Question 1

What are the best cities to invest in Latin America in 2026?

Accepted Answer

According to the ProLatam Data Index 2026, which is built only from public sources, the top five Latin American cities for investment are: 1) San José, Costa Rica (53.8), 2) Buenos Aires, Argentina (53.6), 3) Panama City, Panama (51.0), 4) Santiago, Chile (50.8), 5) San Salvador, El Salvador (49.1). The index combines Economic Dynamism (International Monetary Fund), Rule of Law (World Justice Project), Safety (Numbeo), Quality of Life (Numbeo), Talent (INSEAD and Portulans Institute), Tax Competitiveness (PwC), English Proficiency (EF Education First), Infrastructure (World Bank) and Innovation (StartupBlink). FDI inflows and sovereign credit ratings are published alongside as context but are not scored. Pro Latam also publishes a second weighting of the same pillars, the ProLatam Score, tuned for foreigners who move to, invest in or open a business in the region; its top three are Buenos Aires (51.1), San José (50.5) and Santiago (49.9).

Question 2

How are Latin American cities ranked for investment?

Accepted Answer

Each city receives a ProLatam Data Index from 0 to 100 using nine weighted pillars: Economic Dynamism (15%, International Monetary Fund), Rule of Law (15%, World Justice Project), Safety (8%, Numbeo), Quality of Life (7%, Numbeo), Talent (13%, INSEAD and Portulans Institute), Tax Competitiveness (13%, PwC), English Proficiency (9%, EF Education First), Infrastructure (10%, World Bank) and Innovation (10%, StartupBlink). Every indicator is normalized to a 0 to 100 scale using fixed, published rules, and the weights sum to 100. When a source does not cover a city, that pillar's weight is redistributed and the coverage is shown. National indicators (IMF, WJP, INSEAD, World Bank, PwC) apply to every city in that country; Numbeo safety, EF English proficiency and StartupBlink rank are city-level. Source editions are listed next to each figure.

Question 3

Which Latin American economies are growing fastest?

Accepted Answer

Based on IMF World Economic Outlook projections for 2026, the fastest-growing economies among the tracked cities are Panama (+3.8%, Panama City), Costa Rica (+3.6%, San José) and Argentina (+3.5%, Buenos Aires). Growth is a national figure and only one of nine pillars in the Data Index; a fast-growing economy can still rank lower on rule of law, safety or tax competitiveness.

Question 4

Which Latin American countries are most tax friendly for foreign investors?

Accepted Answer

Measured on what a foreign shareholder actually keeps, that is corporate income tax plus the standard non-treaty withholding on dividends, the lightest burdens are Panama (32.5%), Peru (33.0%), El Salvador (33.5%) and Venezuela (34.0%). Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador also tax on a territorial basis, so income earned outside the country is not taxed at all, which matters for holding and regional headquarters structures. Headline rates mislead in both directions: Chile advertises 27% but a non-treaty shareholder bears 44.45% because only part of the corporate tax is creditable, while Panama's low rate comes with 408 compliance hours a year. The Tax Competitiveness pillar therefore weighs the real burden on repatriated profit at 70% and compliance time at 30%.

Question 5

Is it safe to do business in Latin America?

Accepted Answer

Safety and legal certainty vary widely by city and country. On the Numbeo Safety Index the safest tracked cities are Querétaro (63/100), Panama City (54/100) and Monterrey (52/100), and the strongest rule-of-law environments in the World Justice Project index are Costa Rica, Chile and Argentina. The ProLatam Investment Hub shows both indicators for all 13 cities so investors can compare conditions before deploying capital, and Pro Latam connects companies with verified local partners for market entry.

All 13 cities

The whole grid in one table