Paraguay sees 198% surge in digital nomads

Paraguay, the tax haven growing 198% among digital nomads

A Spaniard residing in Paraguay describes the country without sugarcoating it: "Summer is hell on earth, it's the hottest country in South America, a paradise for insects." Another, with a local partner, assures that "she is a wonderful woman, beautiful, simple, very loving and an exceptional lover." Between these two impressions lies a conversation of 147 replies over 553 days about a question increasingly asked aloud: does it make sense to move to Paraguay?

The trigger is objective data. The platform nomads.com ranks Asunción as the fastest-growing destination for digital nomads globally, with +198% in 2025, ahead of Da Nang (+167%) and Cape Town (+156%). The country has long marketed itself as the Southern Cone's tax haven and now adds the narrative of easy entrepreneurship. The problem is that the narrative clashes with the fine print.

What Paraguay offers those arriving with money

The fiscal argument is the most repeated. Paraguay applies a territorial system: only economic activity generated within the country is taxed. What is earned abroad — for example, in Panama — does not pass through the Spanish tax agency (Hacienda). For a self-employed digital worker or an investor with foreign income, the savings can be notable.

Added to this is that starting a business is cheap. Those who have been there for a while summarize it thus: the country is fertile ground because "everything is new." Land is affordable, there is a supply of large plots, and bureaucracy, although slow, does not suffocate. Residency is obtained relatively easily, and the cost of living allows buying property in good areas of Asunción with less capital than in any European capital.

The third pillar is security, or at least the perception of it. Compared to Barcelona's homicide rate, which a private calculation places at 0.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, Paraguay's ranges between 7 and 8. It is higher, yes, but well below other countries in the region. In Asunción, however, private security is omnipresent: guard booths on sidewalks, razor wire on walls, cameras everywhere, and armed guards in shops. A landscape that says much about the model.

Heat, mosquitoes and private healthcare

Those who have lived there for several years do not sell paradise. The climate is the first wall: extreme heat with humidity, all varieties of insects, and dengue. Public healthcare is weak, so those who can afford it pay for private care. Bureaucracy for serious matters is slow and exasperating.

The demographic profile also does not fit the image some project. The majority of the population considers itself mestizo, and there is a widespread obesity problem. Guaraní is spoken among locals and is not understood. Social life, polite on the surface, becomes opaque when something needs to be resolved.

The issue no one wants to put in writing

Part of the conversation drifts toward the dating market. Some argue that Paraguayan women are more accessible and less demanding than European women, attributing this to a historical demographic imbalance. Others deny it with data: the majority are obese, social life is closed off, and the real interest is financial. The full calculation, with specific cases and cost-of-living figures, is in the source.

What clearly appears is the profile of those who arrive: middle-aged men, with savings, looking for a country where their money goes further and their social life is simpler. The lingering question is whether this is a life project or an escape with an expiration date.

---

With 198% growth in digital nomads, Paraguay has ceased to be a secret. What remains unclear is whether those who arrive stay. One who left for Brazil four months ago summarizes it: "If things don't go well in one place, you go to another." Paraguay is, for now, the other.