Chile

Republic of Chile

Latin America

Geography

Area: 756,626 sq km

A 4,200-km-long country wedged between the mountains of the Andes and the Pacific Ocean and averaging only 150 km in width. Also Easter Island/Rapa Nui in the Central Pacific. Great extremes from the hot, northern Atacama Desert to the Antarctic tundra in the south.

Population: 17,134,708    Annual Growth: 1.01%

Capital: Santiago

Urbanites: 89%

HDI Rank: 44 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Official language: Spanish (but Mapudungun increasingly recognized)    Languages: 16 All languages