Economy

During the last two decades, South American countries have experienced significant economic growth, which can be seen in many of these countries with the construction of new skyscrapers like the Gran Costanera tower in Chile, and also transportations systems like the Bogota Metro. However, because of histories of high inflation in nearly all South American countries, interest rates remain high and investment remains low. Interest rates are usually twice that of the United States. For example, interest-rates are about 22% in Venezuela and 23% in Suriname. The exception is Chile, which has been implementing free market economic policies since establishing military dictatorship in 1973 and has been increasing its social spending since the return of democratic rule in the early 1990s. This has led to economic stability and interest rates in the low single digits.

South America relies less on the export of both manufactured goods and natural resources than the world average; merchandise exports from the continent were 16% of GDP on an exchange rate basis, compared to 25% for the world as a whole.^[40] Brazil (the seventh largest economy in the world and the largest in South America) leads in terms of merchandise exports at $251 billion, followed by Venezuela at $93 billion, Chile at $86 billion, and Argentina at $84 billion.^[40]

The economic gap between the rich and poor in most South American nations is larger than in most other continents. The richest 10% receive over 40% of the nation's income in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Paraguay,^[41] while the poorest 20% receive 3% or less in Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia.^[42]This wide gap can be seen in many large South American cities where makeshift shacks and slums lie in the vicinity of skyscrapers and upper-class luxury apartments; nearly one in nine in South America live on less than $2 per day (on a purchasing power parity basis).^[43]

Country	GDP (nominal) in 2011[44]	GDP (PPP) in 2011[44]	GDP (PPP) per capita in 2011[44]	Merchandise exports ($bn), 2011[40]	HDI in 2011 (rank)[45]	Percent with less than $2 (PPP) per person per day[43]
Argentina	447,644	716,419	17,516	83.7	0.797	2.6
Bolivia	24,604	50,904	4,789	9.1	0.663	24.9
Brazil	2,492,908	2,294,243	11,769	250.8	0.718	10.8
Chile	248,411	299,632	17,222	86.1	0.805	2.7
Colombia	328,422	471,964	10,249	56.5	0.710	15.8
Ecuador	66,381	127,426	8,492	22.3	0.720	10.6
Falkland Islands[46] (U.K)	165	165	55,400	0.1
French Guiana[47] (France)	4,456	4,456	19,728	1.3
Guyana	2,480	5,783	7,465	0.9	0.633	18.0
Paraguay	21,236	35,346	5,413	9.8	0.665	13.2
Peru	173,502	301,967	10,062	46.3	0.725	12.7
Suriname	3,790	5,060	9,475	1.6	0.680	27.2
Uruguay	46,872	50,908	15,113	8.0	0.783	2.2
Venezuela	315,841	374,111	12,568	92.6	0.735	12.9
Total	4,176,712	4,738,384	11,962	669.1	0.729	11.3

Largest Cities in South America

Ranking	Name	Country	Population
1	São Paulo	Brazil	10,886,518
2	Bogotá	Colombia	6,840,116
3	Lima	Peru	6,321,173
4	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	6,093,472
5	Caracas	Venezuela	5,576,000
6	Santiago	Chile	5,428,590
7	Maracaibo	Venezuela	4,163,670
8	Buenos Aires	Argentina	3,776,138
9	Salvador	Brazil	2,892,625
10	Valencia	Venezuela	2,585,202

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