What if Latin America United Today?

Today, the widely-known Latin America is the collective name of a certain group of countries in the Americas, mostly South and Central America, that speak the languages of either Spanish, Portuguese or French. Plans for uniting these slightly similar countries are almost non-existent, mainly due to their conflicting views in things but the idea isn't that insane as it sounds.

What if Latin America did unite today?

So, to start, the first thing we would need to think about a united Latin America if it reunited today is its population, land and cities.

A total of 20 different countries would lose all or some of their territory to the new union: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Depending on who you ask, part of France (French Guiana) and the United States (Puerto Rico) would also be part of Latin America as both would speak one of the three languages and be located in the area.

As many large countries would be part of the country, Latin America would also have a huge land area, at around 20.111 Million Sq Km (7.765 Million Sq mi), covering more than half of the entire American continent. This would be enough to make it the union by far the largest country in the world, even dwarfing the mammoth Russia (17.098 Million Sq km), in comparison. In addition to this, the union would also be almost double the land area of Canada (9.984 Million Sq km) and more than twice the size of an entire continent, Australia (7.692 Million Sq km).

Unlike Canada, that has a massive land area but a tiny population, a united Latin America would also have a massive population at 610 Million. This would, too, place it very high, becoming the 3rd most populous country in the world, even well ahead of the United States (331 Million) and Indonesia (276 Million), but still quite obviously behind India (1.38 Billion) and China (1.44 Billion).

A united Latin America would also boast some very large cities with lots to show for. One of the most difficult things to predict for the new country would be its capital city, which would be very hard to choose as many different cities within its borders that a worthy. However, in my opinion, Mexico City would probably be the most likely capital as it is essentially the cultural capital of Spanish-speaking Latin America and also would be the largest city, with a big population of 23,000,000. Here would be the rest of the top 10 biggest urban areas in the union:

A united Latin America would also have a very large economy, one to rival many different powerful countries. Starting with Nominal GDP, the country would soar above almost every other, at a huge $4.852 Trillion. This would be enough to make it the 4th biggest economy in the world, well ahead of Germany ($4.557 Trillion), India ($3.25 Trillion) and the UK ($3.108 Trillion), but behind Japan ($5.383 Trillion) and China ($18.463 Trillion).

Similar to a few empires and unions I have covered so far, despite having a very large total Nominal GDP, the individual wealth of Latin America's citizens wouldn't be as high as expected, mainly due to having such a huge population. As a result of this, the Nominal GDP Per Capita of the union would stand at $7,954, which, when compared with the world, would be the 104th highest living standards in the world, ahead of Thailand ($7,809) and Dominica ($7,777) but behind the Dominican Republic ($8,942) and Gabon ($8,569).

As well as this, Latin America would also have the largest oil reserves anywhere in the world, located in Venezuela, accounting for about 18% of the whole world's known oil reserves.

The next thing we would need to think about a united Latin America is its Demographics, specifically the Religious and Ethnic groups in its borders.

Beginning with Religion, Christianity would obviously, and by far, be the most followed religion in the union, with about 89% of the population adhering to the faith, split between 71% Catholics and 18% Protestants. With this many Christians in the union, Latin America would also be the largest Christian country with over 540 million Christians. Indigenous Religions would make up a small 3% while Atheists and other irreligious people would make up the final 8% of the population.

Coming to its Ethnic Groups now, Mestizos - people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry - would account for the ethnicity of the majority of the population at roughly 64%. Amerindians would make up a further 20%. This would be followed by Asians at 5%, Black at 3%, and White at 2%. The final 6% of the population would be a mix of various other small Ethnic groups prevalent.

When coming to the new country's languages, Spanish would be the most spoken language out of the three main languages prevailing in it, at around 61%. Portuguese, with the majority of speakers in the Brazilian part of Latin America, would follow behind, at 30%, being the second most spoken language. French, despite being one of the main languages, would be at only 2.2%. Other tiny languages in the union, such as English and Dutch, would be represented at 1.2% and 0.8% respectively. The final 4.8% of the population would be a mix of various Indigenous languages.

The last thing we need to think about the union would be its military power, which would definitely be no disappointment at all.

First of all, the manpower of the juggernaut would include a huge 1,513,000 active-duty troops, which would be the 2nd biggest force in the world, dwarfing even the troops of India (1,455,550 troops) and the United States (1,388,100 troops), but still remaining behind China (2,185,000 troops). As well as this, its military would also possess an extra 2,340,000 Reserves troops, bringing its army to a total of 3,853,000 personnel.

The budget to fund this military would also be very large, standing at $34 Billion. This would be the 11th highest budget in the world, larger than Italy ($26.8 Billion) and Australia's ($25.9 Billion) budgets, but behind South Korea ($43.9 Billion) and Japan ($47.7 Billion).

In conclusion, after covering all of the main topics we would need to think about a united Latin America, here are the overall strengths and weaknesses that the new country would have in the real world.