^{With the best healthcare system in Latin America, according to the WHO, Colombia’s healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors are expected to close 2021 with a higher growth rate than the country’s and continue to grow in the coming years. Bogota is positioned as the epicenter of this growth.}

According to ECLAC data, the pharmaceutical and health services sectors in Colombia are projected to grow by 12% and 5.5% respectively by the end of 2021, after a 2020 in which more than 8% of the country’s GDP was concentrated in these sectors.

In addition, between 2020 and 2024, the compound annual growth rate of Colombia’s healthcare spending is expected to be over 8%, according to figures from Fitch Ratings. For the same year, a growth of close to 5% is expected in the pharmaceutical sector.

The Bogota Region is the main driver of this growth. It concentrates 22% of the total number of health system affiliates in Colombia, as well as 21% of the health service providers and 30% of the health professionals available in the country.

The city-region is also home to 66% of the pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Colombia, with large companies such as Bayer, Roche and Novartis, and is positioned as an export platform for the region with 47% of the country’s exports in this sector.

“Bogota is one of the main healthcare hubs in Latin America. In addition to being a point from which products are exported to the entire region, it is a center for the provision of medical services due to the quality of its professionals and its competitive costs. Proof of this is that between 2014 and 2019, medical tourism in Colombia grew 112%, and half of those who traveled for medical reasons to the country chose Bogota for their treatments,” says Isabella Muñoz, executive director of Invest in Bogota.

In order to further develop these industries in the city, during 2021, Bogota’s foreign investment attraction agency held business agendas with companies from India, China, Japan, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, after which, 18 opportunities arose that could bring to the city an estimated amount of more than USD 90 million in investment in the coming years and generate numerous highly qualified jobs.