List of sovereign states and dependent territories in South America

There are 12 sovereign states and 3 non-sovereign dependent territories in South America. The continent is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean. North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. South America has an area of approximately 17,840,000 square kilometres, or almost 3.5% of Earth's surface. As of 2018, its population is more than 430 million, according to estimates of population in The World Factbook. South America ranks fourth among all continents in area and fifth in population.
The border between North and South America is at some point in the Isthmus of Panama. The most common demarcation in atlases and other sources follows the Darién Mountains watershed that divides along the Colombia–Panama border where the isthmus meets the South American continent. Virtually all atlases list Panama as a state falling entirely within North America and/or Central America.

Sovereign states

A sovereign state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a population for whom it makes decisions in the national interest. According to the Montevideo Convention, a state must have a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. The following states are all members of the United Nations and current or former members of the Union of South American Nations.

Flag	Map	English short, formal names, and ISO	Domestic short and formal name	Capital	Population	Area	Currency
		Argentina Argentine Republic ARG		Buenos Aires			Argentine peso
		Bolivia Plurinational State of Bolivia BOL		Sucre and La Paz			Bolivian boliviano
		Brazil Federative Republic of Brazil BRA		Brasília			Brazilian real
		Chile Republic of Chile CHL		Santiago			Chilean peso
		Colombia Republic of Colombia COL		Bogotá / Santa Fe de Bogotá			Colombian peso
		Ecuador Republic of Ecuador ECU		Quito			United States dollar
		Guyana Co-operative Republic of Guyana GUY		Georgetown			Guyanese dollar
		Paraguay Republic of Paraguay PRY		Asunción	6,109,903		Paraguayan guaraní
		Peru Republic of Peru PER		Lima			Peruvian sol
		Suriname Republic of Suriname SUR		Paramaribo			Surinamese dollar
		Uruguay Eastern Republic of Uruguay URY		Montevideo			Uruguayan peso
		Venezuela Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela VEN		Caracas			Venezuelan bolívar

Flag	Map	English name	Legal status	Domestic name	Capital	Population	Area
		Falkland Islands FLK	British overseas territory		Stanley	3,398
		South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands SGS	British overseas territory		King Edward Point	No permanent population

Flag	Map	English name and ISO code	Legal status	Domestic name	Capital	Population	Area
		French Guiana GUF	Overseas department, region and single territorial collectivity of France and outermost region of the European Union		Cayenne

^† Geographically associated with Antarctica, but due to geopolitical reasons, the United Nations geoscheme has included South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in South America instead.