DOCUMENT AND ENTITY INFORMATION - shares	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2017	May 05, 2017
Document Documentand Entity Information [Abstract]
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Mar. 31, 2017
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2017
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Trading Symbol	BPOP
Entity Registrant Name	POPULAR INC
Entity Central Index Key	0000763901
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		101,986,341