South America

Countries

• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Venezuela
• Guyana
• Colombia
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Salvador
• Surinam
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Uruguay
• French Guiana
• Chile
• Ecuador

Geography

2025: Amazon and Paraná among the 15 longest rivers in the world

In November 2025, an infographic showing the 15 longest rivers on the planet was published on the Visual Capitalist portal. It clearly illustrates how far - and through how many countries - each of these water systems extends. Read more here.

Population

Mean age

Data for 2019

Economy

GDP

Countries in terms of GDP in 2022, according to the IMF forecast in the middle of the year

GDP countries in the world in 2021 according to the estimates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Inflation

Data for November 2022,

Foreign trade

2020: Main export item in South American countries

The main export item in South America, data for 2020

Green - food products:

• Guyana is sugar
• Paraguay is soy
• Uruguay is beef
• Argentina is soy

Orange - non-precious metals/minerals:

• Surinam is aluminum
• Peru is copper
• Chile is copper

Sery - mechanical engineering:

• French Guiana - machinery and transport equipment
• Brazil - transport equipment

Dark gray - oil and oil products:

• Trinidad and Tobago - Oil
• Venezuela is oil
• Colombia is oil
• Ecuador is oil
• Bolivia - natural gas

2019: Mercosur-EU trade agreement

Incomes of the population

2023: Minimum wage

Минимальная оплата труда в countries of the world as of January 2023

2022: Share of citizens with a budget of less than $5.5 per day

Сравнение data for 2012 and 2022

2021: An increase in the number of people with a fortune of more than $30 million

Education

2020: South America's oldest functioning institutions

As of May 2020

2018: Literacy rate

The average literacy rate in countries around the world is about 69%. Data at the end of 2018

Health care

2022: Legislative regulation of abortion in South American countries

As of May 2022

2021: The infectious diseases that cause the most people to die or lose their health

Infectious diseases that cause the most people to die or lose health, for 2021

• lower respiratory tract infections;
• HIV/AIDS;
• tuberculosis;
• diarrhoeal diseases;
• malaria;
• measles.

Culture

Languages

Data for 2019

History

100 million hp: South America seceded from Africa

Main article: The history of the Earth before the appearance of hominids

100 million years ago, South America separated from Africa, in the gap between which the Atlantic Ocean began to form.

150 million hp: The beginning of the collapse of Gondwana in the southern hemisphere

150 million years ago (Mesozoic) Gondwana broke up into two parts: western (Africa, Arabia and South America) and eastern (Australia, Antarctica, Madagascar and Hindustan), the border of which was the Mozambique Strait.

420 million hp: South America is part of the continent of Gondwana

Main article: The history of the Earth before the appearance of hominids

Supercontinent Gondwana 420 million years ago. View from the South Pole. As of 2018