El Salvador's Nayib Bukele remains the most popular president in Latin America, with a 69.1% approval rating, according to the June ranking published last week by pollster CB Global Data, which surveyed between 1,988 and 2,674 people in each country.
Latin America and the Caribbean's political systems are experiencing a gradual institutional decay that rarely manifests as outright democratic collapse but instead hollows out governance from within, the UNDP has warned in a new report.
Paraguay backs Taiwan — again. But with $6bn in Chinese imports and no direct access for beef or soy, the real pressure isn't coming from Beijing's diplomats. It's coming from Asunción's own farmers.
One way to measure income inequality is to look at the share of all income that goes to the top income earners. The chart plots this for all seven South American countries with comparable 2022 pre-tax income estimates.
ECLAC trims Latin America's 2026 growth forecast to 2.2%, warning that soaring oil prices, tighter credit and slowing global trade are locking the region into a fourth consecutive year of sluggish expansion.
The Middle East conflict has landed on Latin America at an awkward moment. After two years of gradual progress bringing inflation under control, the region's central banks now face the prospect of that effort being undone by an external conflict.
The IMF raised its 2026 growth forecast for Latin America and the Caribbean by a tenth of a percentage point to 2.3%, while cautioning that the economic consequences of the war in the Middle East will most impact the region's smaller economies.
The World Bank has cut its 2026 growth forecast for Latin America and the Caribbean to 2.1%, down from 2.4% recorded last year, warning that the region faces a toxic combination of weak investment, tight fiscal space, and productivity deficits.
The European Commission has announced that its trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc will provisionally enter into force on May 1, marking a crucial milestone for a long-negotiated pact.