With an estimated total population of 7.252 million inhabitants (50.4% men, 49.7% women) and 17.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (as of 2020), Paraguay is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. The population is still growing rapidly but at a declining rate (1.38% estimated annual growth rate as of 2020) and is projected to reach over 7.758 million inhabitants by 2025. Half of the population is 26.6 yr old or younger (as of 2020). The population includes mostly mestizo and some 113,254 indigenous people (as of 2012, date of the latest population census) [4].

The spatial distribution of the population is highly uneven. About 95% of the population resides in the Paraneña region at an average density of about 44 inhabitants/km²; population density in the Chaco region does not reach 1 person/km². The Central and Alto Paraná departments concentrate 41.8% of the country’s population (as of 2020).

Paraguay has been experiencing a rapid urbanisation process since the 1980s, as a result of rural-to-urban migration and population growth in urban zones. Some 62.5% of the population was estimated to live in urban zones in 2020, compared to 59.2% in 2012, and 54.6% in 2002 (dates of the latest population censuses). Some 521,559 people (7% of the country’s population) were estimated to live in Asunción city in 2020 [1], [4].

With a 2019 UNDP’s Human Development Index value of 0.728 and a Gross National Income per capita of $5,180 (as of 2020), Paraguay is regarded as a high human development, upper-middle income country. The country possesses vast natural resources, with a growing and productive agricultural and livestock sector; it is the sixth-largest soybean producer in the world, the second-largest producer of Stevia leaves, and the ninth-largest exporter of beef. Paraguay is also one of the world’s largest exporters of electric power.

After emerging from a prolonged period of economic and political instability, Paraguay has attained the largest economic growth in Latin America in the last 20 years. GDP grew at a 3.6% average annual growth rate over the 2001–2019 period, with eventual contractions caused by adverse impacts of droughts and disease on crop and cattle production, respectively. Industry (production of cement, iron ore, steel, and petroleum derivatives; maquila; and pharmaceutical production) and the agriculture and livestock raising sector make the bulk of Paraguay’s economic activity; these sectors accounted for 33.7% and 10% of the 2019 GDP, respectively.

Thanks to the vigorous growth of the overall economy, general poverty decreased from 45.1% to 23.5%, and extreme poverty from 11.5% to 4.0%, between 2001 and 2019 countrywide. However, social inequality remains; general poverty was still twice as large in rural (33.4%) than in urban (17.5%) zones, and extreme poverty four times larger in rural (7.8%) than in urban (1.8%) zones in 2019. Wealth is highly unequally distributed, with the richest 10% of the population holding 35.2% of the national income, against the 1.8% held by the poorest 10% (as of 2019). The Gini inequality coefficient was 45.7 in 2019, the 25th highest in the world.

Paraguay has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. GDP contracted by 0.57% and – despite the social support programmes implemented by the government – about 264,000 people are estimated to have fallen into poverty in 2020. Total poverty increased to about 26.9% in 2020 countrywide, but grew particularly in urban areas, from 17.5% in 2019 to 22.7% in 2020, while remaining highest in rural areas at 34% [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11].

Paraguay currently has an advanced telecommunication system and internet services. In 2005, 94.7% of the population had access to electricity (98.4% vs. 89.6% in urban vs. rural areas), fixed telephone services had a coverage of only 5.5 subscriptions per 100 people, the penetration of cellular phone services was 32.4 subscriptions per 100 people, and only 7.9% of the population were using the internet. Thanks to the vigorous economic growth of the last 15 years, access to electricity increased to 100%, the penetration of cellular phone services to 110.2 subscriptions per every 100 people, and 68.5% of the population were using the internet by 2019.

All of Paraguay's electricity is generated by three large hydroelectric plants, Central Acaray (owned by Paraguay), Yaciretá (shared with Argentina) and, above all, the Itaipu Dam (shared with Brazil), the world's second largest hydro power plant. Electricity generated meets all of Paraguay’s national demand for electricity and the abundant excess production is exported regionally to Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. However, with a limited distribution network, local-scale energy consumption is dominated by traditional biomass (charcoal or firewood, 50%), followed by hydrocarbons (36%), and electricity (14%). Paraguay’s National Development Plan (2014–2030) [12] aims to diversify the country’s energy resources and ensure a reliable energy supply by diversifying the energy mix to biomass, wind, and solar photovoltaic energy generation [6].

Paraguay is often affected by extreme weather events. The alluvial plains and hills of the Paraneña region, where most of the country’s population lives, are subject to landslides and floods triggered by heavy rains on degraded forest and riparian ecosystems. Droughts are common in the Chaco region, particularly during La Niña events and the December–February period. Abnormal climatic conditions associated with El Niño events produce high temperatures and heavy rains during November and December, often causing severe floods [3], [13].

The recent period of prosperity in Paraguay is a break from a long period of political and economic instability that, since the 1980s, had hindered the country’s progress.

Still suffering from the debt crisis of the 1980s (a period known as the “Latin American lost decade”) caused by the inability of many Latin American countries to service their foreign debt, the country entered into a period of political and economic instability. Political turmoil was first triggered by the 1989 coup d’etat that ended the 35-yr long, USA-supported, Alfredo Stroessner‘s dictatorship. The ensuing democratic transition led to the adoption of a new constitution (in 1992) that established a democratic system of government, and the fair, free election of Paraguay's first civilian president in almost 40 years (in 1993).

Renewed political turmoil soon followed, including a coup d’etat attempt in 1996, the assassination of the then Vice-President Luis Maria Argan and eventual resignation of President Cubas in March 1999 (the Paraguayan March), and a new coup d’etat attempt in May 2000.

After sixty years of one-party rule, the non-politician (but backed by the opposition party) Fernando Lugo was elected president in 2008 in an orderly and peaceful fashion. President Lugo was impeached in 2012.

Horacio Cartes was elected president in 2013 but his initiative to amend the constitution to allow for presidential re-election led to violent, widespread protests (the 2017 Paraguayan crisis). Finally, Mario Abdo Benítez won the 2018 presidential election. The COVID pandemic led to widespread protests against the Abdo administration, amid accusations of corruption [14], [15].