I’ve said it at least a hundred times, and I’ll say it at least a hundred more… the vast majority of the world’s best high-yield stocks are NOT based in the United States…

Don’t believe me?

#-ad_banner-#My staff and I recently ran the numbers… When we looked only at the companies that turned a profit over the past year, we found just 119 U.S. common stocks paying yields of more than 12%. But 204 additional stocks are out there yielding 12% or more… all coming from international-based companies.

That means many income investors who focus exclusively on the U.S. are essentially missing out on twice as many high-yielders before they even get started.

Today, I want to tell you about one of my absolute favorite countries for finding high yielders. And I bet most investors haven’t even considered looking here…

It’s a country that rarely gets any mention by the mainstream financial media.

Sure, you hear about India, China, Russia, and Brazil. And for good reason — those countries have grown at incredible rates over the years, which have made many investors rich already… and will make even more people wealthy in the years ahead.

But for my money, I don’t know if there is a better place to invest than Chile.

It’s small — its total GDP is roughly $277 billion. Meanwhile, only 17.6 million people call Chile home… giving it a smaller population than Florida.

Right now, Chile’s economy is growing at a 4.1% annual rate — more than twice as fast the United States. That growth is accompanied by perhaps the most fiscally conservative government on the planet. National debt in the United States sits at 74% of GDP according to the CIA World Factbook. But Chile’s public debt totals just 15% of GDP.

In fact, it is required by law to run a budget surplus unless there are extreme circumstances. We haven’t seen a budget surplus here in the U.S. since 2000.

This good governance has allowed the country to flourish. Poverty has fallen from 45% in the ’80s to 14.4% today — a dramatic move in a little more than two decades. Meanwhile, unemployment sits at just 6.5% today.

One more thing… Chilean companies are required by law to pay dividends.

That sounds almost too good to be true for U.S. investors. It’s one thing that income investors have always had to remember — dividends are optional. Dividends can be cut at any time, for any reason. While bonds are required to pay interest, there is usually nothing requiring a company to pay a dividend to its investors.

But in Chile, public companies are required to pay at least 30% of their net income out to shareholders. In that regard, the mandate is basically a tax… but instead of the government grabbing their share, it goes to investors.

There’s more good news. You don’t need a specialized brokerage account to own Chilean stocks, and you don’t have to buy the stocks directly from the Santiago Stock Exchange.

For example, the Aberdeen Chile Fund (NYSE: CH) holds a stake in about 20 Chilean companies. By simply buying shares of the fund here in the U.S., you’re buying a stake in these firms. The fund has paid investors $0.68 in dividends per share during the past year, for more than a 12% yield at recent prices.

It gets even better when you look more closely at individual companies that Chile has to offer. In the past I’ve highlighted as many as a dozen different Chilean stocks that are listed on U.S. exchanges.

To learn how to access to this latest issue and get details about several more of the world’s highest yielders, you’ll want to see this presentation. In it, you’ll get several examples of stocks — with names and ticker symbols — you can use to start your own international high-yield portfolio. Click here to find out more.