Chile

By Prof. Raju Vatsavayi

Name

Official name	Republic of Chile — República de Chile
Demonym	Chilean; chileno, chilena
Meaning of the name	Disputed — from the Quechua chiri, "cold"; the Aymara chilli, "where the land ends"; or a valley the Incas called Chili; recorded by the Spanish from 1535
Motto	"Por la razón o la fuerza" — by reason or by force; on the coat of arms since 1834
Nickname	The country of poets — for Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda, its two Nobel laureates

Quick facts

Capital	Santiago — founded 12 February 1541; the metropolitan region about 7 million; Congress sits in Valparaíso
Largest cities	Santiago; Valparaíso–Viña del Mar; Concepción; Antofagasta; Temuco; La Serena–Coquimbo; Puerto Montt
Official language	Spanish — by usage; no language is declared official in the Constitution; Mapudungun, Quechua, Aymara and Rapa Nui recognized
Currency	Chilean peso — ISO code CLP, $; about 950 to the U.S. dollar
Time zones	UTC−4, with summer time UTC−3; Magallanes UTC−3 all year; Easter Island UTC−6 and −5
Calling code	+56
Internet domain	.cl
ISO 3166 codes	CL · CHL · 152
Vehicle registration code	RCH
Driving side	Right
Electricity	220 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and L
Independence	Declared 12 February 1818, from Spain; the first junta of 18 September 1810 the national day
National days	18 September, the Fiestas Patrias — the first junta of 1810; 19 September, the Day of the Glories of the Army; 21 May, the Day of Naval Glories, for Iquique 1879
Constitution	11 March 1981 — the Constitution of 1980, approved under the dictatorship, amended in 1989 and 2005; the new constitutions proposed in 2022 and 2023 were both rejected by referendum
Population	18,480,432 at the census of 2024; 17,574,003 at the census of 2017; about 19.8 million (UN, 2025 est.)
Area	756,102 km² (291,933 sq mi) — land 743,812 km², water 12,290 km²; plus an Antarctic claim of 1,250,000 km² not recognized under the Antarctic Treaty

Flag & national symbols

National flag	The Lone Star — a white band over a red band, with a blue canton at the hoist bearing a single white five-pointed star: the snow of the Andes, the blood of the heroes, the sky, and the star of a unitary state; adopted 18 October 1817 and unchanged since.Flag of Chile
Coat of arms	A shield of blue over red with the white star, supported by a huemul and an Andean condor, crowned by a plume of blue, white and red, over the motto — adopted 26 June 1834
National anthem	"Himno Nacional de Chile" — words by Eusebio Lillo (1847), music by Ramón Carnicer (1828); the chorus of Bernardo de Vera y Pintado (1819)
National motto	"Por la razón o la fuerza"
National colors	Blue, white and red
National bird	The Andean condor — on the arms; the largest flying bird by wingspan
National animal	The huemul — the South Andean deer, on the arms; endangered
National flower	The copihue, Lapageria rosea — the Chilean bellflower; declared 24 February 1977
National tree	The araucaria — the monkey puzzle, a natural monument since 1990; widely cited
National dance	The cueca — declared 18 September 1979
National dish	Pastel de choclo; the empanada de pino; the completo; widely cited
Symbol status	The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by law and decree; the flower and dance by decree; the tree and dishes widely cited

Geography

Location	The southwestern coast of South America — a strip between the Andes and the Pacific from Peru to Cape Horn, with Easter Island 3,700 km out in the ocean and the Juan Fernández islands
Land borders	7,801 km (4,847 mi) with three countries
Border with Argentina	6,691 km (4,158 mi) — the third-longest border in the world, along the Andes
Border with Bolivia	942 km (585 mi) — Bolivia's claim to a corridor to the sea rejected by the International Court of Justice in 2018
Border with Peru	168 km (104 mi)
Coastline	6,435 km (3,999 mi) on the Pacific
Length and width	About 4,300 km (2,670 mi) from north to south; on average 177 km (110 mi) wide, never more than 350 km — the longest north–south country in the world
Highest point	Ojos del Salado, 6,893 m (22,615 ft) — the highest volcano in the world and the second-highest peak in the Americas
Lowest point	The Pacific Ocean, 0 m
Mean elevation	1,871 m (6,138 ft)
Major rivers	The Loa, the longest, 440 km, through the Atacama; the Biobío; the Maule; the Maipo at Santiago; the Baker in Patagonia, the largest by flow
Lakes and ice	Lake General Carrera, shared, the largest; Llanquihue; the Northern and Southern Patagonian Ice Fields — the largest outside the polar regions
Terrain	The Atacama in the north, the driest non-polar desert on earth; the central valley; the lakes and volcanoes of the south; the fjords, channels and glaciers of Patagonia; Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn
Climate	Desert in the north, Mediterranean in the center, temperate rainforest in the south, subpolar at the tip — some places in the Atacama with no recorded rain
Natural hazards	Earthquakes — the Valdivia earthquake of 22 May 1960, magnitude 9.5, the strongest ever recorded, and the Maule earthquake of 27 February 2010, magnitude 8.8; tsunamis; some 90 active volcanoes; wildfires
Natural resources	Copper — the largest reserves in the world; lithium in the Atacama salt flats; molybdenum, gold, silver, iron, nitrates, timber, hydropower, fish
Land use	Agricultural land about 21%; forest about 24%
National parks	46 — Torres del Paine, Lauca, Conguillío, Vicente Pérez Rosales the oldest (1926), Rapa Nui, Bernardo O'Higgins the largest; the Route of Parks of Patagonia
UNESCO World Heritage	7 — Rapa Nui National Park (1995); the Churches of Chiloé (2000); the historic quarter of Valparaíso (2003); the Humberstone and Santa Laura saltpeter works (2005); the Sewell mining town (2006); the Qhapaq Ñan Inca road (2014, shared); the Chinchorro settlement and mummies of Arica (2021)
Administrative divisions	16 regions, from Arica and Parinacota to Magallanes — Ñuble the youngest, 2018 — divided into 56 provinces and 346 communes

People

Population	18,480,432 (census of 2024); about 19.8 million (2025 est.)
Population density	About 25 per km² (65 per sq mi) — the Atacama and Patagonia almost empty, the center dense
Population growth	Under 1% a year
Median age	About 37 years
Life expectancy	About 81 years — the highest in Latin America
Fertility rate	About 1.2 births per woman — among the lowest in the Americas
Urban population	About 88%
Adult literacy	About 97%
Ethnic groups	White and mestizo about 87%; Indigenous about 13% — the Mapuche the largest, about 1.7 million, with the Aymara, Diaguita, Atacameño and Rapa Nui
Immigrants	About 1.9 million foreign-born, about 9% — from Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Haiti and Bolivia; a doubling since 2017
Languages	Spanish by nearly all — Chilean Spanish; Mapudungun, Aymara, Quechua, Rapa Nui; English and German in places
Religion	Roman Catholic about 42%, Protestant about 14%, no religion about 37%, others (census of 2024)
Human Development Index	0.878 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; 45th of 193, the highest in Latin America
Sport	Football — La Roja, Copa América champions 2015 and 2016; tennis — Fernando González and Nicolás Massú's Olympic gold of 2004; rodeo the national sport by decree of 1962; skiing and surfing
Diaspora	About 1 million abroad — in Argentina, the United States, Spain, Sweden and Australia, many since the exile of 1973

Government

Form of government	Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 1980 as amended — the president head of state and government, elected for four years, not consecutively
President	José Antonio Kast (Republican Party, serving as an independent), since 11 March 2026 — the 38th; a lawyer, deputy 2002–2018, founder of the Republican Party in 2019, the runner-up of 2021; born 18 January 1966
The 2025 election	The first round of 16 November 2025: Jeannette Jara (Communist Party) 26.8%, Kast 23.9%, Franco Parisi 19.7%, Johannes Kaiser 13.9%, Evelyn Matthei 12.5%; the runoff of 14 December 2025: Kast 58.2%, Jara 41.8% — all sixteen regions; proclaimed by the Electoral Court 5 January 2026
Predecessor	Gabriel Boric (Social Convergence), 2022–2026 — elected at 35, the youngest president
Congress	The Chamber of Deputies — 155 members elected for four years; the Senate — 50 members elected for eight years; both sit in Valparaíso
The next election	Due in November 2029
The constitutional question	The Constitution of 1980 kept after two rejections: the convention's draft of 2022, rejected 62% to 38% on 4 September 2022, and the council's draft of 2023, rejected 56% to 44% on 17 December 2023
Legal system	Civil law; the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court; voting compulsory since 2022
Regions	16, each with an elected governor since 2021 and a presidential delegate
United Nations	A founding member, 24 October 1945
Memberships	The OECD (2010), the Pacific Alliance, APEC, Mercosur as an associate, the Prosur, the OAS, the WTO; a claimant under the Antarctic Treaty

Economy

GDP (nominal)	About US$350 billion (2025, IMF)
GDP per capita	About US$17,500 (2025) — among the highest in Latin America
GDP per capita (PPP)	About US$33,000 (2025)
GDP growth	About 2–2.5% a year (2024–25); inflation back near 3% after the peak of 2022
Economy by sector	Services about 60%, industry about 32% — mining about 12% of GDP — agriculture about 4%
Currency	Chilean peso (CLP)
Copper	The largest producer in the world — about a quarter of the world's supply, some 5.3 million metric tons a year; Codelco, the state company, the largest producer; Escondida the largest mine; about half of exports
Lithium	The second-largest producer, from the brines of the Salar de Atacama — SQM and Albemarle; the National Lithium Strategy of 2023 with a state stake
Other exports	Salmon — the second producer after Norway; wine — among the five largest exporters; fruit — grapes, cherries, apples, avocados; cellulose; molybdenum
Trade partners	China the largest — about 40% of exports — then the United States, Japan, South Korea and Brazil; free-trade agreements with more than 60 countries
Energy	Solar power in the Atacama — among the best sites on earth; renewables above 60% of electricity
Income classification	High income (World Bank); an OECD member since 2010

Transport & infrastructure

Main airport	Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, Santiago; Antofagasta, Concepción, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, Mataveri on Easter Island
Airline	LATAM Airlines, the flag carrier, based in Santiago — the largest airline group in Latin America; Sky Airline; JetSmart
Main ports	San Antonio, the largest; Valparaíso; Antofagasta; Iquique; Punta Arenas
Railways	About 7,000 km (4,300 mi) — EFE, the state railways; the Santiago Metro, seven lines, the largest in South America by length; the Valparaíso Metro
Roads	About 85,000 km (53,000 mi); Route 5, the Pan-American Highway, from Arica to Puerto Montt; the Carretera Austral through Patagonia
Ferries	The Navimag through the fjords; the crossing of the Strait of Magellan

History in dates

c. 12,500 BC	Monte Verde — among the oldest human settlements in the Americas
c. 5000 BC	The Chinchorro mummies of Arica — the oldest artificial mummies in the world
1470s	The Incas conquer the north as far as the Maule
1541	Santiago founded by Pedro de Valdivia, 12 February
1553	Valdivia killed by the Mapuche under Lautaro — the Arauco War, three centuries long
1810	The first junta, 18 September
1818	Independence declared, 12 February; the Battle of Maipú, 5 April
1879–1884	The War of the Pacific — Chile takes the nitrate provinces from Peru and Bolivia
1888	Easter Island annexed, 9 September
1960	The Valdivia earthquake, 22 May — magnitude 9.5
1970	Salvador Allende elected, 4 September
1973	The coup of 11 September; Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship to 1990
1988	The plebiscite of 5 October — No wins
1990	Patricio Aylwin inaugurated, 11 March — democracy restored
2006	Michelle Bachelet, the first woman president, 11 March
2010	The Maule earthquake, 27 February; the 33 miners rescued at Copiapó, 13 October
2019	The estallido social — protests from 18 October
2022–2023	Two new constitutions rejected, 4 September 2022 and 17 December 2023
2026	José Antonio Kast inaugurated, 11 March

Records & firsts

The longest country	About 4,300 km from north to south
The driest desert	The Atacama — some stations with no rain on record
The strongest earthquake ever recorded	Valdivia, 22 May 1960, magnitude 9.5
The largest copper producer	About a quarter of the world's supply
The highest volcano	Ojos del Salado, 6,893 m
The southernmost city	Puerto Williams, on the Beagle Channel
The oldest mummies	The Chinchorro of Arica, about 7,000 years
Two Nobel poets	Gabriela Mistral, 1945, and Pablo Neruda, 1971
The clearest skies	The Atacama observatories — Paranal, ALMA and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which saw first light in 2025
The moai	Nearly 900 statues on Easter Island
The 33 miners	Rescued from 700 m underground after 69 days, 2010

Frequently asked questions

What is the official name of Chile?

The Republic of Chile — República de Chile — since the declaration of independence of 12 February 1818. The origin of the name is disputed: from the Quechua chiri, "cold," or from the Aymara chilli, "where the land ends," or from the name of a valley the Incas called Chili; the Spanish took it from the peoples they met in 1535.

What is the capital of Chile?

Santiago, in the central valley at the foot of the Andes — founded by Pedro de Valdivia on 12 February 1541 and the capital ever since, with about 7 million people in its metropolitan region, 40 percent of the country. Congress sits in Valparaíso, the port 120 km to the west, where it was moved in 1990. Concepción, Antofagasta, Viña del Mar and Temuco are the next cities.

How big is Chile, and how many people live there?

About 756,102 km² (291,933 sq mi) without its Antarctic claim — a little larger than Turkey — stretched 4,300 km from the tropics to Cape Horn and nowhere more than 350 km wide: the longest north–south country in the world. The census of 2024 counted 18,480,432 people; the UN estimates about 19.8 million with the migrants of recent years. The Antarctic claim, 1,250,000 km², is not recognized under the Antarctic Treaty.

What are the highest and lowest points of Chile?

Ojos del Salado, 6,893 m (22,615 ft), on the Argentine border in the Atacama — the highest volcano in the world and the second-highest peak of the Americas — and the Pacific Ocean. Between them lie the Atacama, the driest non-polar desert on earth, the central valley, the lakes and volcanoes of the south, and the fjords and ice fields of Patagonia.

What currency does Chile use?

The Chilean peso (ISO code CLP, $), issued by the Central Bank of Chile, at about 950 to the U.S. dollar. Most of the country keeps UTC−4 in winter and UTC−3 in summer; Magallanes in the far south stays on UTC−3 all year, and Easter Island keeps UTC−6 and −5.

Who governs Chile?

President José Antonio Kast, in office since 11 March 2026 for a four-year term — head of state and of government under the Constitution of 1980. A lawyer and former deputy of the Republican Party he founded, he won the runoff of 14 December 2025 with 58.2 percent against Jeannette Jara of the Communist Party, carrying all sixteen regions, after a campaign on crime and migration; he succeeded Gabriel Boric, president from 2022 to 2026. Presidents may not serve consecutive terms; the next election is due in 2029.

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