Chile: Economy, Culture and Tourism

Economy

Chile is ranked as a high-income economy by the World Bank, and is considered as one of South America's most stable and prosperous nations in competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, economic freedom, and low perception of corruption. Although Chile has high economic inequality, as measured by the Gini index, it is close to the regional mean. In 2006, Chile became the country with the highest nominal GDP per capita in Latin America.

In May 2010 Chile became the first South American country to join the OECD. Tax revenues, all together 20.2% of GDP in 2013, were the second lowest among the 34 OECD countries, and the lowest in 2010. Chile has an inequality-adjusted human development index of 0.661, compared to 0.662, 0.680 and 0.542 for neighboring Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, respectively. In 2008, only 2.7% of the population lived on less than US $2 a day.

The Global Competitiveness Report for 2009–2010 ranked Chile as being the 30th most competitive country in the world and the first in Latin America. The ease of doing business index, created by the World Bank, listed Chile as 34th in the world as of 2014, 41st in 2015, and 48th in 2016. The privatized national pension system has an estimated total domestic savings rate of approximately 21% of GDP.

Culture

The Culture of Chile reflects the relatively homogeneous population as well as the geographic isolation of the country in relation to the rest of South America. Since colonial times, the Chilean culture has been a mix of Spanish colonial elements with indigenous (mostly Mapuche) culture. The Huasos of Central Chile and their folk music and dance are central to Chilean folk culture.

Even though the folk traditions the Central Chile are central to Chilean cultural and national identity, Chile is both geographically and culturally diverse with both the North and the South having their own folk music and dance due to different indigenous peoples and immigrant groups settling there. Additionally, while some regions of Chile have very strong indigenous heritage, such as Araucanía Region, Easter Island, and Arica y Parinacota Region, some regions lacks considerable indigenous communities and a few other regions have noteworthy non-Spanish European immigrant heritage.

In the period starting from 1930 to 1970 appears a rebirth in the interest and popularity in folk music in Chile carried out initially by groups such as Los Cuatro Huasos, who took folk songs from the Chilean country and arranged them vocally and with musical instruments. They gave several recitals in Chile, and in Latin America that contributed with its diffusion. Later appeared other groups such as Los de Ramon, Los Huasos Quincheros, Los Cuatro Cuartos, and others who continued with this diffusion. Also appeared several Chilean folk composers such as Raul de Ramon, Margot Loyola, Luis Aguirre Pinto, Violeta Parra, Víctor Jara, and others that carried out folk investigation and composed folk music that is still sung up to this day.

Tourism

Since the mid-1990s, tourism in Chile has become one of the main sources of income for the country, especially in its most extreme areas. In 2005 this sector grew by 13.6%, generating more than US$500 million, equivalent to 1.33% of national GDP. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), Chile was the eighth most popular destination for foreign tourists within the Americas in 2010, after the USA, Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. That year 2,766,000 tourists entered the country, generating a revenue of US$1,636 million. The majority of these visitors came from American countries, mainly Argentina; however, the biggest growth in recent years has been in visitors from Europe, especially Germany.

Occupying the southwest part of South America, Chile is normally divided into three geographic areas:

1. Continental Chile comprises a long and narrow strip of land on the west coast of the Southern Cone that extends between the parallels 17°29'57"S and Diego Ramírez Islands at 56°32'12"S, mostly from the southeastern shore of the Pacific Ocean to the Andes, across 4270kmInsular Chile corresponds to a set of islands volcanic origin in the South Pacific Ocean: the Juan Fernández archipelago and Desventuradas Islands, belonging to South America, the Salas y Gómez Island and Easter Island, geographically located in the Polynesia.
2. The Chilean Antarctic Territory, is an area of Antarctica of 1,250,257.6km² between meridians 53°W and 90°W on which Chile claims sovereignty, extending its southern boundary to the South Pole. Because of its presence in the Americas, Oceania and Antarctica, Chile describes itself as a tricontinental country. The latitudinal width of the country, which spans over 39°, (over 72° if the Chilean Antarctic Territory is included), its elevation and influence of the Pacific Ocean are the main factors behind the climatic variety and landscape of Chile, which determines the development of the formation of different ecosystems in the country.
3. The main Chilean attractions are the 6,435km long coast, the Andean ski resorts, the mountains and volcanoes, and the islands and archipelagos, including Easter Island. The country has 14 natural monuments, 36 National Parks, 10 biosphere reserves, 52 natural reserves, 39 sanctuaries of Nature and 12 Ramsar wetlands, mainly in the extreme parts of the country.