Tropical countries are those that lie within the region that we call the tropics. The tropics is the zone between the Tropic of Cancer, the parallel of latitude at 23 ½º North, and the Tropic of Capricorn, the parallel of latitude at 23 ½º South. Everywhere in the tropics is struck by the sun’s perpendicular rays at noon on a minimum of one day in each year. At the very center of the tropics lies the equator, a large circle that we imagine going around the Earth at a spot equidistant from the north and south poles.

Many people associate tropical countries with a few islands and palm trees, but in fact, a large section of the world lies within the tropics. In the Western Hemisphere, tropical countries include Mexico, all of Central America, all of the Caribbean islands from just south of Nassau in the Bahamas, and the top half of South America, including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, as well as the northern portions of Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil.

In Africa, the only nations that cannot be called tropical countries are Morocco and Tunisia in the north and Lesotho and Swaziland in the south. All the rest lie either entirely, or at least partly, in the tropics.

While no European countries are tropical countries, the Middle East has four tropical countries: Yemen, which is entirely in the tropics, and parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, and United Arab Emirates. India, in southern Asia, lies mostly in the tropics, and all countries of Southeast Asia are tropical countries. Australia, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and most of the other island nations of Oceania in the South Pacific are tropical countries, as well.

Not all tropical countries have the same climate, but they all have a limited range in their temperatures and less climate change over a year than is found in other zones. Their climate is distinguished chiefly by wet and dry seasons. The flora and fauna of tropical countries differ as well, and while palm trees do grow in many places, they also grow outside the tropics.