The Viewpoint of Research Analysis for Japanese-Affiliated Enterprises in Latin America

Abstract

It is difficult to evaluate, as a whole, the economy of the Latin American countries, which range geographically from 32 degrees north to 55 degrees south. Latin America is generally said to be one of the most economically developed regions in the developing world, and its major countries obtained their political independence during the first half of the 19th century. Even though their economies were severely damaged by the world depression that began in 1929, they quickly bounced back from the mid-1930s onwards, achieving annual growth of 3.5 percent by 1950, far better than the 1.9 percent growth in the industrialized countries. The industrial architecture of Latin America underwent a significant change between 1950 and 1998. Agriculture, which accounted for 20 percent of GDP in 1950, had dropped to 10 percent by 1980, and this percentage remained unchanged thereafter. Manufacturing industry, on the other hand, rose from 30 percent of GDP in 1950 to 37 percent in 1980, and it was strongly influenced by the economic crisis that followed.