Country · Americas
Paraguay
Republic of Paraguay
Paraguay is a country in South America. Its capital city is Asunción. About 7 million people live there, in an area of 406 752 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Eco reserva Mbatoví (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Lupa18 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Secretaria de Turismo de Yatytay (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Overkill53 (CC0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Paraguay?
Paraguay lies in South America, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 2 560 km from the equator.
Paraguay is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 3 countries: Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil.
How big is Paraguay?
Paraguay covers 406 752 square kilometres.
That is about 9.9 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 59th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 17.1 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Paraguay?
About 7 million people live in Paraguay.
That is the 105th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Guaraní and Spanish.
They pay with the Paraguayan guaraní (₲).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 74 years.
The land of Paraguay
The land in Paraguay sits on average 178 metres above sea level, which makes it one of the flatter countries on Earth.
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 3 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Paraguay different?
A dish the country is known for: Sopa paraguaya.
Websites from here often end in .py.
Paraguay and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 0.9 live in Paraguay.
It takes up about 0.3 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas it is the 11th largest of 35 countries, and the 17th most populated.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Paraguay and its neighbours
Brazil, its largest neighbour, is about 20.9 times bigger.
Brazil has more people: 209.5 million against 7 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 3 live wild in Paraguay: Jaguar, Nine-banded armadillo and Toco toucan. The longest river is the Paraná, running 4 880 km from source to mouth.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Paraguay?
The capital of Paraguay is Asunción. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Paraguay?
About 7 million people live in Paraguay, which makes it the 105th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Paraguay?
Paraguay borders Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil — 3 neighbours in total.
How big is Paraguay?
Paraguay covers 406 752 square kilometres, making it the 59th largest country in the world. That is about 9.9 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Paraguay in?
Paraguay is in Americas, in the part called South America.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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