Which Latin American Countries Attract the Most Migrants?
Argentina attracts twice as many foreign-born people as Mexico or Brazil, despite its troubled economy.
Argentina has one-third the population of Mexico and one-fourth the population of Brazil. And yet, it's home to twice as much foreign-born population than either country.
When we hear about Argentina, if we have no ties to that country, we usually hear of a troubled nation. Inflation reaches new, incomprehensible levels yearly, resulting in an absurdly devaluated currency. No wonder Argentina elected the most conservative (and perhaps first-ever libertarian) president in Latin America last week. Argentinians want a radical change from a perpetually frustrating economy.
Talks about currency leave little room for us to hear about another side of the country — its migrant population. From 2000 to 2020, this population rose by 48%. The trends of inflation and migration might seem like isolated occurrences; they're probably anything but. With a currency that can't keep up with the outside world, one can easily travel in relative luxury in Argentina.
According to crowd-sourced data from Numbeo, rent for an apartment in downtown Buenos Aires, a city that in many ways looks like Europe, is more than 50% cheaper than in Mexico City. Similar comparisons hold for every single grocery item that Numbeo tracks.
In the last century, Argentina had substantial immigration from Europe, particularly Spain and Italy; thus, those ethnicities are a big part of today's average citizen’s background. Since 2000, Spaniards and Italians have continued to find a home there, but its neighbors, particularly Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile, now make up most of the newly arrived foreign population.