Latin America

Latin America is the part of the Americas where the people speak Romance languages: Spanish or Portuguese. This includes most of South America and Central America (also including the Spanish-speaking and sometimes the French-speaking Caribbean islands).

The places in the Americas which speak French (Haiti, French Guiana and the French-speaking Caribbean islands) are not always included as a part of Latin America, although French is also a Romance language.

Latin America has vibrant artistic and cultural traditions. Latin American literature, music, and arts are world famous.

In the United States, the term "Latino" refers to a person who has Latin American heritage. It is different from Hispanic which would only include countries where Spanish is the official language. For example, Hispanic would not include Brazil because its official language is Portuguese.

In Spanish, "latino" is a masculine term (for boys and men) whereas "latina" is a feminine term (for girls and women). In the English language, "latino" is not associated with gender so it is an all-inclusive term  (male, female, and non-binary). In the 2010s, the term "Latinx" was created to be a gender-neutral term but very few Latinos actually use it.

Countries and territories that make up Latin America

Spanish-speaking 
  Argentina
  Bolivia
  Chile
  Colombia
  Costa Rica
  Cuba
  Dominican Republic
  Ecuador
  El Salvador
  Guatemala
  Honduras
  Mexico
  Nicaragua
  Panama
  Paraguay
  Peru
 
  Uruguay
  Venezuela

Portuguese-speaking 
  Brazil

French-speaking 
 
 
  Haiti

Demographics

Largest cities
The following is a list of the ten largest metropolitan areas in Latin America.

Ethnic groups 
People in Latin America are part of several ethnic groups and races. The majority of Latin Americans are Mestizo and some others are Mulatto, Black, Zambo, and Asian.
 Native American or indigenous. The Native population in Latin America, came during the Lithic stage. There are more than sixty million of these people. They are the majority only in Bolivia, Peru, and Guatemala. In Ecuador they are a large minority of about 1/4 of the population. Mexico's Native American population is nearly 30%, and is also one of the largest American Indian population in the Americas in terms of absolute numbers. Most of the remaining countries have Native American minorities.
 European. In the 1500s, many Iberian colonists came to what is now Latin America. Today, most White Latin Americans are of Spanish and Portuguese origin. The Iberians brought their language, religion, and culture to Latin America.
 African. Millions of African slaves were brought to the Americas from the early 1500s onward. The majority went to the Caribbean and Brazil.
 Asian. People of Asian descent number several millions in Latin America. The majority of Asian Latin Americans are of Japanese and Chinese heritage, and they mostly live in Peru and Brazil. The largest community of Japanese ethnicity living outside of Japan, resides in Brazil. There is also a growing Chinese population in Panama, as well as Costa Rica (though, Chinese Costa Ricans are a large minority). In the Dominican Republic, there is a place where large numbers of Japanese people came; most Japanese Dominicans live in towns such as Bonao and Santo Domingo.
 Arab or Middle Eastern. Arabs in Latin America are also many, but they are mostly found among the Hispanic-Caribbean regions. In Cuba and Puerto Rico. In the Dominican Republic, the Arabs arrived sometime between the 19th and 20th century; (most are Morracians, Lebanese and East Indians).
Most of these ethnic groups can be found anywhere in Latin America; but since most Latin Americans are of mixed-race, many of these ethnic groups do not reach 100%.

Note: Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States.

Language 
Spanish and Portuguese are the most common languages in Latin America. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, while Spanish is the official language of most other Latin America mainland countries, and of Cuba, Puerto Rico (along with English), and the Dominican Republic.

Many people speak Native American languages in Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay and Mexico. These languages are less common in other countries, but in some countries like Bolivia, they are considered official along with the main European language.

Other Indo-European languages spoken in Latin America include English (mainly in Puerto Rico but also in Guyana), French (spoken in Haiti and French Guiana), and Dutch (in Suriname). Although French is also spoken in the Canadian province of Quebec and the American state of Louisiana, these countries are not considered part of Latin America because they are mostly English-speaking. Guyana, French Guiana (one of the overseas territories of France), and Suriname, which are found the northern part of South America and known together as the Guianas, are the only places in South America that do not speak Spanish or Portuguese.

Some African languages are also spoken in Latin America. The west African Yoruba language (known as Lucumi) is spoken in Cuba, where it is a ritual language used by the Santeria prayers.

In several nations, Creole languages are also spoken, especially in the Caribbean. Palenquero is the Spanish-based Creole language spoken in Colombia by some 3,000 people, it is Spanish with many African influences and some Portuguese influence. Other creoles in mainland Latin America have the same roots, blending Spanish with either African or Indigenous languages or both, as Cuban Spanish does. The island of Haiti also has a well-known creole language, called Haitian Creole.

Religions
Most Latin Americans are Christians. A 2014 survey found that 69% of Latin Americans are Roman Catholic, while 17% are Protestants. Most Protestants are from Brazil or Central America.

Economy

Poverty and inequality
Poverty continues to be one of the biggest challenges for Latin American countries. According to estimates, Latin America is the most unequal region of the world. According to a Country Studies Institute the poorest countries in the region (in 2011) were: Haiti, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Honduras. Undernourishment affects 72% of Haitians, 47% of Nicaraguans and Bolivians, and 32% of Hondurans.

Also, according to the Country Studies Institute, over 90% of Haitians, 75% of Bolivians, 70% of Nicaraguans, and 63% of Hondurans live in poverty.

Related pages
 Hispanic America
 Central America
 South America
 Latin American Literature

Notes

References

Other websites 

 Latin America – Citizendium
 The Washington Post Interactive Map of Politics in Latin America
 Andean Community official webpage 
 Council on Hemispheric Affairs
 Latin American Network Information Center 
 Latin America Working Group
 Washington Office on Latin America
 Politics in Latin America
 Infolatam. Information and analysis of Latin America 

North America
South America