An introduction to a comparative social & economic profile of the Americas

Author: Dr. Laurence Hewick, PRCA

The sovereign states of the Americas comprise of 36 countries. For this profile they have been divided into 4 groups comprising of 3 in North America, 13 in the Caribbean, 7 in Central America and 12 in South America. These then have been profiled by population, literacy level with world ranking, the GDP per capita (an indirect measure of average income), the unemployment level and inflation percent based on 2022 data. Most economists agree the last three economic indicators give a good look at where the economies are today and perhaps a look at where they are headed soon.

In looking ahead at global economic growth, the following growth projections, by the International Monetary Fund, for global regions may also help us compare the future direction for the Americas. For 2023-24 things do not look great for the USA and slightly better for Latin America and the Caribbean which will outperform perform the Euro Area but nowhere like the Middle East, Emerging Asian countries nor the Sub-Saharan African countries.

Some highlights in 2022 data (below) from the Americas show us that the largest population is in the USA with about 340 million people and Antiqua the smallest with about 100,000. The highest literacy rate goes to Cuba at 99.7% and the lowest to Haiti at 60.6%. The USA have the highest average income at about $62,800 per year while Haiti has the lowest at $1,200. The highest unemployment was in the Bahamas at 18% and the lowest was in Cuba with 1.4%.

When it comes to inflation rate the highest was in Venezuela at 200.9%, followed closely by Cuba at 200.1% and the lowest was in Bolivia at 1.7%. Relatively speaking the Americas held up well during 2022 given global unrest and as employment recovered from the pandemic.

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