Country · Americas
Chile
Republic of Chile
Chile is a country in South America. Its capital city is Santiago. About 18.7 million people live there, in an area of 756 102 square kilometres.
Santiago is Chile's capital, but parliament meets in the port city of Valparaíso.
Picture credit: Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Omnespsx (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Bernard Gagnon (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Chile?
Chile lies in South America, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 3 340 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 6 435 km long.
It shares a border with 3 countries: Argentina, Bolivia and Peru.
How big is Chile?
Chile covers 756 102 square kilometres.
That is about 7.3 times the size of Iceland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 37th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 24.8 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Chile?
About 18.7 million people live in Chile.
That is the 61st biggest population in the world.
People here speak Spanish.
They pay with the Chilean peso ($).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 76 years.
The land of Chile
The land in Chile sits on average 1 871 metres above sea level — high enough that much of it counts as mountain country.
Its coast runs for about 6 435 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 322 days.
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Chile different?
A dish the country is known for: Empanada.
Websites from here often end in .cl.
Chile and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 2 live in Chile.
It takes up about 0.57 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas it is the 10th largest of 35 countries, and the 9th most populated.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Chile and its neighbours
Argentina, its largest neighbour, is about 3.7 times bigger.
Argentina has more people: 44.5 million against 18.7 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 4 live wild in Chile: European rabbit, Llama, Alpaca and Blue whale.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Chile?
The capital of Chile is Santiago. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Chile?
About 18.7 million people live in Chile, which makes it the 61st most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Chile?
Chile borders Argentina, Bolivia and Peru — 3 neighbours in total.
How big is Chile?
Chile covers 756 102 square kilometres, making it the 37th largest country in the world. That is about 7.3 times the size of Iceland.
Which continent is Chile in?
Chile is in Americas, in the part called South America.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
Last checked: · How these pages are made