🇨🇱 Chile · 2026 edition
Investing in Santiago
Santiago ranks 4 of 13 Latin American cities on the ProLatam Data Index with 50.5 of 100, and 3 of 13 on the ProLatam Score. Its strongest pillar is english proficiency (71), its weakest is safety (36). A foreign shareholder pays 44.45% in total on repatriated profit.
ProLatam Data Index
50.5
Rank 4 of 13, balanced weighting
ProLatam Score
49.5
Rank 3 of 13, market-entry weighting
Strongest pillar
English Proficiency
71 of 100
Weakest pillar
Safety
36 of 100
How Santiago scores on each pillar
Eight pillars, each normalized to 0 to 100 by a fixed published rule. A dash means the source does not cover Santiago, which is not the same as a zero. Coverage of the weighted index for this city is 100%.
Swipe the table sideways for the reported value, the weights and the source.
What a foreign shareholder pays in Chile
Corporate income tax plus the standard non-treaty withholding on the dividend paid out of what is left, which is the figure that actually reaches an owner abroad.
Total on repatriated profit
44.45%
Corporate income tax
27.0%
Dividend withholding
35.0%
Standard non-treaty rate
Compliance hours per year
296
World Bank Paying Taxes, 2018 data
Chile taxes on a worldwide basis, so worldwide income is in scope. The 27% headline rate understates the real cost. Under the partially integrated system only 65% of the corporate tax credits against the 35% additional tax, so a non-treaty foreign shareholder bears 44.45% on distributed profit; 35% with a treaty or under the SME regime.
Context, published but not scored
These shape a decision without belonging in the index. FDI inflows track the size of an economy rather than the appeal of a city, and a sovereign rating measures a government's ability to repay debt rather than a company's ability to operate.
GDP growth 2026
2.4%
IMF World Economic Outlook, national
FDI inflows
$14.2B
National, latest published year
Sovereign rating
A (Stable)
Long-term foreign currency
English proficiency
578 (High)
EF EPI city score, 1 to 800
Where Chile has moved since 2021
The rule of law pillar is the only one of the eight with a series comparable across five editions, so it is the only place this profile shows a direction rather than a snapshot. Scores are national, 0 to 1, higher is better.
2021
0.664
2022
0.663
2023
0.662
2024
0.657
2025
0.655
Over the period Chile weakened, -0.009 points. A move under 0.005 is reported as flat rather than as a trend. Compare all 10 economies.
Sectors with a documented presence
Data Centers
The Santiago Metropolitan Region had 43 operating data centers with 173 MW installed in 2024, up 620% in a decade, with USD 1.7 bn of investment projected to 2030.
SourceFintech & Financial Services
90% of FinteChile’s 200 member entities are based in the Metropolitan Region, and the financial regulator had authorized 179 entities under the Fintech Law by July 2025.
SourceWhere Chile's inbound FDI comes from
National statistics, share of inbound foreign direct investment.
- Canada14.6%
- United States10.3%
- Netherlands7.1%
- Spain6.7%
- Other61.3%
Banco Central de Chile, FDI stock at end-2024 (the country breakdown is published as a position, not as flows).
Citing the Santiago figures
Published under CC BY 4.0. Reuse is welcome, including commercially, with credit and a link.
Pro Latam. (2026). ProLatam Latin American City Investment Index 2026 (Version 2026.4) [Data set]. https://invest.pro-latam.orgSource: Pro Latam Investment Hub, ProLatam Data Index 2026 (https://invest.pro-latam.org). Updated 2026-09-04.
Considering Santiago for a market entry?
Pro Latam has been placing international companies in Latin America since 2010. The ranking is the public part of the work, and the rest is the part that depends on what you are actually trying to build.