| Area Total | 756,102 sqkm |
| Climate | temperate; desert in north; Mediterranean in central region; cool and damp in south |
| Natural Resources | copper, timber, iron ore, nitrates, precious metals, molybdenum, hydropower |
| Imports | $61.31 billion (2017 est.)partners: China 23.9%, US 18.1%, Brazil 8.6%, Argentina 4.5%, Germany 4% (2017) |
| Exports | $69.23 billion (2017 est.)partners: China 27.5%, US 14.5%, Japan 9.3%, South Korea.6.2%, Brazil 5% (2017) |
| Government | presidential republic |
| Capital | Santiago |
| Population | 17.9 million (July 2018 est.) |
| Ethnicity | white and non-indigenous 88.9%, Mapuche9.1%, Aymara0.7%, other indigenous groups 1%, unspecified 0.3% (2012 est.) |
| Language | Spanish 99.5% (official), English 10.2%, indigenous 1%, other 2.3%, unspecified 0.2%1 (2012 est.) |
News about Chile
- This mammoth year of elections has shown how badly global politics is neglecting women | Michelle Bacheletby Michelle Bachelet on December 6, 2024
There’s a disconnect between citizens and leaders. Including everyone in politics is the best way to ensure a new era of equalityMichelle Bachelet is a former president of ChileThis has been a historic electoral year, with more than 1.6 billion citizens called to cast their votes in 2024. In more than 70 countries, people have decided the political path […]
- ‘A story written in blood’: hopes for justice fade for victims of Chile’s police brutalityby John Bartlett in Santiago on November 21, 2024
Five years after mass protest movement, thousands of victims are trapped between hopelessness and impunity On a recent afternoon in Santiago, several thousand people gathered to mark the fifth anniversary of the vast protest movement which rocked Chile in 2019.That same day last month, Sebastián Méndez, 38, who was blinded in his right eye by a projectile […]
- Tren de Aragua: are Trump’s claims about a violent street gang overblown?by Tiago Rogero South America correspondent on November 1, 2024
The crime group has terrorised parts of Latin America, and the ex-president’s exaggerations may just empower it moreÁngela Villón Bustamante awoke to a WhatsApp notification on her phone. Still drowsy, she was horrified by what she saw: a graphic video showing the murder of a trans woman she knew named Rubí Ferrer.The killer shot Ferrer 31 times, […]
- The week around the world in 20 picturesby Jim Powell on October 25, 2024
Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, a total blackout in Cuba, tributes to Liam Payne and the US election: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists Continue reading...
- Fungi could be given same status as flora and fauna under conservation planby Jonathan Watts on October 16, 2024
Exclusive: proposal to Cop16 could see ‘funga’ get global legal consideration distinct from flora and faunaA new era of mycelial conservation could begin this month when the UK and Chile propose that fungi should be placed alongside animals and plants as a separate realm for environmental protection.Mushrooms, mould, mildew, yeast and lichen would all […]
- Alleged Pinochet agent turned Bondi nanny Adriana Rivas launches last-ditch appeal to block extradition to Chileby Ben Doherty on October 14, 2024
Rivas, who is accused by Chile of being a torturer and kidnapper, launches challenge in the federal courtGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA former Bondi nanny and cleaner accused by Chile of being a torturer and kidnapper for Pinochet’s military dictatorship in the 1970s has launched a last-ditch legal appeal to avoid […]
- In Her Place review – true-crime drama of a court worker fascinated by author in the dockby Peter Bradshaw on October 7, 2024
Based on a real murder in Chile in the 1950s, Maite Alberdi’s fictional story of obsession has glamour and style, but no intensityChile’s Oscar entry this year is this quirky, unsatisfying oddity from director Maite Alberdi, co-produced by Pablo Larraín, and inspired by a stranger-than-fiction true-crime case from the 1950s. It is elegant and amusing […]
- Timelapse: 'ring of fire' forms during solar eclipse at Easter Island – videoon October 3, 2024
The moon blotted out most of the sun across the Pacific Ocean, giving just a few specks of land an impressive annular 'ring of fire' eclipse. Only Easter Island and a small area near the southern tip of Chile and Argentina witnessed the annular eclipse, lasting just a few minutes Continue reading...
- Alberto Fujimori obituaryby Nick Caistor on September 12, 2024
President of Peru who at first oversaw economic growth in the country, but was later jailed for human rights crimesFew people in Peru had heard of Alberto Fujimori, an agricultural engineer and university rector, when he stood for the presidency in 1989. In the runoff he faced the internationally renowned novelist turned politician Mario Vargas Llosa, who […]
- ‘Walls are where we communicate’: how murals paint Chile’s politicsby John Bartlett in Santiago on August 15, 2024
Alejandro ‘Mono’ González has used walls as his political voice for six decades in Chile, a ‘nation of muralists’In Chile, walls and public buildings are blank canvases to express dissent, frustration and hope.Bridges across dry riverbeds in the Atacama desert are daubed with slogans demanding the equitable distribution of Chile’s water, and […]
- ‘Instead of crisps, kids could eat snacks from the sea’: the forager chef looking to revolutionise Chile’s dietby Charis McGowan in Santiago, Chile on July 16, 2024
From ‘sea carrots’ to the rubbery luga, Rodolfo Guzmán is on a mission to transform seaweed’s unique salty flavours into irresistible bitesRodolfo Guzmán produces a carrot-shaped pod of algae from one of the packed shelves in his test kitchen in the Chilean capital, Santiago: “Put it on your tongue for five seconds,” he instructs. An explosion […]
- Chile’s stolen children: a new effort offers hope to Pinochet-era international adopteesby Charis McGowan in Giethoorn and Santiago on July 14, 2024
Thousands of children were adopted abroad during the Pinochet dictatorship – many in murky circumstances Mirjam Hunze grew up in the quiet Dutch town of Lunteren, but always felt too loud, too different, too curious in her strict Protestant household. She was 10 years old when she found out she had been adopted from Chile, sparking a lifelong quest to […]
- ‘I play with happiness’: the table tennis star making her Olympic debut at 58by Charis McGowan on July 10, 2024
Zhiying Zeng thought her Olympic dream was over after she quit China’s table tennis team in 1986. Now, 38 years later, she will compete at Paris 2024Zhiying Zeng isn’t fussed about travelling to Portugal’s world-class table tennis training facility, the Mirandela Center, to prepare for Paris alongside her Olympic cohorts. “I’d prefer to train […]
- ‘We’ve been together 33 years. I want sex once a week. He wishes it was three times a day’: This is how we do it in Chileby As told to Naomi Larsson Piñeda on July 3, 2024
After being together for so many years, how do Natalia and Juan Luís negotiate the big differences in their sex drives?He really tries to make me feel good and arouse meMaybe I tire her out, because I try it on every day Continue reading...
- Adoptee stolen at birth sues Chile over thousands of dictatorship-era theftsby Associated Press in Santiago on July 1, 2024
Jimmy Lippert Thyden González alleges country engaged in plan to steal babies from perceived enemies in 70s and 80sA Chilean-American man raised in the United States has filed a criminal complaint against the Chilean state, alleging that it engaged in a systematic plan to steal thousands of babies from perceived enemies of the state in the 1970s and […]
