| Location | Southern South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Argentina and Peru |
| Geographic coordinates | 30 00 S, 71 00 W |
| Map references | South America |
| Area | total: 756,102 sq km land: 743,812 sq km water: 12,290 sq km note: includes Easter Island (Isla de Pascua) and Isla Sala y Gomez |
| Area - comparative | slightly smaller than twice the size of Montana |
| Land boundaries | total: 7,801 km border countries (3): Argentina 6691 km, Bolivia 942 km, Peru 168 km |
| Coastline | 6,435 km |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200/350 nm |
| Climate | temperate; desert in north; Mediterranean in central region; cool and damp in south |
| Terrain | low coastal mountains, fertile central valley, rugged Andes in east |
| Elevation extremes | highest point: Nevado Ojos del Salado 6,893 m (highest volcano in the world) lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m mean elevation: 1,871 m |
| Natural resources | copper, timber, iron ore, nitrates, precious metals, molybdenum, hydropower |
| Land use | agricultural land: 21.1% (2018 est.) arable land: 1.7% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 0.6% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 18.8% (2018 est.) forest: 21.9% (2018 est.) other: 57% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 11,100 sq km (2012) |
| Total renewable water resources | 923.06 billion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Natural hazards | severe earthquakes; active volcanism; tsunamis volcanism: significant volcanic activity due to more than three-dozen active volcanoes along the Andes Mountains; Lascar (5,592 m), which last erupted in 2007, is the most active volcano in the northern Chilean Andes; Llaima (3,125 m) in central Chile, which last erupted in 2009, is another of the country's most active; Chaiten's 2008 eruption forced major evacuations; other notable historically active volcanoes include Cerro Hudson, Calbuco, Copahue, Guallatiri, Llullaillaco, Nevados de Chillan, Puyehue, San Pedro, and Villarrica; see note 2 under "Geography - note" |
| Geography - note | note 1: the longest north-south trending country in the world, extending across 39 degrees of latitude; strategic location relative to sea lanes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage) note 2: Chile is one of the countries along the Ring of Fire, a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering the Pacific Ocean; up to 90% of the world's earthquakes and some 75% of the world's volcanoes occur within the Ring of Fire note 3: the Atacama Desert - the driest desert in the world - spreads across the northern part of the country; Ojos del Salado (6,893 m) in the Atacama Desert is the highest active volcano in the world, Chile's tallest mountain, and the second highest in the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere - its small crater lake (at 6,390 m) is the world's highest lake |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
