LIMA, Peru—Latin America ended last year in upheaval. All the signs suggest even more turmoil in the months ahead.

A wave of protests has roiled one nation after another, the byproduct of a regional economic downturn and corruption scandals that pollsters say have driven down support for governments and even democracy to the lowest levels in years.

It’s a huge comedown from just a few years ago. In 2010, as the U.S. and Europe struggled to recover from the global financial crisis, the outlook for Latin America was upbeat. China’s demand for copper, soybeans, oil and other raw materials drove robust growth in the region, boosting the middle class and government coffers while providing political stability. Latin America’s gross domestic product increased 5.8% that year, led by a 10% rise in Argentina, an 8.5% increase in Peru and a 7.5% jump in Brazil.

Those days vanished with the end of the commodities boom in 2014, and the region hasn’t recovered. The International Monetary Fund expects Latin American GDP to expand 1.6% this year, after almost no growth in 2019, making it one of the slowest-growing regions in the world.

That will likely stoke more turmoil in a region where political instability is the historical rule rather than the exception, experts say. Unemployment is on the rise, and poverty increased to about 31% of the population last year from 28% in 2014, according to the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, a Chile-based organization that tracks economic and social trends. Anger over corruption and poor public services will also contribute to unrest, analysts say.