Marine protected areas in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)
Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income): Marine protected areas was 19.3% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Marine protected areas in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income), 2013–2025
Source: Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM), UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring. Measured in % of territorial waters.
Analysis
Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) recorded 19.3% for marine protected areas in 2025. That is the highest value across all 13 years on record.
The figure is up 529.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, marine protected areas in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) peaked at 19.3% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 3.1%, in 2013.
That places Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) 8th out of 47 groups with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 13 years of available data.
Marine protected areas in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income), year by year
| Year | % of territorial waters | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 3.1% | — |
| 2014 | 3.5% | +14.6% |
| 2015 | 3.1% | -12.3% |
| 2016 | 8.1% | +165.0% |
| 2017 | 8.6% | +5.7% |
| 2018 | 16.1% | +87.2% |
| 2019 | 16.8% | +4.5% |
| 2020 | 16.9% | +0.3% |
| 2021 | 16.9% | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 17.8% | +5.6% |
| 2023 | 17.8% | -0.0% |
| 2024 | 19.3% | +8.6% |
| 2025 | 19.3% | +0.0% |
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Marine protected areas in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | +165.0% | 3.1% | 8.1% |
| 2018 | +87.2% | 8.6% | 16.1% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 8.5% | 3.1% | 16.8% | 7 |
| 2020s | 18.0% | 16.9% | 19.3% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)
- 5 French Polynesia 87.4% compare
- 6 Kazakhstan 52.5% compare
- 7 France 49.2% compare
- 8 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 46.8% compare
- 9 Australia 45.4% compare
- 10 Germany 45.3% compare
- 11 Chile 41.2% compare
More climate change data for Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)
- Urban population 510.21 million (2025)
- Population, total, annual growth rate 0.6817 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population, total, per unit of GDP 0.0001 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Urban population, annual growth rate 0.9795 % change on previous year (2025)
- Urban population, per unit of GDP 0.0001 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Urban population, per capita 0.814 units per person (2025)
- Urban population 81.4% (2025)
- Urban population growth 1.0% (2025)
- Population, total 626.81 million (2025)
- Population growth 0.7% (2025)
All data for Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) →
Frequently asked questions
- What is marine protected areas in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)?
- Marine protected areas in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) was 19.3% in 2025, according to Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM), UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring.
- What is the highest marine protected areas recorded in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)?
- The highest recorded value was 19.3% in 2024.
- What is the lowest marine protected areas recorded in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)?
- The lowest recorded value was 3.1% in 2013.
- How does Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) rank for marine protected areas?
- Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) ranks 8th out of 47 groups with data for 2025.
- Is marine protected areas rising or falling in Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)?
- Over the last ten years it is up 529.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) data come from?
- The figures come from Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM), UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring, published as part of Marine protected areas (% of territorial waters). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 13 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Marine protected areas are areas of intertidal or subtidal terrain--and overlying water and associated flora and fauna and historical and cultural features--that have been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment.