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Country profile

Costa Rica

At a glance

  • Costa Rica has a population of about 5.2M; its total GDP of $102.9B ranks #73 of 168 countries with data.
  • Its surface area of 54,055 km² is about 28% of the world median of 190,157 km².
  • Surface area stands out most against the median: 54,055 km² — rank #129 of 176 countries with data.

Costa Rica: all 46 metrics vs the world median

Metric Value Rank vs median
Population & land
Population 5.2M (2025) #124 / 169 median 11.5M · 45%
Population growth 0.4% (2025) #121 / 169 median 1.1% · 41%
Urban population share 79.7% (2025) #39 / 169 median 63.8% · 1.2×
Population aged 65+ 12.8% (2025) #55 / 169 median 7.4% · 1.7×
Fertility rate 1.3 (2024) #148 / 169 median 2.1 · 63%
Birth rate 10.0‰ (2024) #125 / 169 median 16.0‰ · 63%
Death rate 5.6‰ (2024) #136 / 169 median 7.1‰ · 78%
Net migration 1K (2025) #59 / 169 N/A
Surface area 54,055 km² #129 / 176 median 190,157 km² · 28%
Population density derived 95.3/km² (2025) #70 / 169 median 73.2/km² · 1.3×
Economy
GDP (total) $102.9B (2025) #73 / 168 median $80.7B · 1.3×
GDP per capita $19,970 (2025) #49 / 168 median $6,834 · 2.9×
GNI per capita $17,930 (2025) #51 / 168 median $6,350 · 2.8×
GDP growth (annual) 4.6% (2025) #48 / 168 median 3.1% · 1.5×
Inflation rate -0.1% (2025) #152 / 162 N/A
Unemployment rate 6.8% (2025) #58 / 168 median 5.1% · 1.3×
Gini index 45.5 (2025) #16 / 153 median 35.3 · 1.3×
Poverty rate ($2.15/day) 0.8% (2025) #101 / 153 median 2.5% · 32%
Trade & industry
Exports share of GDP 38.8% (2025) #73 / 163 median 35.0% · 1.1×
Imports share of GDP 32.6% (2025) #103 / 163 median 40.2% · 81%
Agriculture share of GDP 3.4% (2025) #114 / 168 median 7.2% · 47%
Manufacturing share of GDP 13.6% (2025) #53 / 165 median 11.2% · 1.2×
International tourist arrivals 1.1M (2020) #80 / 162 median 1.1M · 1.0×
Tourism receipts $1.5B (2020) #62 / 165 median $705M · 2.1×
Health & education
Life expectancy 81.0 years (2024) #31 / 169 median 73.8 years · 1.1×
Infant mortality 9.1‰ (2024) #101 / 166 median 13.1‰ · 70%
Under-five mortality 10.4‰ (2024) #101 / 166 median 15.8‰ · 66%
DPT immunization 99.0% (2024) #2 / 166 median 90.5% · 1.1×
Hospital beds 1.1 per 1,000 (2022) #117 / 167 median 2.0 per 1,000 · 56%
Health spending share of GDP 6.9% (2023) #77 / 165 median 6.5% · 1.1×
Secondary school enrollment 121.8% (2024) #10 / 167 median 90.5% · 1.3×
Education spending share of GDP 5.3% (2023) #38 / 165 median 4.1% · 1.3×
Society & living
Human Development Index 0.833 (2023) #52 / 165 median 0.754 · 1.1×
Internet users 87.2% (2024) #64 / 169 median 81.5% · 1.1×
Mobile subscriptions 136.0 per 100 (2024) #36 / 169 median 116.4 per 100 · 1.2×
Fixed broadband 23.3 per 100 (2024) #61 / 168 median 12.1 per 100 · 1.9×
Electricity access 99.8% (2024) #88 / 169 median 99.9% · 100%
Environment & security
CO₂ emissions per capita 1.6 t (2024) #102 / 165 median 2.6 t · 62%
CO₂ emissions (total) derived 8.4 Mt (2024) #113 / 165 median 21.3 Mt · 39%
Renewable electricity share 99.4% (2021) #5 / 169 median 34.1% · 2.9×
Renewable energy consumption 34.2% (2021) #67 / 169 median 26.9% · 1.3×
Forest area 60.4% (2023) #21 / 169 median 32.4% · 1.9×
Agricultural land 33.1% (2023) #104 / 169 median 41.7% · 80%
Arable land 3.3% (2023) #130 / 168 median 11.0% · 30%
PM2.5 exposure 17.7 µg/m³ (2023) #98 / 168 median 19.8 µg/m³ · 89%
Military spending N/A N/A N/A

Ranks are value-descending and count only the countries that have data for that metric (#1 = highest value); N/A rows occupy no rank.

The median is the unweighted middle value across the countries with data (gold tick) — not a world average. Bars grow with the value: reaching the tick means matching the median, and a full bar means twice the median or more. The median value and this country's multiple are noted under each bar.

Costa Rica's true-shape outline

Costa Rica's border outline from Natural Earth 1:110m boundaries — total surface area 54,055 km².

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Data & method

Indicators: World Bank Open Data, 43 indicators — CC BY 4.0 © World Bank — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; Human Development Index — CC BY 3.0 IGO © United Nations Development Programme — https://hdr.undp.org/terms-use

Boundaries: Natural Earth 1:110m (public domain); surface areas are computed with an equal-area spherical formula (Chamberlin–Duquette).

Reference facts (capital, languages, currencies, subregion): mledoze/countries (ODbL).