r/dataisbeautiful • u/latinometrics OC: 73 • 2d ago
OC [OC] Cities' internet speed vs. digital nomad ranking in LatAm
🌎 💻 Mexico City locals are marching in the streets against digital nomads driving up their rent - but it's not the only LatAm hotspot facing this dilemma ↓
In case you missed it, hundreds of locals marched across Mexico’s capital and largest city in protest of a spike in mass tourism and digital nomads which began a few years back with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The chilangos carried signs raging against the rising cost of living and gentrification across their city, in particular in sought-after neighborhoods like Condesa, Polanco, and Roma. They demanded stricter housing laws and regulation.
While Mexico City may be seeing the most virulent response to the influx of digital nomads since 2020, it’s far from the only metropolis attracting these remote workers. Across Latin America, teleworkers have traded in high US or European prices for sun, good food, and cheaper rents.
Let’s take a look at which places in our region they like the most, according to nomads.com, a site that helps them connect.
In fact, the world-famous carioca beaches of Leblon and Ipanema, classical architecture of Buenos Aires, and sensational food scene of São Paulo have all attracted international workers to come and establish their residency.
Governments across the region – including Mexico – have rolled out the red carpet for these foreigners (with their dollar- and euro-denominated salaries), with Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama among the countries which have established a digital nomad visa in recent years. Colombia has one in the pipeline.
story continues... 💌
Source: Nomads.com
Tools: Figma, Rawgraphs
48
29
u/LupusDeusMagnus 2d ago
I have opinions on the rank going having 1at zero.
Also, how the fuck the internet ranking caps at... 17? I'm from curitiba and I don't even think I could sign a plan for anything under 100Mbps.
-4
u/cutcss 1d ago
17 real speed in average, not the ads (AKA theoretical) speed
7
u/LupusDeusMagnus 1d ago
Who is getting only 17 Mbps? Maybe they mean 17MB/s? Even in the worst of days I don't get under 6 MB/s/ 150 Mbps.
6
u/saints21 1d ago
I was wondering this. What kind of "digital nomad" is cool with 17mbps or less?
That's a terrible connection.
8
u/IamGeoMan 1d ago
Monthly spend on what? X-axis isn't even labeled. Having to read other's comments assume and piece together a semblance of what the data means is the opposite of beautiful.
6
u/Lichenic 1d ago
Monthly spend and internet speed are both factors that the nomad ranking already considers, they’re directly correlated so the trend is not very meaningful. Still, interesting!
34
u/Fuquin 2d ago
"Nomads", fancy word for immigrants and gentrifiers.
9
u/danielv123 1d ago
Isn't the important distinction that these are people who work remotely from a different country, so they are more like permanent tourists to the local economy?
4
u/The_grope_gatsby 2d ago
You should’ve seen the post that got taken down a few minutes ago about immigrants.
12
u/lollipop999 2d ago
Don't digital nomads usually stay somewhere for like 1 month max? Immigrants usually move to a place and stay there long term
7
u/dcux OC: 2 2d ago
I think the phrase USED to mean exclusively that, but "expats" (already a sanitized and loaded word) was the more common phrase. If higher income Europeans or Americans do it, they call themselves "expats" or "digital nomads" as if it's trendy.
If lower-income people come to higher income countries they're called "migrants" or "immigrants."
Gentrification has become a problem on an international scale. And it's only going to get worse.
5
u/largemanrob 1d ago
It makes sense to call someone an expat if they have left the country you are from though?
-2
u/Badestrand 1d ago
Stop outraging, it's not about income or where people come from. The terms immigrant, expat and digital nomand all have different meanings depending on the intention about the stay of the person. Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean that everyone else has to change.
1
u/Fuquin 18h ago
Enlighten us with the correct definition
1
u/Badestrand 17h ago
Digital Nomad: Working remotely for a foreign company or freelancing and coming to the host country only for a couple of weeks/months as a very temporary stay.
Expat: Originally the employees that were sent abroad by their companies to help out in the host country's branch. Now includes people who go to live and work in another country temporarily, usually a few years.
Immigrant: Everyone who comes into a country to stay permanently, wants to make it their new forever home and acquire citizenship.
--
Suppose a French man meets a wonderful woman in India and decides to move and settle there because he loves the country - he is now an immigrant to India.
Suppose a Afghan company sends an employee to Germany to look for customers there - this Afghan person is now an expat in Germany.
Suppose a Pakistani web developer works remotely for a US company and travels the world, always staying 2 months in a country before moving on. This person is now a digital nomad.
You can see, this has nothing to do with skin color or the socioeconomic background of the person and only about the intention and length of their stay.
2
4
u/YOBlob 2d ago
Kind of interesting that the first world has managed to export the "all our problems are caused by immigrants" sentiment to countries that are usually thought of as the source of problematic immigrants. Just like a really quaint symmetry where you have Americans blaming everything on Mexicans and Mexicans blaming everything on Americans.
1
u/chandy_dandy 1d ago
People don't like it when they have competition in what they feel is their safe space, especially when its from an identifiable outgroup, quelle surprise
5
u/tolerable_fine 2d ago
This article is downplaying the extent of anti-american/racist sentiment in those protests in Mexico.
It seems that I can only attach one photo here but there are worse banners like "speak Spanish or get out."
10
u/danielv123 1d ago
Speak Spanish or get out seems fair to me unlike that one?
4
5
u/tolerable_fine 1d ago edited 1d ago
First thing I thought when I saw that was what if we said speak English or get out here, especially to Mexicans. Especially considering that those they're protesting against entered Mexico legally, unlike the largest ethnic group of illegal immigrants in the US.
2
u/Rapid-Engineer 21h ago
Well this is awkward... Every time I heard the phase speak English or get out in the US I assumed it was racist people.
-3
u/Gandalf-and-Frodo 1d ago
Just don't go to Mexico city and you'll be fine. It's polluted and expensive as hell there anyways.
There's far better cities in Mexico IMHO.
1
u/oowowaee 1d ago
Am I missing this, or is Panama not here? And as someone who lives in Costa Rica, maybe I am out of the loop, but Liberia?
1
u/Either-Arachnid-629 17h ago
Brazilians don't really care about it, so I wouldn't call it a problem for us at all.
Sure, if they were as numerous as they are in Mexico, we might take issue, but immigrant numbers are irrelevant in comparison to our population.
We don't have neighboring countries with a significantly higher GDP per capita that would make Brazil the main destination, even if our cities rank highly.
1
-5
u/PubliusDeLaMancha 1d ago
Everyone who does this is a terrible person
Kind of interesting how techbros ended up worse than even finance bros
At least finance bros know they're bad people..
2
u/Rapid-Engineer 21h ago
People moving to a beautiful city to live doesn't make them bad. That kind of logic would literally prevent anyone from moving someplace they like.
1
-12
u/Jealous-Hedgehog-734 1d ago
My country was ruined by immigration. Why should I immigrate and ruin theirs? That's how multiculturalism works apparently, suck it up Mexicans.
That's why I've been an immigrant for most of my life anyway.
72
u/gokufire 2d ago
Am I reading this right? Curitiba (Brazil) seems attractive for digital nomads because the internet speed is high, the monthly spend is low and the nomads rank is low.