Mapped: How Populations Have Changed in the Americas (1990-2023)

Pallavi Rao
2024-09-05 08:05:49
www.visualcapitalist.com

How Populations Have Changed in the Americas Since 1990

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Currently more than one billion people live in the Americas, an area with 35 countries and many overseas territories and dependencies.

This color-coded map shows population changes by country in the Americas from 1990 to 2023. Data was sourced from the 2024 World Population Prospects from the UN.

Importantly the graphic only includes sovereign states. Furthermore, some country labels have been skipped for legibility. The full data, including full population figures, can be found in the next section’s table.

Three Decades of Population Boom

The top 14 largest countries in the Americas by population size have all seen nearly 40% population growth between 1990–2023.

Country	1990	2023	Change
U.S.	253,373,000	343,477,000	36%
Brazil	149,143,000	211,141,000	42%
Mexico	82,820,000	129,740,000	57%
Colombia	32,440,000	52,321,000	61%
Argentina	32,756,000	45,538,000	39%
Canada	27,789,000	39,299,000	41%
Peru	22,015,000	33,846,000	54%
Venezuela	19,827,000	28,301,000	43%
Chile	13,437,000	19,659,000	46%
Guatemala	9,025,000	18,125,000	101%
Ecuador	10,474,000	17,980,000	72%
Bolivia	7,130,000	12,244,000	72%
Haiti	6,854,000	11,637,000	70%
Dominican Republic	7,151,000	11,331,000	58%
Cuba	10,632,000	11,020,000	4%
Honduras	4,980,000	10,645,000	114%
Paraguay	4,036,000	6,844,000	70%
Nicaragua	4,163,000	6,824,000	64%
El Salvador	5,400,000	6,310,000	17%
Costa Rica	3,122,000	5,106,000	64%
Panama	2,456,000	4,459,000	82%
Uruguay	3,104,000	3,388,000	9%
Jamaica	2,380,000	2,840,000	19%
Trinidad & Tobago	1,252,000	1,503,000	20%
Guyana	750,000	826,000	10%
Suriname	412,000	629,000	53%
Belize	183,000	411,000	125%
Bahamas	276,000	399,000	45%
Barbados	259,000	282,000	9%
St Lucia	138,000	179,000	30%
Grenada	100,000	117,000	17%
St Vincent & the Grenadines	112,000	101,000	-10%
Antigua & Barbuda	63,000	93,000	48%
Dominica	70,000	67,000	-4%
St. Kitts & Nevis	40,000	47,000	18%

Only sovereign states included. Population changes measured between July 1st 1990–2023. Figures rounded.

What does this mean in actual people? For the top three by size: the U.S. gained 90 million residents, while Brazil and Mexico added 62 million and 42 million, respectively.

Ranked 10th by population, Guatemala more than doubled its residents from 9 million to 18 million in 2023. However it still doesn’t take the crown for largest percentage growth, which belongs to Belize (+125%).

In fact, only three countries in the Americas registered single-digit percentage gains: Cuba, Uruguay, and Barbados.

Has the Americas’ Population Fallen Anywhere Since 1990?

Of the list with only sovereign states, only Dominica (-4%) and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (-10%) saw their number of residents fall.

However, some overseas territories and dependencies not pictured in this map also saw declines.

In fact, every U.S. territory—including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam—has been losing people since 2010, a swift departure from the 20th century when populations were expanding. A Washington Post analysis found that many of the same troubles ailing rural America (manufacturing decline, falling birth rates, and brain drain) are besetting U.S. territories as well.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

How have countries from other regions done in the same time period? Check out Thirty Years of Population Change in Europe (1990–2023).

The post Mapped: How Populations Have Changed in the Americas (1990-2023) appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

Source Link