Not long ago, we exposed as a myth the idea of Latin America being technologically backward and recently covered some of the disruptive effects of technology on the region. But after our initial research, we ended up uncovering even more data that suggests that Latin Americans are even more avid tech consumers than we expected. Here’s a breakdown of some of what we found.

#3

Latin America is the third-largest Internet market in the world in terms of users, behind Europe and Asia but ahead of North America. There are 385 million Internet users in Latin America and 10.3% of the world’s total of Internet users live in Latin America.

Source: Internet World Stats

46%

This is the increase in venture capital transactions in Latin America in 2016. 

Source: LAVCA

$27 billion

The projected value for Latin America’s 3D/4D technology market in 2021—its CAGR is at 19.21%. 

Source: Orbis Research

2 of 10

Of the top 10 markets for Facebook throughout the world, 2 of them are in Latin America: Brazil is #3 and Mexico is #5. 

Source: Statista

245 million

People in Latin America will be smartphone users by 2019, a gain of 63 million compared to 2016. 

Source: eMarketer

35%

The growth of mobile money accounts in Latin America in 2016: there are currently 32 live services in 17 markets in the region. 

Source: GSMA

$100 billion

LatAm currently invests this amount in smart city infrastructure in areas like transportation, security, telecommunications and more, with annual growth of 19.4% for the smart city market in Latin America. 

Source: BNAmericas

5.3%

This is the CAGR of IT revenues in Latin America between 2015 and 2020. Latin America has the highest growth rate in the world when it comes to IT revenues in this period and is significantly above the global average of 3.3%. 

Source: IDC

3 of 10

Of the top 10 countries in the world in terms of time spent on the Internet, 3 are in Latin America: Brazil (#2 in the world in time spent online), Mexico (#6) and Argentina (#7). 

Source: We Are Social, 2017 Global Overview 

$4.37 billion

Projected 2021 revenues for the Latin American data services market, a 52% increase compared to the region’s $2.87 billion in revenues in 2015. 

Source: Frost&Sullivan

40%

The annual growth rate of the wearable sensors market in Latin America between now and 2020. These sensors are used in smart devices like fitness trackers and exercise clothing. 

Source: Mordor Intelligence

147 million

The amount of tablet users in Latin America by 2020. This is a 36% increase from the 108 million tablet users in Latin America in 2016. 

Source: eMarketer

121%

The growth in 4G connections in Latin America during 2016—51 million at the beginning of the year mushroomed into 113 million by the end of the year. It’s forecasted that by the end of this decade, Latin America will have more than 300 million 4G connections. 

Source: GSMA

3

Of the top 10 countries in time spent on social media are in Latin America: these are Brazil (#2), Argentina (#3) and Mexico (#4). 

Source: We are Social

197

The amount of venture capital deals occurred in LatAm in 2016, a new record. Mexico had the largest amount of venture capital transactions in Latin America with 73. 

Source: LACVA

10%

This is the projected annual growth of the cloud computing market in Latin America between now and 2020. 

Source: Research and Markets

9 of 10

The amount of people in Latin America connected to the Internet who also have a smartphone. 

Sources: comScore and IMS

$282 million

Projected sales in 2021 of wearables in Latin America, meaning sales of fitness wristwear, activity trackers and smart clothes but not smart watches. Annual growth is projected at 17.6% between now and 2021. 

Source: Statista

25%

This is the projected growth for the Latin American telehealth market. Telehealth allows healthcare professionals to see patients remotely in their homes or workplaces. 

Source: Zion Market Research

2 in 15

Of the top 15 e-commerce markets in the world, two are in Latin America: Brazil and Mexico. 

Source: Gfluence, using data from eMarketer

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