Paraguay

Paraguay is a country located in Central South America, northeast of Argentina and southwest of Brazil, covering an area of approximately 406,752 square kilometers. As of 2025, Paraguay has a population of about 7.6 million, with Spanish and Guarani as official languages. The country features grassy plains and wooded hills east of the Rio Paraguay, while the Gran Chaco region west of the river is mostly low, marshy plain with dry forest and thorny scrub, with a subtropical to temperate climate. Asuncion serves as the capital, and the government operates as a presidential republic.

Paraguay has an upper-middle-income economy with a GDP of $44.46 billion and a GDP per capita of $16,300, driven by sugar processing, cement, textiles, beverages, wood products, steel, base metals, and electric power. Key agricultural products include soybeans, sugarcane, maize, cassava, wheat, rice, milk, beef, oranges, and bananas, while natural resources include hydropower, timber, iron ore, manganese, and limestone. The unemployment rate is 4.8% as of 2025, with a life expectancy of 74 years and a literacy rate of 94.9%. Paraguay is a global hydroelectricity leader and has a highly agrarian economy, though it faces challenges of significant income inequality and has been a major location for corruption and money laundering.