Here, let us take a look at the Geography of Paraguay. note 1: landlocked; lies between Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil; population concentrated in eastern and southern part of country
note 2: pineapples are probably indigenous to the southern Brazil-Paraguay region . Mother's mean age at first birth is 22.9 years (2008 est.) (Note: data represents median age at first birth among women 25-29), whereas, the Maternal mortality ratio is 71 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
Location | Central South America, northeast of Argentina, southwest of Brazil |
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Geographic coordinates | 23 00 S, 58 00 W |
Map references | South America |
Tarrain | grassy plains and wooded hills east of Rio Paraguay; Gran Chaco region west of Rio Paraguay mostly low, marshy plain near the river, and dry forest and thorny scrub elsewhere |
Natural Resources | hydropower, timber, iron ore, manganese, limestone |
Natural Hazards | local flooding in southeast (early September to June); poorly drained plains may become boggy (early October to June) |
Irrigated Land | 1,362 sq km (2012) |
Major rivers (by length in km) | Río de la Plata/Paraná (shared with Brazil [s], Argentina, and Uruguay [m]) - 4,880 km; Paraguay river mouth (shared with Brazil [s] and Argentina) - 2,549 km note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth |
Major aquifers | Guarani Aquifer System |
Land Boundaries | 4,655 km |
Border Countries | Argentina 2,531 km; Bolivia 753 km; Brazil 1,371 km |
Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) |
Climate | subtropical to temperate; substantial rainfall in the eastern portions, becoming semiarid in the far west |
Area | |
Total Area | |
Land Area | 397,302 sq km |
Water Area | 9,450 sq km |
comparative Area | about three times the size of New York State; slightly smaller than California |
Maritime Claims | |
Elevations | |
Highest point | Cerro Pero 842 m |
Lowest point | junction of Río Paraguay and Río Paraná 46 m |
Mean elevation | 178 m |
Land Use | |
Agricultural land | 42% (2022 est.) |
Agricultural land: arable land | arable land: 11.5% (2022 est.) |
Agricultural land: permanent crops | permanent crops: 0.2% (2022 est.) |
Agricultural land: permanent pasture | permanent pasture: 30.3% (2022 est.) |
Forest | 39.3% (2022 est.) |
Other | 18.8% (2022 est.) |
Most of the population resides in the eastern half of the country; to the west lies the Gran Chaco (a semi-arid lowland plain), which accounts for 60% of the land territory, but only 2% of the overall population
In Paraguay, the different Ethnic groups are such that we have: Mestizo (mixed Spanish and Indigenous ancestry) 95%, other 5%
Population | |
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Pop growth rate | 1.09% (2024 est.) |
Birth rate | 15.9 births/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
Death rate | 4.9 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
Health expenditure | 8% of GDP (2021) |
Physicians Density | |
Hospital bed Density | 0.8 beds/1,000 population (2016) |
Total fertility rate | 1.88 children born/woman (2024 est.) |
Gross reproduction rate | 0.92 (2024 est.) |
Contraceptive prevalence rate | 68.4% (2016) |
Est married women (ages 15-49) | 59.4% (2023 est.) |
Literacy | age 15 and over can read and write |
Education expenditures | 3.3% of GDP (2020 est.) |
Net Migration rate | -0.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
Nationality | Paraguayan | Paraguayan(s) |
Languages | |
Religions | Roman Catholic 80.4%, Protestant 7% (Evangelical (non-specific) 6.7%, Evangelical Pentecostal <0.1%, Adventist <0.1%, Protestant (non-specific) <0.1%), Believer (not belonging to the church) 5.7%, other 0.6%, agnostic <0.1%, none 0.2%, unspecified 6.2% (2023 est.) |
Age Structure | |
0-14 years | 22.2% (male 850,191/female 821,237) |
15-64 years | 68.4% (male 2,582,021/female 2,561,962) |
65 years and over | 9.4% (2024 est.) (male 337,164/female 369,974) |
Dependency Ratios | |
Total dependency ratio | 54.4 |
Youth dependency ratio | 44.8 |
Elderly dependency ratio | 9.6 |
Potential support ratio | 10.4 (2021 est.) |
Median Age | |
Total | 31.8 years (2024 est.) |
Male | 31.6 years |
Female | 32 years |
Urbanization | |
Urban population | 63.1% of total population (2023) |
Rate of urbanization | 1.64% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) |
Major urban areas (Pop) | 3.511 million ASUNCION (capital) (2023). |
Sex Ratio | |
At birth | 1.05 male(s)/female |
0-14 years | 1.04 male(s)/female |
15-64 years | 1.01 male(s)/female |
65 years and over | 0.91 male(s)/female |
Total population | 1 male(s)/female (2024 est.) |
Infant Motality | |
Total | 22 deaths/1,000 live births (2024 est.) |
Male | 26.1 deaths/1,000 live births |
Female | 17.7 deaths/1,000 live births |
Life Expectancy at birth | |
Total population | 78.8 years (2024 est.) |
Male | 76.2 years |
Female | 81.6 years |
Drinking Water Sources | |
Improved: urban | urban: 100% of population |
Improved: rural | rural: 100% of population |
Improved: total | total: 100% of population |
Unimproved: urban | urban: 0% of population |
Unimproved: rural | rural: 0% of population |
Unimproved: total | total: 0% of population (2020 est.) |
Sanitation facility acess | |
Improved: urban | urban: 99.6% of population |
Improved: rural | rural: 90.6% of population |
Improved: total | total: 96.2% of population |
Unimproved: urban | urban: 0.4% of population |
Unimproved: rural | rural: 9.4% of population |
Unimproved: total | total: 3.8% of population (2020 est.) |
Alcohol consumption per capita | |
Total | 5.47 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Beer | 3.27 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Wine | 0.59 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Spirits | 1.59 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Other alcohols | 0.03 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
Tobacco use | |
Total | 11.5% (2020 est.) |
Male | 18.6% (2020 est.) |
Female | 4.4% (2020 est.) |
Child marriage | |
Women married by age 15 | 3.6% |
Women married by age 18 | 21.6% (2016 est.) |
Want to know more about Paraguay? Check all different factbooks for Paraguay below.