NotCo, Cuban Doctors, and Brazilian Forests

Welcome to Latinometrics. We bring you Latin American insights and trends through concise, thought-provoking data visualizations.

Today’s charts:

1. Will NotCo become LatAm’s Oatly?

2. Cuba leads the world in doctors per capita

3. Deforestation in Brazil hits a 15-year-high

We’ve also included our favorite insight from last week at the bottom.

Milk Industry 🐄

NotCo is an alternative dairy and meat startup based in Chile. It’s backed by the likes of Jeff Bezos, Roger Federer, and Lewis Hamilton (name a better trio). Founder and CEO Mathias Muchnik has expanded his vision to 6 different countries, including the US and Canada.

This year, NotCo entered Lala’s home turf of Mexico. Can it become Latin America’s Oatly?

In just 6 years, NotCo is now worth 66% the market cap of Lala, Latin America’s largest dairy company. This unbelievable achievement can only be explained by one thing: market growth. Thanks to the exploding demand for milk and meat alternatives worldwide, a company like Oatly (one of the world’s leaders in milk alternatives) has multiplied its yearly revenues by 3 in the last 2 years. NotCo seems to be following in its steps.

Investors clearly expect the growth to continue and have poured millions into Oatly and NotCo. By comparison, demand for dairy products is slowing and even decreasing in some parts of the world.

Health 🩺

If you walk down the streets of Havana, you will hardly think of Cuba as a competitive country in global metrics: they still drive cars from the 50s, and though beautiful, most of Havana’s buildings are slowly falling apart. But there is one metric the country leads the world in: doctors per capita.

The country’s physician-to-population ratio is 8.4 per 1,000 — compared to Switzerland’s 4.3. Cuba also provides medical care at low or no cost to citizens of other developing countries when they seek treatment due to war or natural disasters.

The WHO has declared Cuba the world’s leader in providing care personnel to the developing world. The only two countries with higher physicians per capita are Qatar and Monaco.

Environment 🌲

The Amazon is home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people. This year, it has seen its highest annual rate of deforestation in 15 years.

Brazil’s colossal rainforest, considered the most biodiverse on Earth, is now one of the most critical battlegrounds between environmentalists and developers. Siding with developers, President Jair Bolsonaro has encouraged agriculture and mining activities in the rainforest.

According to data published last week, between August 2020 and July 2021, the Brazilian Amazon lost 13,200 km² (5,100 sq. miles) of rainforest — roughly the size of Puerto Rico.

Thanks for reading. Until next week. 👋

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