Population: 16,284,741 (July 2007 est.)
Regime History: Chile was, until 1973, one of the most stable democracies in the region. Salvador Allende won the elections for president in 1970, but his socialist leaning ideology and many of the policies implemented by his government generated opposition inside Chile. Furthermore, in the Cold War context, the US saw Allende's socialist tendencies as a dangerous path towards an alignment with the Soviet world. On September 11, 1973, Augusto Pinochet led a violent coup, in which Allende was killed and his government deposed. What followed was one of the most extended dictatorships in South American history. The military regime implemented neoliberal economic policies, while being illiberal in the social and political spheres. State repression and terror were used to control society and stifle discontent.
Pinochet held power until 1990 when he lost a plebiscite and Patricio Aylwin was rightfully elected, leading a coalition of 17 center and leftist parties. The military retained a high level of power and the illegal actions of the military government were not investigated or punished, at least initially. Democracy has been stable ever since, although the division between Pinochet supporters and opponents defines the political sphere even today. Ricardo Lagos has been president since 2000. He is the first socialist president since Allende. The military violence of the Pinochet era remains an incompletely resolved issue in Chilean society. Investigations into human rights violations have proceeded to a greater extent under Lagos than under his two civilian predecessors, although not with the vigor demanded by some leftists and rights advocates.
In January 2006 Chileans elected their first woman president, Michelle Bachelet Jeria, of the Socialist Party. She was sworn in on March 11, 2006, extending the Concertación coalition governance for another four years.
Organization: Chile is a Democratic Republic organized into 13 regions (a little like American states but less autonomous). It has a new Constitution (effective 11 March 1981), which was written under the authoritarian regime of General Pinochet. Chile's legal system is based on the Code of 1857, derived from Spanish law. Subsequent codes were influenced by French and Austrian law. Chile is in the process of completely overhauling its criminal justice system; a new, US-style adversarial system is being gradually implemented throughout the country with the final stage of implementation in the Santiago metropolitan region expected in June 2005.
Economy: Chile has a market-oriented economy characterized by a high level of foreign trade. It deepened its longstanding commitment to trade liberalization with the signing of a free trade agreement with the US, which took effect on January 1, 2004.
GDP per capita: purchasing power parity - $12,700 (2006 est.) Second in the region behind Argentina.
Population below poverty line: 18.2% (2005)
Unemployment rate: 7.8% (2006)
Ethnic Groups: 95% white and white-Amerindian, 3% Amerindian, 2%other.