV/AIDS ====
{{Excerpt|HIV/AIDS in Latin America}}