This article is adapted from AQ’s special report on the Summit of the Americas. Click here for the full list of countries.
Chile
President: Gabriel Boric
Term: 2022-2026
Chile’s youngest-ever president, the 36-year-old former student leader took office to soaring expectations in March. Boric’s election came two years after widespread protests over inequality, and he has promised deep reforms to Chile’s economic model and private pension system as well as an expansion of social services. He must work with a divided Congress to pursue an ambitious progressive agenda, and faces the immediate challenge of governing while Chile drafts a new Constitution to replace the Pinochet-era charter. A referendum on the new Constitution is slated for this year. Boric has stated he will reform Chile’s national police, which was criticized for human rights violations during the 2019 protests. Security forces and indigenous Mapuche communities have clashed recently in the south, and northern Chile has seen violence against migrant communities near the Bolivian border.
the data is color-coded:
High performing Middle performing
Low performing
Governance
| President’s approval rating* | 35% | |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity to Combat Corruption Index ranking (out of 15 Latin American countries) | 3 | |
| Share of adults who support democracy* | 68% | |
| Military expenditure as % GDP | 2.0% |
Economy
| Projected GDP growth 2022 | 2.5% | |
|---|---|---|
| Projected inflation 2022 | 7.2% | |
| Total trade as % of GDP | 58% | |
| Unemployment | 7.6% | |
| Share of labor force in informal economy | 32% | |
| Share of population living in extreme poverty | 4.5% |
Society
| Population (millions) | 19.2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Homicide rate (per 100,000 people) | 3.6 | |
| Annual carbon dioxide emissions (millions of tons) | 81.2 | |
| Share of public social spending on education | 26.8% | |
| Global press freedom ranking (out of 180 countries) | 54 |
Argentina | Brazil | Colombia | Dominican Republic | Ecuador | Guatemala | Mexico | Peru | Venezuela
*NOTES: Approval rating updated May 6. Support for democracy reflects percentage who agree that democracy is preferable to any other form of government.
Sources: Approval rating: Cadem (April); support for democracy: Latin American Public Opinion Project (2021); Capacity to Combat Corruption Index (2022); military expenditure: Stockholm International Peace Institute (2021); GDP, inflation, unemployment: Bloomberg (March); total trade: World Bank (2020); informal labor force: Inter-American Development Bank (2020); poverty, population, education spending: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (2020); Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index (2021); homicide rate: InSight Crime (2021); CO2 emissions: Global Carbon Project (2020)
