Countries in Americas

While most English-speaking countries (as well as China and India) teach that there are seven continents, other countries group North America and South America together as a single continent. This combined continent is typically known as the Americas, or simply America, and stretches 14,000 km (8,700 mi) from north to south, nearly touching both the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. The Americas have more than 1.014 billion inhabitants and boast an area of over 16.43 million square miles. The Americas comprise 35 countries, including some of the world’s largest countries, as well as several dependent territories.

The United States is the most populous country in the Americas, with over 345 million residents across its 50 states. This is followed by Brazil, with nearly 212 million, and Mexico, with its 130 million residents. These three countries comprise roughly two thirds of the Americas’ total population. They also contain five of the eight megacities—cities with 10 million or more residents—in the Americas: New York, Mexico City, São Paulo (Brazil), Los Angeles, and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The three remaining megacities are Buenos Aires (Argentina), Bogotá (Colombia), and Lima (Peru).

Although the United States is the largest country in the Americas by population—and, in fact, by land area—it is not the largest by total area, which also includes lakes and rivers. Canada is the largest single country by total area (and the second-largest in the world, after Russia). Despite its physical size, Canada has a much smaller population than the United States, with almost 40 million inhabitants—not many more than the South American country of Peru (34.2 million), home of the ruins of Machu Picchu. On the other end of the size spectrum is Saint Kitts and Nevis, the smallest independent nation in the Americas, home to just over 46,000 people.

Interestingly, many of the smallest territories in the Americas are geographically American, but politically European. These include the French-controlled archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (5,628 inhabitants) off the northwest coast of Canada, as well as two British territories: the Caribbean island of Montserrat (4,389 residents) and the Falkland Islands (population 3,470) near the coast of Argentina.