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    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
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    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
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    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
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    • Pisa, Italy
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  • Home
  • Countries

    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
    • Mexico
    • France
    • Montenegro
    • Browse All Countries

    Best For:

    • The Best Places To Retire
    • Health Care Abroad
    • Cost Of Living
    • Investing in Real Estate
    • Establishing Residency
    • Gun Laws In The World
    • English-Speaking Countries
    • Safest Places For Retirement
    • Best Places In Latin America
  • Budgets

    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

    Global Living

    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore & Diversification

    Making Money

    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing

    Follow Us:

    • Meet Our Experts
  • Real Estate

    Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

    • Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

    Go To The Overseas Property Alert Site

    • How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
  • Conferences

    Upcoming Events

    • Explore Our Events Site

    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Greece Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

    VIRTUAL

    Nov. 13, 2025

    Learn More About This Event
    Learn More About This Event
    PRE-REGISTER
    Learn More About This Event
    PRE-REGISTER
    • MORE EVENTS

    Contact Our Events Team

    Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
    1 (888) 627 8834
    From Outside North America:
    1 (443) 599 1221
    Working Hours
    Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

    Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

  • Store

    Unlock The World

    • Access Your Library

    Overseas Havens Reports

    • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

    Conference Kits

    • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

    Lahardan Books

    • Titles on living and investing around the world
    • Explore Our Store
    Your passport to a life well-lived abroad

    Services

    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
    The Simon Letter Wealth Protection Insights
    Global Property Advisor Global Investment Opportunities

    Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com

  • My Library
Live and Invest Overseas
 Free Panama Guide

LIVE AND INVEST IN PANAMA

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Home Countries Panama

Is Panama A Country In The Third World? Not Really, Here’s Why

Nothing Third World About This Place

by Kathleen Peddicord
Feb 16, 2022
in Panama
0 0
A panoramic image of Panama City, Panama

Adobe Stock/Dr. Jürgen Tenckhoff

“Kathleen, I’ve been thinking about making a move overseas, specifically to Panama, for years… but my wife… not so much…

“She grew up in a Peace Corps family. “I’ve lived in the Third World,’ she says… “I don’t want to do it again.’

“But I keep trying to tell her that Panama isn’t the Third World…

“Would you agree?”

So asked an attendee at this week’s Live And Invest In Panama Conference, which kicked off bright and early this sun-drenched morning here on the isthmus.

You’re darn tootin’ I’d agree, I told him.

Why We Don’t Consider Panama A Country In The Third World

-The Lifestyles Panama Offer

This little squiggle of a country packs tremendous lifestyle diversity within its borders… from cosmopolitan boom town Panama City to Boquete in the highlands, home to one of the biggest communities of expat retirees in the world…

From the City Beaches area within weekend-commuting distance of Panama City to the western Azuero coast with its dramatic cliffs and crashing surf…

From the islands of Bocas del Toro in the Caribbean to small towns in the interior like Chitre and Santa Fe…

Cosmopolitan and country… coastal and mountainside… island luxury and village basic… Panama offers it all.

And, no question, much of it is anything but Third World.

No city in the region compares with Panama City, as the speakers participating in our opening panel discussion this morning confirmed.

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Panama’s Revenue And Infrastructure

The Panama Canal generates US$2.7 billion annually… and the Cobre mine another US$500 million. That’s a lot of cash flowing through the economy of a country with a population of just over 4 million people.

Panamanians prioritize infrastructure. When other countries in the region say they’re going to pave a road or build a bridge, you shouldn’t hold your breath for the finished product. When Panama promises a new highway or an expanded airport terminal… you can bet on it.

Not only Panama City benefits. Recently, Lief and I visited Chitre on the Azuero Peninsula, which we hadn’t seen in more than a decade. We remembered Chitre as a small traditional town, charming but not impressive.

When we returned earlier this month, we were gobsmacked by how this town has grown up. Freshly paved highways and roads, wide sidewalks, one of the best hospitals in the country, and U.S.-style grocery stores and shopping make life in Chitre about as convenient as life gets.

“Nothing Third World about it,” agreed Dusty Tubbs, one of our opening session panelists.

“Ten years ago,” I told the crowd assembled in the room with us here in Panama City this morning, “Dusty was just like you. He sat where you’re sitting now, at one of our Panama conferences.

“Dusty and his wife Carolyn were looking for an escape hatch. They’d realized that they wouldn’t be able to afford to stop working anytime soon if they continued living in Hawaii. They wanted to slow down… to embrace  retirement lifestyle… but the dream seemed unrealistic…

“Until they opened their minds and their eyes to possibilities beyond U.S. borders.

“Their search for options overseas led them to us… then to one of our Panama conferences… and then, finally, to a new life in Panama. Dusty and Carolyn have been happy residents of Chitre for nearly nine years now.”

No, Panama is not a country In the third world…

Though I’m happy to be able to report that, if you’re looking for an escape from the troubles and the stresses of the First World… you can still find that here, too.

Way down at the bottom of the western coast of the Azuero Peninsula, for example, where Lief and I are creating a community at Los Islotes?

It’s remote, yes…

But the road down the coast has just been rebuilt and repaved…

And a gas station, a restaurant, a bar, and a small grocery store have recently opened just a kilometer from our front gate.

Los Islotes

The plan calls for underground utilities and central wastewater treatment. High-speed Internet is already available. Los Islotes will be the preeminent private residential community not only on this coast but in all Panama. Nothing else in the country will compare.

The vision for Los Islotes is not a development, but, again, a private community that will carry on for generations to come. Los Islotes is your chance to take a position in safe haven Panama while also securing your place in the country’s premier coastal community.

We at Los Islotes value beauty, history, and tradition. As a result, we also prize privacy, security, freedom, independence, and elbow room. And, yes, we like to be comfortable. If these ideas appeal to you, as well, we invite you to join the community at Los Islotes, the second-to-none private beachfront community on Panama’s Azuero Sunset Coast.

In conclusion, The First World is approaching.

We hope it takes its time.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Peddicord signature
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: is panama a third world countryLife In Panamalive in PanamaPanamapanama third worldretire in panamathird worldthird world country
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has reported on opportunities for Americans to live, retire, and do business overseas for 40 years. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 24, established businesses in 7, renovated and built properties in 6, and educated her children in 5.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets from the east coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland, then to Paris, France, and finally to Panama City, Panama, where she has based her Live And Invest Overseas business. Peddicord and her husband, Lief Simon, now divide their time between Panama and Paris.

Peddicord was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. She opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Waterford, Ireland; Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France. Peddicord launched Live And Invest Overseas group in 2008 and has built it into a successful multimillion-dollar business. Today, she shares her firsthand experience of expat life with more than 500,000 readers of her publications, including Overseas Opportunity Letter and Overseas Living Letter.

Kathleen has been featured often in The New York Times, MSNBC, AARP, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and more and writes monthly about expat matters, international real estate, and offshore diversification for Forbes and U.S. News.

Kathleen has written several books including the memoirs “At Home In Ireland” and “At Home At Los Islotes” and her latest title “At Home Abroad,” all published by Lahardan Books. Her best-selling "How To Retire Overseas: Everything You Need To Know To Live Well (For Less) Abroad” was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 and her “Buying Real Estate Overseas For Cash Flow (And A Better Life)” was published by Wiley in August 2020.

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Best For:

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BROWSE ALL COUNTRIES

Budgets

How Much Will It Cost
To Live Overseas?

Super Cheap

  • Chitré, Panama
  • Santa Marta, Colombia
  • Phuket, Thailand
  • Dumaguete, The Philippines

Cheap

  • Medellin, Colombia
  • Boquete, Panama
  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
  • The Algarve, Portugal

Affordable

  • Valencia, Spain
  • Cascais, Portugal
  • Las Terrenas, The DR
  • Pisa, Italy
  • La Rochelle, France
  • Mazatlán, Mexico

Luxury

  • Ambergris Caye, Belize
  • Kotor, Montenegro
  • The Panama City Beaches
  • Paris, France

Resources

Global Living

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VALENCIA, SPAIN Sep. 17-19, 2025
Learn More About This Event

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PANAMA CITY, PANAMA Oct. 15-17, 2025
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PRE-REGISTER

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VIRTUAL Nov. 13, 2025
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Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

Store

Overseas Havens Reports

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Lahardan Books

  • Titles on living and investing around the world

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