South American Countries GDP 2006
Richest Nations in Latin America with Fastest-Growing GDPs
Brazil is tops in terms of GDP but falls well behind Argentina's fast-growing GDP per capita.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) refers to the total value or wealth of final goods and services that a nation produces in a specified year.
Both total GDP and per capita statistics below are based on global purchasing power parity (PPP). The figures shown represent numbers converted to international dollars using PPP rates. For comparison purposes, amounts have been converted to international dollars. One international dollar has the same purchasing power in a given country as the U.S. dollar has in the United States.
Richest South American Countries 2006: GDP Per Country
- Brazil … $1.7 trillion in international$ (up 6.7% from 2005)
- Argentina ... $621.1 billion (up 11.1%)
- Colombia … $378.4 billion (up 7.9%)
- Chile … $212.7 billion (up 8.3%)
- Venezuela … $193.2 billion (up 10.6%)
- Peru … $185.6 billion (up 9.1%)
- Ecuador … $64.7 billion (up 7.5%)
- Uruguay … $37.3 billion (up 7.6%)
- Paraguay … $31.2 billion (up 6.5%)
- Bolivia … $28 billion (up 7.2%)
- Guyana … $3.7 billion (up 6.5%)
- Suriname … $3.2 billion (up 7.6%).
Brazil, Argentina and Colombia generated 78% of South America’s total GDP in 2006. The tenth largest economy in terms of GDP, Brazil accounts for almost half of the Latin American total. Argentina produces about 18% of the total, followed by Chile with 11%.
The GDP statistics for the bottom 5 countries (Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guyana and Suriname) add up to 3% of South America's total GDP.
Richest South American Countries 2006: Fastest-Growing GDP
Argentina enjoyed the highest annual GDP gains in 2006, followed by oil-rich Venezuela and Peru. Percentage gains for these countries were well ahead of those for Guyana, Paraguay and Brazil.
While the above statistics present GDP by country, the following list takes into consideration each country’s population. These numbers are known as GDP per capita.
Richest South American Countries 2006: GDP Per Capita
- Argentina … $15,936.89 in international$ (up 10.1% from 2005)
- Chile … $12,982.88 (up 7%)
- Uruguay … $11,645.97 (up 7.6%)
- Brazil … $9,108.41 (up 5.2%)
- Colombia … $8,091.02 (up 6.2%)
- Venezuela ... $7,166.01 (up 8.5%)
- Peru … $6,714.54 (up 7.5%)
- Suriname … $6,275.59 (up 6.1%)
- Paraguay … $5,277.34 (up 4.5%)
- Guyana … $4,851.29 (up 6.2%)
- Ecuador … $4,776.32 (up 4.9%)
- Bolivia … $2,903.90 (up 4.9%).
Argentina’s leading GNP per capita is more than 5 times higher than Bolivia’s amount per person. Yet Argentina’s per capital statistic is little more than a third of the comparable statistic for the United States of America.
Richest South American Countries 2006: Fastest-Growing GDP Per Capita
Argentina had the fastest GDP growth per capita in 2006 from the prior year, followed by Venezuela and Uruguay.
Sources for this Article
This article presents independent calculations and insights based on data drawn from the International Monetary Fund (World Economic Outlook Database, April 2007).
