Economy

Imports
$13.4 billion (2021). Broadcasting Equipment ($1.52B), Refined Petroleum ($1.4B), Cars ($515M), Pesticides ($340M), and Mixed Mineral or Chemical Fertilizers ($290M), importing mostly from China ($3.73B), Brazil ($3.06B), United States ($1.55B), Argentina ($1.13B), and Chile ($437M).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 27.1% have an account with a financial institution
• 3.2% have a credit card
• 37.7% have a mobile money account

Ease of doing business
Ease of conducting business is medium (rated 59.1 out of 100). Ranked 18th out of 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Ranked 125th out of 190 countries worldwide (2022, World Bank)

Exports
$10.8 billion (2021). Soybeans ($2.99B), Electricity ($1.63B), Bovine Meat ($790M), Frozen Bovine Meat ($777M), and Soybean Meal ($766M), exporting mostly to Brazil ($3.56B), Argentina ($2.65B), Chile ($1.01B), Russia ($757M), and India ($235M).

Main local online stores
ComprasParaguai.com.br, Compras no Paraguai, MEGA ELETRONICOS, Navenet Atacado, Master10, xoppi.com, paraguailojaseprodutos.com, Stock.

Economic freedom
‘Moderately free’ (rated 61 out of 100). Ranked 16th out of 32 Latin American countries. Ranked 76th out of 186 countries worldwide (2023, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Global Innovation Index
Ranked 12th out of 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries, and 91st out of 132 worldwide.

The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Source: Statista

Source: OEC

Media

Media language Spanish

Information channels
Privately-owned and state outlets make up the broadcasting landscape. Radio is a key news medium. Major business groups dominate the media industry. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says ownership is concentrated in a few hands. The constitution provides for a free press and media operate with few official curbs. The border area where Paraguay meets Brazil and Argentina is particularly dangerous for reporters attempting to cover crime and corruption stories, says Freedom House.

The press

ABC Color – private daily
La Nación – private daily
Ultima Hora – private daily

Television

NPY (Noticias Paraguay) – private
Telefuturo (Canal 4) – private
Sistema Nacional de Television (Canal 9) – private
RPC (Canal 13) – private
Paraguay TV HD – state-owned

Radio

Radio Nacional del Paraguay – state-owned
Radio Cardinal – private, news, talk
Radio Nanduti – private, news, talk
Radio Venus – private, Asuncion FM station
Radio Canal 100 – private, Asuncion FM station

Internet Data

Internet users
81.4% penetration, 5.55 million

Share of web traffic by device
74.58% mobile phones, 24.65% computers (laptops and desktops), 0.70% tablet devices and 0.06% other devices.

Median speed of mobile Internet connection
17.45  Mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
68.24 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 110.2%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 86.8%

Most popular web search engines
Google (96.23%), Bing (2.76%), Petal Search (0.53%), Yahoo! (0.25%), DuckduckGo (0.1%),  other (0.13%).

Most used social media
Facebook (96.21%), Instagram (1.87%), Twitter (0.75%), Pinterest (0.69%), YouTube (0.43%), Reddit (0.02%), Tumblr (0.02%), other (0.01%).

Social statistics

Life expectancy
70 yrs (2021)

Gender
In cultural terms, women are generally still seen as sexual objects and charged with household duties, even if they hold a full-time position. In other words, Paraguay considerably lags first world standards in women’s equality. The workplace is really a man’s world in Paraguay. In recent years, women have gained access to many positions in the job market as well as in politics, economics, but still face a lot of sexual harassment despite the many interest groups and the government is working to minimize this situation.

Class
A strong sense of social class pervades Paraguayan society. The classes are defined by a combination of family origins, education level and income level. Inflation is high and the lower class is currently paying the consequences of a deteriorated economy, with wages, already low, not keeping pace with inflation. In the workplace, lower classes may feel resentment toward the higher class while the higher classes may feel disdain for the lower classes. People from the higher classes tend to have the higher positions, with the lower classes filling the lower positions with less pay.

Corruption perceptions Index
Paraguay scored 28 out of 100, ranked 137 out 180 countries worldwide.

Religion
Paraguay is mainly a Catholic country, but there is a proliferation of Christian sects, Mormons, Baptists and Protestant. Paraguayan people are believers and religious holidays are very important. In the workplace, staff are expected to participate in ceremonies or funerals, especially on the death of an immediate family member of a colleague. The default assumption is that one is Catholic.

Ethnicity
Most Paraguayans are mestizo, of Spanish and Native Indian origins. True indigenous  people are a minority and there are some European, Asian, Middle Eastern and Argentine immigrants. Historically, Paraguay experienced the most peaceful inter-mix of the European and indigenous people. Hence Paraguay has two official languages, Spanish and Guarani. Paraguay is truly a bilingual country with a high percentage of people speaking both official languages. 

World Happiness Index
Paraguay ranked 73 out of 137 countries, with a score of 5.578.

Current education expenditure
94.2% of total expenditure in public institutions

Current health expenditure
7.58% of GDP

CO2 emissions
1.1 metric tons per capita