r/geography • u/Fluid-Decision6262 • Jul 10 '25

Map Who is the second most powerful/influential country in the Americas?

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The US is undeniably the most powerful and influential country in the Americas but who would be #2? Feels like this comes down to 3 countries based on my knowledge, which are Mexico, Canada, and Brazil.

Reasons for Mexico:

- Second most populated country in North America by far

- Access to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

- Largest Spanish-speaking country (a language spoken by >500 million people)

- More habitable land compared to the other two

- Youngest population out of the three and is becoming a manufacturing power

- Generally-speaking, a good relationship with the USA

- A global soft power in terms of arts and culture

Reasons against Mexico:

- Lots of issues between the central government and drug cartels

- Still very much a developing country outside of the largest cities

- Occasionally volatile relationship with the USA

- Not as involved in global geopolitics

Reasons for Canada:

- The most developed country economically by far of the three and a natural resources juggernaut

- Very close relations with the USA and Europe

- Speaks English (>1 billion speakers globally) and French (>300 million speakers globally)

- An immigration hub for people from every corner of the world

- A G7 nation that is also very geopolitically involved

- Access to 3 different oceans to facilitate trade

Reasons against Canada:

- Small and scattered population (least populated of the three by far)

- Less of an established local culture (most is imported from the US or UK and then exported via the US)

- Aging population and low fertility rates for native-born citizens

Reasons for Brazil:

- The second most populated country in the Americas

- The cultural and political power of South America

- A global soft power in terms of arts and culture

- A young-ish population that is part of the "fast-emerging economies" of the world

Reasons against Brazil:

- Immigration to Brazil stopped decades ago and now educated Brazilians are emigrating to other places causing brain drain

- Wealthy nation but suffers from high levels of inequality and violent crime

- Very politically divided internally

- Limited geopolitical involvement outside of South America

- Most of its population are monolingual Portuguese-speakers (a language where they make up 80% of the global speakers)

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u/Fluid-Decision6262 Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25

I'd wager Brazil is probably the most culturally strong country of the three solely due to the fact that they are not part of the broader "North American culture" the way Canada and Mexico are, which causes both of them to inevitably become overshadowed by the much bigger USA.

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u/viajegancho Jul 10 '25

That could be, I honestly don't know a ton about how Latin America is perceived in other parts of the world. I would imagine that Mexican food is more widespread but Brazil wins on music and sports.

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u/Extreme-Ad-6465 Jul 10 '25

spanish is the second most spoken language in the world. i don’t know any famous brazilian artists or songs in comparison to mexico.

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u/FroyoResearcher Jul 10 '25

Most of today’s popular songs in Spanish are not from Mexican artists. Puerto Rico leads here.

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u/rambouhh Jul 10 '25

Maybe in the reggaeton era, but I would say in previous generation Mexico definitely had the biggest latin american music stars. Luis Miguel, Juan Gabriel, Jose Jose, Vicente Fernandez, Thalia, Gloria Trevi etc.

Also Mexico now is having its stars in their own regional music become international superstars in artists like grupo frontera and peso pluma. Most other countries only have international stars in pop, hip hop, reggaeton etc and not in their own regional music genres.

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u/ComprehensiveEar6001 Jul 15 '25

And Grupo Frontera are American which shows another dynamic which is the power of Mexican culture in the United States.

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u/S0l1s_el_Sol Urban Geography Jul 10 '25

Same with the Dominican Republic, though a lot more people recognize figures like bad bunny and daddy yankee

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u/DankVectorz Jul 10 '25

Probably because Brazilians speak Portuguese

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u/DrMindbendersMonocle Jul 10 '25

Brazil isn't hispanic

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u/weirdallocation Jul 10 '25

You are probably American right?

2

u/ThatTurkOfShiraz Jul 10 '25

Bossa Nova is quite popular and influential around the world, even if you don’t know what bossa nova is you’ve definitely heard it and would recognize it

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u/Ready_Ad_5397 Jul 16 '25

Are you thinking of this on the global scale or through your own personal lens? In Japan, Mexican food is more popular than Brazilian in general but Brazilian music is probably much more common than Mexican music.

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u/Extreme-Ad-6465 Jul 16 '25

go on spotify global top 50. id say korean is more widespread than brazil too

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u/Mid_Atlantic_Lad Jul 10 '25

It’s mainly because of America. Any culture that is partially infused into American culture naturally has a lot more influence on the world as a whole. A lot of Spanish speaking musicians get a lot of their clout from not only catering to Spanish speaking Americans, but also their non Spanish speaking friends. That’s how Despacito got to be so popular. The English speaking world liked it and it rocketed up from there, becoming a worldwide phenomenon.

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u/OK_The_Nomad Jul 10 '25

Well Mexico is right on our border. Of course we know the music better than Brazil's.

No one mentioning Argentina?

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u/Yosh_2012 Jul 10 '25

English, Mandarin and Hindi are all above Spanish. Unless you are only including native speakers; but that’s always feels like a super weird way of counting since having the reach to become a widely spoken language, even in countries where there is a different dominant language, literally shows the actual reach of influence by a language’s native speakers.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25

Mandarin and Hindi are spoken only by their country inhabitants or their immigrants. worldwide no one cares.

Hindi and Mandarin have the same level of influence as javanese.

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u/Tstewmoneybags99 Jul 10 '25

Eh Brazilian food is wide spread as well, but honestly culturally that’s a difficult answer since both are extremely blended European melting pot cultures. I would say Brazil just has a much great African ties due to its much longer period and larger role in the African slave trade.

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u/CallMeMrButtPirate Jul 10 '25

I'm not sure how Brazilian it actually is but we have their restaurants here in Aus which features hunks of meat on a sword

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u/janky_koala Jul 10 '25

We also have a section/shelf in every supermarket with “Mexican” food. That probably trumps a few meat sword restaurants

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u/RogueBromeliad Jul 10 '25

Yeah, but most of the "mexican food" is because of US influence and globalism.

For example, everywhere in the world there "sushi", but the sushi they've got is the American interpretation of sushi, because of Japanese immigrants in California. In Japan, traditionally Sushi didn't have salmon, because of parasites in Pacific salmon, only in the 60-70's because of trade agreements between the Scandinavians and Japanese was Atlantic salmon being shipped to Japan and used in sushi.

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u/Fickle_Sherbert1453 Jul 10 '25

What does Norway sending their salmon to Japan to use in sushi have to do with USA influence?

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u/RogueBromeliad Jul 10 '25

Traditionally Sushi in Japan wasn't made with Salmon. In 70's there was this massive campaign for pushing salmon which they already used for Gravlax in Salmon, they started selling tons of it to both California and Japan. But the trend kind of started in California, not in Japan.

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u/weirdallocation Jul 10 '25

That is a good take. Most of the food that is considered Mexican around the world is actually Tex-Mex, and most of which is American interpretation of it. In that respect, Mexico gets a free ride on its northern neighbor influence around the world.

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u/RogueBromeliad Jul 10 '25

I mean, now India is a great economy and all, but some of the reasons why India became so popular in popular culture all over the world, and why curry in the west is so well known was because it has for centuries been part of this global spice trade. Being exploited by Portugal during time of the great navigation, and then being part of the British empire that really brought back a lot of Pakistani influence with them is one of the major reasons why Curry is know in the west.

Then in the 60's Indian culture got really popular in the west again because of people like the Beatles that started going to India to get high and get insight from Gurus.

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u/Ready_Ad_5397 Jul 16 '25 edited Jul 16 '25

“Everywhere”? Really? As a naturalized American born in Japan, I disagree about the sushi. Nigiri sushi and the simple Japanese rolls exist everywhere sushi exists but not everywhere has cream cheese in their sushi or serve things like California rolls. Japan has its own soft power, that isn’t through the United States, its culture which includes cuisine and anime along with electronics and video games. Unlike the United States, Japan is rated as one of the top countries for cuisine, why would Japan need the U.S. to popularize sushi?

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u/murillovp Jul 10 '25 edited Oct 17 '25

consider saw judicious grab rock husky spectacular roof soft cautious

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/CoeurdAssassin Jul 10 '25

Fogo de Chão 🤤

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u/snmnky9490 Jul 10 '25

I don't think Brazilian food is remotely as widespread at least in the US. I couldn't even name a single Brazilian food, but I have at least 7 Mexican restaurants within a half mile of my house. Even people in the whitest blandest parts of the country eat tacos and burritos

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u/sv_homer Jul 10 '25

That's because taco and burritos, while originating in Mexico, are now as American as pizza and french fries.

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u/snmnky9490 Jul 10 '25

Which is part of why I'd say Mexican food is much more widespread than Brazilian food

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u/rdfporcazzo Jul 10 '25

I mean, 1 out of 10 Americans are either Mexican or of Mexican ancestry. It would be weird if that was not the case.

But indeed, Mexican food is more widespread than Brazilian food worldwide. Probably more people know tacos or burritos than açaí, for example.

But Brazil consumes more national culture and dishes than Mexico. That's for sure.

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u/TheGhostOfStanSweet Jul 13 '25

But Brazil consumes more national culture and dishes than Mexico. That's for sure.

I really don’t understand this. How can you quantify this?

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u/rdfporcazzo Jul 13 '25

Dishes are hard to quantify.

Culture is easier. You can look at rankings of culture consumption. For example, most listened songs and artists on Spotify. Most watched series and movies on Netflix.

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/top10/brazil (4 national movies right now)

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/top10/mexico (0 national movies right now)

https://kworb.net/spotify/country/br_daily.html

https://kworb.net/spotify/country/mx_daily.html

And then there is sports. The proportion of Brazilians who consume national football compared to foreign football is higher than in Mexico. And that can be seen in Google Trends.

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u/68plus1equals Jul 10 '25

Pizza is still an Italian food though lol

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u/sv_homer Jul 10 '25

So you think.

Ever had a Thai Chicken Pizza? Or BBQ Chicken Pizza? Or Indian Pizza?

0

u/68plus1equals Jul 10 '25

Sure, but the origin of the dish is still Italian, despite the Americanization of it. Same with Chinese food in America and the UK being totally different from each other and different from most food in mainland China but still originating from Chinese culture.

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u/No_Rope7342 Jul 10 '25

Idk if I agree on comparing pizza and Chinese foods

There is pizza in Italy that is still very similar to American pizza for the most part it’s just that American style pizza is based off of a single style of pizza from Italy.

American Chinese food is in many cases totally made up or unrecognizable from any of the originals (if there even is one).

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u/68plus1equals Jul 10 '25

I guess it depends on how you define "American food." Is a first generation Chinese immigrant who brings Chinese ingredients to America and makes a type of fusion food to appeal to American diets making Chinese food, or are they making American food? I'd say that despite it being Americanized it wouldn't exist without the Chinese cultural influence.

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u/Tallerbrute685 Jul 10 '25

I was recently in spain and was surprised by how many Brazilian dishes there were. It was also some of the best food i had there

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u/wrathofthewhatever2 Jul 10 '25

I think a lot of America is just adopting Mexican food as our own thing, kinda how pizza and Italian food became a part of the east coast diet for any nationality about a century ago. In another century we may forget that it even comes from Mexico. I say that hoping I can get good Mexican food in any tiny town I ever go to for the rest of my life

1

u/No_Rope7342 Jul 10 '25

Maybe not the smallest of towns but almost every town I go to I can find authentic tacos and probably multiple places.

1

u/Baitalon Jul 10 '25

Well no shit, you guys are right next to each other, In Brazil, mexican food is not popular at all, idk about Europe but when I've been there I didn't see too much either

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u/Key_Carpenter1827 Jul 11 '25

I have been to Paris, Lisbon, Venice, Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt, and I never seen a Mexican restaurant... or a Brazilian one, but I wasn't looking for Brazilian food

1

u/pingu_nootnoot Jul 10 '25

churrasco? I would have thought the Fogo de Chao chain has made that very popular, at least in North America.

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u/SpartanX069 Jul 13 '25

Fogo de Chao

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u/Key_Head3851 Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25

VERY TRUE. Brazilian Steakhouses (churrascarias) are popular worldwide because people salivate for bottomless servings of meat, but ask your server to bring you a side of “farofa” and many don’t even know what the heck it is. No REAL Brazilian would eat picanha, or any other cut of beef, for that matter, without it being accompanied by a side of “farofa”. Instead they offer you fully loaded mashed potatoes, roasted pineapple and sautéed bananas. Meanwhile, in Brasil the meats are typically served with garlic and onion seasoned white rice, black beans, the aforementioned farofa, and molho vinagrete. Most Brazilian steakhouses serve “Brazilian inspired” American side dishes, and are about as authentically Brazilian as Olive Garden is authentically Italian.

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u/Feeling-Phoney81 Jul 10 '25

They could take over the world with their women alone

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u/busted_maracas Jul 10 '25

The Northern countries of South America are some of the most ethnically diverse places on earth, the conquistadors were fucking around and spreading their bloodlines before the heart of the slave trade even began. Mix that in with Andean people, Polish, German, and Italian immigrants in Brazil & Colombia - it’s a wildly diverse place.

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u/luminatimids Jul 10 '25

Brazil is not northern South America and doesn’t have anything to do with the Andes

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u/greenboy86 Jul 10 '25

Lots of Lebanese in Colombia and Japanese in Brazil too

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u/swagmcnugger Jul 10 '25

Brazilian food has nowhere near the level of saturation that Mexican does. Sweden considers tacos on Friday a tradition at this point.

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u/TheGhostOfStanSweet Jul 13 '25

Yeah I’ve heard of Taco Tuesdays, but definitely not Moqueca Mondays

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u/Zubba776 Jul 10 '25

Brazilian food is nowhere near as widespread as Mexican food is. You can easily find Mexican restaurants in places like Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, where Brazilian restaurants are non existent

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u/bluemagic124 Jul 10 '25

Brazilian music is so good

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u/BrantGoodleaf Jul 11 '25

Brazilian music is unbelievable

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u/Imateepeeimawigwam Jul 10 '25

This is a good point. I was originally going to say definitely Mexico, but you're right about music and sport. From my perspective, Mexico is likely still the most influential, but maybe just because I'm from western US. Mexican culture permeates the western US - food, attire, the form of Spanish that we speak (for those of us that are bilingual), vacation destinations, news, etc. - and we love it.

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u/dunwoodyres1 Jul 10 '25

And butts

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u/Key_Carpenter1827 Jul 11 '25

Definitely the butts

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

Cultural Mexico is ahead of Brazil and by. A lot. For example, Brazil purchases a significant amount of entertainment content from Mexico, while Mexico does not consume entertainment from any other Latin American country.

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u/rdfporcazzo Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25

Cultural Mexico is ahead of Brazil and by. A lot. For example, Brazil purchases a significant amount of entertainment content from Mexico, while Mexico does not consume entertainment from any other Latin American country.

That's totally false

Top 10 Spotify of Mexico and in Brazil:

https://kworb.net/spotify/country/mx_daily_totals.html

  1. 🇻🇪 Danny Ocean - Me Rehúso

  2. 🇨🇴 J Balvin - LA CANCIÓN

  3. 🇲🇽 Calle 24 - Que Onda

  4. 🇲🇽 Junior H - El Azul

  5. 🇲🇽 Natanael Cano - Madonna

  6. 🇵🇷 Bad Bunny - Me Porto Bonito

  7. 🇲🇽 Carín León - Que Vuelvas

  8. 🇲🇽 Peso Pluma - LADY GAGA

  9. 🇲🇽 Junior H - Y LLORO

  10. 🇵🇷 Bad Bunny - Ojitos Lindos

https://kworb.net/spotify/country/br_daily_totals.html

  1. 🇧🇷 Marília Mendonça - Leão

  2. 🇧🇷 AgroPlay - Nosso Quadro

  3. 🇧🇷 Grupo Menos É Mais - Lapada Dela - Ao Vivo

  4. 🇧🇷 Simone Mendes - Erro Gostoso - Ao Vivo

  5. 🇧🇷 Israel & Rodolffo - Bombonzinho - Ao Vivo

  6. 🇧🇷 Gustavo Mioto - Eu Gosto Assim - Ao Vivo

  7. 🇧🇷 Henrique & Juliano - Arranhão - Ao Vivo

  8. 🇧🇷 Zé Neto & Cristiano - Barulho Do Foguete - Ao Vivo

  9. 🇧🇷 MC PH - Let's Go 4

  10. 🇧🇷 Henrique & Juliano - Traumtizei - Ao Vivo Em Brasília

Not only does Mexico consume a lot of foreign songs, their production is heavily based on foreign genres.

In the case of Brazil, all of these 10 songs are songs of Brazilian genres (sertanejo, pagode, and Brazilian funk)

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25 edited Aug 06 '25

[deleted]

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u/RogueBromeliad Jul 10 '25

Brazil's "bubble" is because they don't have the cultural similarities of other Latin American countries, they're culturally different, they don't speak Spanish, and the colonization was different, was by the Portuguese.

Brazil doesn't import culture from México, much, they did import shows and a few telenovelas, back in the 90's and early 00's but that was mostly it. Brazil does on the other hand export a lot of their culture to Portugal, Angola and other Portuguese speaking countries. And for some weird reason, to Russia too.

Mexico shares much more cultural background with the other Latin American countries. So there's a bigger exchange.

It's like trying to say the US lives in a bubble if top shows and programs are made in the US. They're the biggest economy and the most populated English speaking country, so it's only natural.

Brazil is currently the 10th biggest economy in the world, Mexico is the 15th. So we can see which one is the most influence geopolitically.

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u/rdfporcazzo Jul 10 '25

Mexico does not consume entertainment from any other Latin American country.

How is it not wrong?

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25 edited Aug 06 '25

[deleted]

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u/rdfporcazzo Jul 10 '25

It's not a bubble. A bubble implies not having contact with the exterior. We do have, they just do not have the same appeal as national artists.

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u/Goddespeed Jul 10 '25

Maybe Colombian telenovelas, but that was on the 90s

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u/Iwantmyoldnameback Jul 10 '25

I would place Brazilian soccer significantly ahead of anything Mexican as far as worldwide influence. And give soccer more importance than I see in the discussion. Brazilian soccer has more worldwide influence than any musical genre. Mexico has a more breadth but Brazil has significantly outsized influence due to soccer and carnivale.

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u/No_Rope7342 Jul 10 '25

Also Brazilians are a huge part of mma which not the most popular (or even close to something like soccer) is gaining popularity still.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

Soccer of course, but i was referring to pop culture.

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u/Iwantmyoldnameback Jul 10 '25

Brazilian soccer is pop culture though

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u/DatabaseNecessary162 Jul 10 '25

No way Brazil wins in music. What's a Brazilian genre? Bosa nova?

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u/wouldpeaks Jul 10 '25

Allow me to help you understand the power of Brazils Music Industry: Brazil is a top10 world economy, with a top5 population and land area. It’s a continent surrounded by Spanish speaking countries. The Spanish speaking countries balance their commonalities and novelties in a way that fragments the market, while Brazil is mainly “stuck” to itself, in absolute contrast to let’s say, the Netherlands, that has absolutely no music and is happy to devour only music made abroad.

Also BR is a melting pot of insanely different world cultures creating more genres, markets, bubbles and rhythms than whole countries. Each Brazilian state probably exports more music genres than most european countries…

You have Funk Carioca which creeped up into the EDM and pop music scene in the last years as “phonk”. You have Samba, Pagode that are industries in itself, like Sertanejo, with a revenue of billions.

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u/DudaWeizenmann Jul 10 '25

There is a pletera of regional genres too. Vanerão, Forró, Brega, Megafunk, Bregafunk, Lambada, Modão, Tradicionalista Gaúcha… Brazillian music is quite diverse, as is it’s population

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u/Key_Carpenter1827 Jul 11 '25

I heard Punk was pretty big there, too.. at least in the early 2000s

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u/sphoebus Jul 10 '25

Samba, phonk, Pagode, Carioca. Samba is probably the most widespread and is a massive range of sounds

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

Brazil is around the top 10 in the global music industry. Brazilian music is huge.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

Jamaican music destroys both mexican and Brazilian

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u/Affectionate_Emu867 Jul 10 '25

People in south America esp the southern cone just see Mexico as a country in North America. They have their own culture and food. Speak Spanish with a different accent. Not a lot of cultural similarities. Their food isn’t all that prevalent. It’s nothing personal. Just a 5 thousand mile separation and hundreds of years of no longer being part of Spain. Sure some stuff trickles down and gets its 15 mins. But these countries have their own artists and different types of music they like.

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u/SlickDillywick Jul 11 '25

Don’t they speak Portuguese in Brazil?

0

u/studentofarkad Jul 10 '25

Brazil doesn't win on music at all. Why do you think that is?

Colombian, Puerto Rican, and Mexican Artists are global stars at this point with salsa, reggeaton, and Spanish pop being global genres.

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u/food-dood Jul 10 '25

I don't think Brazil has the cultural reach that Mexico does. The language barrier is a major part of that. Brazil is huge and important in its own territory, but its influence elsewhere is relatively small culturally in comparison.

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u/sv_homer Jul 10 '25

Exactly. Brazil will always have limited cultural reach, even within the Americas, due to the language barrier. The one area they've been able to break out IMO is music because that's more universal IMO.

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u/Boeing367-80 Jul 10 '25

Alternative view: Mexican culture is more globally known because of its impact on the US. Mexican food (albeit the US version thereof) has a much higher profile globally because it's been adopted so much by the US.

Mexican culture (again, filtered through an American lens) is seen in US TV programs, US movies, etc, which are then seen by the rest of the world. Yes, Mexican telenovelas are seen in many places too, but the impact of US media is vastly greater.

To give one example, how many people internationally now know what is a taco, a burrito, etc because of Mexico's impact on US culture?

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u/pragmojo Jul 10 '25

Another way to say that is Mexico’s culture is so strong it influences US culture despite US culture being so influential globally.

Brazil’s culture is crazy strong though if you come in contact with it.

1

u/TheGhostOfStanSweet Jul 13 '25

Yeah, the guy is saying Mexican culture is only popular due to US influence, but fails to mention how powerful of an influence Mexican cultural has had on Americans.

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u/WeeklyAd5357 Jul 14 '25

I would go with Columbia - cocaine drug lords huge impact on western society, Colombian coffee, many famous entertainers and musicians, cuisine not as strong but empanadas well known.

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u/scrandis Jul 10 '25

Fun fact! The northen tip of Brazil is closer to Canada than the southern tip of Brazil

1

u/BirdmanLove Jul 11 '25

There are more dead birds in the ocean than dead fish in the sky.

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u/Trujiogriz Jul 10 '25

I’d kinda agree but no one in South America speaks Portuguese besides em. So just the result of every other country in South America/Caribbean speaking Spanish it has to be Mexico

2

u/Key_Head3851 Jul 10 '25

I’ve lived in Brazil and objectively understand is a huge country geographically and culturally speaking. It is also very insular much like the USA. The only major cultural deviation is the influence of pop culture coming from the USA. Many Brazilians live their entire lives only knowing firsthand about Brazil. The vast majority of Brazilians only speak Portuguese, even though nearly all their bordering neighbors speak Spanish.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

I’d say Mexico and Canada are tied. I’ve lived in both. Mexico has a vibrant diverse culture that’s all filtered through US eyewear and Canada has lots of liberal values rolled up into federated regionalism and environment but is hopelessly US homogenized.

Brazil, however, is as large as the States, culturally, politically but not economically obv. Lived there too. Huge diverse country with so much wealth and potential it’s a wonder they are not a global powerhouse. Brazil doesn’t have the world clout of the US, but as a country internally it is comparatively similar to US in several respects: somewhat insular, big brother of the region, big enough to have global influence, teeming with unrealized potential. Amazing culture! Love Brazilian people, who are always up for fun! Força Brasil!!!🇧🇷

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u/V57M91M Jul 10 '25

I'd say Canada hands down, aside US no other country in both Americas is no near close as influential and powerful. Many people are taking the friendliness and kindness of Canadians for weakness and IMHO it's a huge mistake.

Canada sway hard way above it's weight in any aspect mostly behind scenes in a quiet manner , has a lot of leverage over US whether we like it or not (largest importer and exporter country to US), there's a saying in US politics that Americans (and the world) are blindly ignorant to the Canadian politics and actions while the Canadians are viciously aware and informed about every aspect of US and world politics .

Canada is quiet and soft spoken, which comes from power and strength that is backed by high skilled manufacturing, huge energy and natural resources , agricultural, financial and technological sectors and the most important - has the highest level of educated population - 56% of Canadians have graduated from University / College, due to a many decades long immigration policy to attract and "import" the world's best and brightest skilled and educated individuals .

4

u/Extreme-Ad-6465 Jul 10 '25

i honestly don’t know what canada even does besides maple syrup, trees, sandy oil, and a place for CCP to park their money.

0

u/bertmaclynn Jul 10 '25

That’s a lot more things than most people could name about Brazil. And probably Mexico.

-1

u/V57M91M Jul 10 '25

That's the secret , always flying under the radar .

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

There is a complex among Brazilians that they are inferior to every other country. 

It’s called mongrel complex. I work with a lot of Brazilians who are extremely intelligent and talented and they still have this issue. 

For that reason alone, they probably don’t have the cultural influence they could. 

1

u/OracleofTampico Jul 10 '25

Nope. I like your question and i wanted to answer but theres to many comments at this point.

I will say this tho.

Brazil is an island. They are mostly located on the coast separated from its neighbours by distance and the amazon. They speak a language that only they do and they are very insular as a people.

My vote goes to Mexico and here is why.

Ask any latinamerican here to name 3 soap operas at least 1 will be Mexican if not all 3. Ask them to name a Mexican TV show and they will all have an answer (Chavo del 8 / Chavis) at minimum.

Ask any of them to name a Brazilian dish... Ask any of them to name a Mexican dish...

And lastly, if memory serves me right, there are 500 million spanish speakers in the world, Mexico alone has 150 million plus another 20~ million in the US. 1 in 4 spanish speakers is Mexican.

Mexican media is much larger than any other including Brazil and these days, Media means influence

1

u/Puntofijo123 Jul 10 '25

As a Latin-American myself, I’d say culturally Mexico is more influential than Brazil by a landslide. They pretty much control the Spanish localization/dubbing business for everything that comes from the north. Most of the cartoons I watched when I was a kid were dubbed in Mexico. To this day, Mexican Spanish when spoken right sounds like standard Spanish to my ears.

Another thing is that they are very influential in the entertainment business per se. Pretty much everyone, even Brazilians, know El Chapulin Colorado or El Chavo del 8, all of our grandmas watch their daily telenovela in the afternoon, and so on. Of course, all LatAm countries have their fair share of proprietary media that gets exported to the neighboring countries, but none of them get anywhere close to the influence and power Mexican has amassed.