Cumulative cases per capita by UN subregion in the Americas

This chart shows the evolution over time of the cumulative COVID-19 case rate across UN subregions. The cumulative case rate expresses COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic relative to the size of the population. 

The absolute expression of cases is useful to highlight the the contribution of countries or groups of countries to the global total. In contrast, case rates, which express the absolute number of cases relative to population size, provide an indication of performance controlling for population size. 

It should be noted that the different regional groups shown here are of very different population size dimensions. In light of these differences in population size, absolute case numbers will be quite different given the differences in rates.

Finally, note that limitations to testing will mean that the number of confirmed cases is lower than the true number of infections.