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Costa Rica
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For cities in other countries, see Costa Rica, Sinaloa and Costa Rica, Mato Grosso
do Sul.
For other uses, see Costa Rica (disambiguation).
Coordinates: 10°N 84°W

Republic of Costa Rica

República de Costa Rica (Spanish)
Flag of Costa Rica
Flag
Coat of arms of Costa Rica
Coat of arms
Anthem: "Himno Nacional de Costa Rica" (Spanish)
"National Anthem of Costa Rica"
MENU0:00
Location of Costa Rica
Capital
and largest city
San José
9°56′N 84°5′W
Official languages Spanish
Recognized regional languages
MekatelyuBribriPatois
Ethnic groups (2011[2])
83.6% White/Castizo or Mestizo
6.7% Mulatto
2.4% Amerindian
1.1% Afro-Costa Rican
6.2% Others[1]
Religion (2018)[4] 79% Christianity
—52% Roman Catholic (official[3])
—25% Protestant
—2% Other Christian
17% No religion
1% Other religions
3% Undeclared
Demonym(s)
Costa RicanTico(a)
Government Unitary presidential constitutional republic
• President
Carlos Alvarado
• 1st Vice-President
Epsy Campbell Barr
• 2nd Vice-President
Marvin Rodríguez
Legislature Legislative Assembly
Independence declared
• from Spain
15 September 1821
• from First Mexican Empire
1 July 1823
• from the Federal
Republic of
Central America
14 November 1838
• Recognized by Spain
10 May 1850
• Constitution
7 November 1949[2]
Area
• Total
51,100 km2 (19,700 sq mi) (126th)
• Water (%)
0.7
Population
• 2018 estimate
4,999,441[5][6] (123rd)
• Density
220/sq mi (84.9/km2) (107th)
GDP (PPP) 2020 estimate
• Total
$95.791 billion[7]
• Per capita
$18,651[7]
GDP (nominal) 2020 estimate
• Total
$65.179 billion[7]
• Per capita
$12,690[7]
Gini (2019) Positive decrease 47.8[8]
high
HDI (2019) Increase 0.810[9]
very high · 62nd
Currency Costa Rican colón (CRC)
Time zone UTC−6 (CST)
Driving side right
Calling code +506
ISO 3166 code CR
Internet TLD .cr
.co.cr
Costa Rica (UK: /ˌkɒstə ˈriːkə/, US: /ˌkoʊstə/ (About this soundlisten); Spanish:
[ˈkosta ˈrika]; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica
(Spanish: República de Costa Rica), is a country in Central America, bordered by
Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the
southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, and Ecuador to the south of Cocos
Island. It has a population of around 5 million[5][6] in a land area of 51,060
square kilometers (19,714 square miles). An estimated 333,980 people live in the
capital and largest city, San José, with around 2 million people in the surrounding
metropolitan area.[10]

The sovereign state is a unitary presidential constitutional republic. It is known

for its long-standing and stable democracy, and for its highly educated workforce,
most of whom speak English.[11] The country spends roughly 6.9% of its budget
(2016) on education, compared to a global average of 4.4%.[11] Its economy, once
heavily dependent on agriculture, has diversified to include sectors such as
finance, corporate services for foreign companies, pharmaceuticals, and ecotourism.
Many foreign manufacturing and services companies operate in Costa Rica's Free
Trade Zones (FTZ) where they benefit from investment and tax incentives.[12]

Costa Rica was sparsely inhabited by indigenous peoples before coming under Spanish
rule in the 16th century. It remained a peripheral colony of the empire until
independence as part of the First Mexican Empire, followed by membership in the
Federal Republic of Central America, from which it formally declared independence
in 1847. Following the brief Costa Rican Civil War in 1948, it permanently
abolished its army in 1949, becoming one of only a few sovereign nations without a
standing army.[13][14][15]

The country has consistently performed favorably in the Human Development Index
(HDI), placing 68th in the world as of 2019, and fifth in Latin America.[9] It has
also been cited by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as having
attained much higher human development than other countries at the same income
levels, with a better record on human development and inequality than the median of
the region.[16] It performs also well on comparisons of the state of democracy,
press freedom and subjective happiness. It has the 7th freest press according to
the Press Freedom Index, it is the 37th most democratic country according to the
Freedom in the World index and it is the 12th happiest country in the World
Happiness Report.

Contents
1 History
1.1 Pre-Columbian period
1.2 Spanish colonization
1.3 Independence
1.4 Economic growth in the 19th century
1.4.1 20th century
2 Geography
2.1 Climate
2.2 Flora and fauna
3 Economy
3.1 Trade and foreign investment
3.2 Tourism
4 Government and politics
4.1 Administrative divisions
4.2 Foreign relations
4.3 Pacifism
5 Demographics
5.1 Largest cities
5.2 Religion
5.3 Languages
6 Culture
6.1 Cuisine
6.2 Sports
7 Education
8 Health
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
History
Main article: History of Costa Rica

A stone sphere created by the Diquis culture at the National Museum of Costa Rica.
The sphere is the icon of the country's cultural identity.
Pre-Columbian period
Main article: Pre-Columbian history of Costa Rica
Historians have classified the indigenous people of Costa Rica as belonging to the
Intermediate Area, where the peripheries of the Mesoamerican and Andean native
cultures overlapped. More recently, pre-Columbian Costa Rica has also been
described as part of the Isthmo-Colombian Area.

Stone tools, the oldest evidence of human occupation in Costa Rica, are associated
with the arrival of various groups of hunter-gatherers about 10,000 to 7,000 years
BCE in the Turrialba Valley. The presence of Clovis culture type spearheads and
arrows from South America opens the possibility that, in this area, two different
cultures coexisted.[17]

Agriculture became evident in the populations that lived in Costa Rica about 5,000
years ago. They mainly grew tubers and roots. For the first and second millennia
BCE there were already settled farming communities. These were small and scattered,
although the timing of the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture as
the main livelihood in the territory is still unknown.[18]

The earliest use of pottery appears around 2,000 to 3,000 BCE. Shards of pots,
cylindrical vases, platters, gourds and other forms of vases decorated with
grooves, prints, and some modelled after animals have been found.[19]

The impact of indigenous peoples on modern Costa Rican culture has been relatively
small compared to other nations, since the country lacked a strong native
civilization to begin with. Most of the native population was absorbed into the
Spanish-speaking colonial society through inter-marriage, except for some small
remnants, the most significant of which are the Bribri and Boruca tribes who still
inhabit the mountains of the Cordillera de Talamanca, in the southeastern part of
Costa Rica, near the frontier with Panama.

Spanish colonization
The name la costa rica, meaning "rich coast" in the Spanish language, was in some
accounts first applied by Christopher Columbus, who sailed to the eastern shores of
Costa Rica during his final voyage in 1502,[20] and reported vast quantities of
gold jewelry worn by natives.[21] The name may also have come from conquistador Gil
González Dávila, who landed on the west coast in 1522, encountered natives, and
obtained some of their gold, sometimes by violent theft and sometimes as gifts from
local leaders.[22]

The Ujarrás historical site in the Orosí Valley, Cartago province. The church was
built between 1686 and 1693.
During most of the colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the
Captaincy General of Guatemala, nominally part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In
practice, the captaincy general was a largely autonomous entity within the Spanish
Empire. Costa Rica's distance from the capital of the captaincy in Guatemala, its
legal prohibition under Spanish law from trade with its southern neighbor Panama,
then part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (i.e. Colombia), and lack of resources
such as gold and silver, made Costa Rica into a poor, isolated, and sparsely-
inhabited region within the Spanish Empire.[23] Costa Rica was described as "the
poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America" by a Spanish governor in
1719.[24]

Another important factor behind Costa Rica's poverty was the lack of a significant
indigenous population available for encomienda (forced labor), which meant most of
the Costa Rican settlers had to work on their own land, preventing the
establishment of large haciendas (plantations). For all these reasons, Costa Rica
was, by and large, unappreciated and overlooked by the Spanish Crown and left to
develop on its own. The circumstances during this period are believed to have led
to many of the idiosyncrasies for which Costa Rica has become known, while
concomitantly setting the stage for Costa Rica's development as a more egalitarian
society than the rest of its neighbors. Costa Rica became a "rural democracy" with
no oppressed mestizo or indigenous class. It was not long before Spanish settlers
turned to the hills, where they found rich volcanic soil and a milder climate than
that of the lowlands.[25]

Independence
See also: Free State of Costa Rica and First Costa Rican Republic
Like the rest of Central America, Costa Rica never fought for independence from
Spain. On 15 September 1821, after the final Spanish defeat in the Mexican War of
Independence (1810–21), the authorities in Guatemala declared the independence of
all of Central America. That date is still celebrated as Independence Day in Costa
Rica[26] even though, technically, under the Spanish Constitution of 1812 that had
been readopted in 1820, Nicaragua and Costa Rica had become an autonomous province
with its capital in León.

Upon independence, Costa Rican authorities faced the issue of officially deciding
the future of the country. Two bands formed, the Imperialists, defended by Cartago
and Heredia cities which were in favor of joining the Mexican Empire, and the
Republicans, represented by the cities of San José and Alajuela who defended full
independence. Because of the lack of agreement on these two possible outcomes, the
first civil war of Costa Rica occurred. The Battle of Ochomogo took place on the
Hill of Ochomogo, located in the Central Valley in 1823. The conflict was won by
the Republicans and, as a consequence, the city of Cartago lost its status as the
capital, which moved to San José.[27][28][29]

The 1849 national coat of arms was featured in the first postal stamp issued in
1862.
In 1838, long after the Federal Republic of Central America ceased to function in
practice, Costa Rica formally withdrew and proclaimed itself sovereign. The
considerable distance and poor communication routes between Guatemala City and the
Central Plateau, where most of the Costa Rican population lived then and still
lives now, meant the local population had little allegiance to the federal
government in Guatemala. From colonial times to now, Costa Rica's reluctance to
become economically tied with the rest of Central America has been a major obstacle
to efforts for greater regional integration.[30]

Until 1849, when it became part of Panama, Chiriquí was part of Costa Rica. Costa
Rican pride was assuaged for the loss of this eastern (or southern) territory with
the acquisition of Guanacaste, in the north.

Economic growth in the 19th century

See also: Liberal State
Coffee was first planted in Costa Rica
tobacco, sugar, and cacao as a primary
Rica's principal source of wealth well
class of growers, the so-called Coffee
the country.[33][34]
in 1808,[31] and by the 1820s, it surpassed
export. Coffee production remained Costa
into the 20th century, creating a wealthy
Barons.[32] The revenue helped to modernize

Most of the coffee exported was grown around the main centers of population in the
Central Plateau and then transported by oxcart to the Pacific port of Puntarenas
after the main road was built in 1846.[34] By the mid-1850s the main market for
coffee was Britain.[35] It soon became a high priority to develop an effective
transportation route from the Central Plateau to the Atlantic Ocean. For this
purpose, in the 1870s, the Costa Rican government contracted with U.S. businessman
Minor C. Keith to build a railroad from San José to the Caribbean port of Limón.
Despite enormous difficulties with construction, disease, and financing, the
railroad was completed in 1890.[36]

Most Afro-Costa Ricans descend from Jamaican immigrants who worked in the
construction of that railway and now make up about 3% of Costa Rica's population.
[37] U.S. convicts, Italians and Chinese immigrants also participated in the
construction project. In exchange for completing the railroad, the Costa Rican
government granted Keith large tracts of land and a lease on the train route, which
he used to produce bananas and export them to the United States. As a result,
bananas came to rival coffee as the principal Costa Rican export, while foreign-
owned corporations (including the United Fruit Company later) began to hold a major
role in the national economy and eventually became a symbol of the exploitative
export economy.[38] The major labor dispute between the peasants and the United
Fruit Company (The Great Banana Strike) was a major event in the country's history
and was an important step that would eventually lead to the formation of effective
trade unions in Costa Rica, as the company was required to sign a collective
agreement with its workers in 1938.[39][40]

20th century
See also: Reform State
Historically, Costa Rica has generally enjoyed greater peace and more consistent
political stability than many of its fellow Latin American nations. Since the late
19th century, however, Costa Rica has experienced two significant periods of
violence. In 1917–19, General Federico Tinoco Granados ruled as a military dictator
until he was overthrown and forced into exile. The unpopularity of Tinoco's regime
led, after he was overthrown, to a considerable decline in the size, wealth, and
political influence of the Costa Rican military. In 1948, José Figueres Ferrer led
an armed uprising in the wake of a disputed presidential election between Rafael
Ángel Calderón Guardia (who had been president between 1940 and 1944) and Otilio
Ulate Blanco.[41] With more than 2,000 dead, the resulting 44-day Costa Rican Civil
War was the bloodiest event in Costa Rica during the 20th century.

The victorious rebels formed a government junta that abolished the military
altogether, and oversaw the drafting of a new constitution by a democratically
elected assembly.[42] Having enacted these reforms, the junta transferred power to
Ulate on 8 November 1949. After the coup d'état, Figueres became a national hero,
winning the country's first democratic election under the new constitution in 1953.
Since then, Costa Rica has held 14 presidential elections, the latest in 2018. With
uninterrupted democracy dating back to at least 1948, the country is the region's
most stable.[43][44]

Geography
Main article: Geography of Costa Rica

Costa Rica map of Köppen climate classification

Costa Rica borders the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the
west. Costa Rica also borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south.

The highest point in the country is Cerro Chirripó, at 3,819 metres (12,530 ft).
The highest volcano in the country is the Irazú Volcano (3,431 m or 11,257 ft) and
the largest lake is Lake Arenal. There are 14 known volcanoes in Costa Rica, and
six of them have been active in the last 75 years.[45]

Climate
Costa Rica experiences a tropical climate year round. There are two seasons. The
"summer" or dry season is December to April, and "winter" or rainy season is May to
November.

Flora and fauna

Red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas)

There is a rich variety of plants and Costa Rican wildlife.

One national park, the Corcovado National Park, is internationally renowned among
ecologists for its biodiversity (including big cats and tapirs) and is where
visitors can expect to see an abundance of wildlife.[46][47] Corcovado is the one
park in Costa Rica where all four Costa Rican monkey species can be found.[48]
These include the white-headed capuchin, the mantled howler, the endangered
Geoffroy's spider monkey,[48][49] and the Central American squirrel monkey, found
only on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and a small part of Panama, and considered
endangered until 2008, when its status was upgraded to vulnerable. Deforestation,
illegal pet-trading, and hunting are the main reasons for its threatened status.
[50] Costa Rica is the first tropical country to have stopped and reversed
deforestation; it has successfully restored its forestry and developed an ecosystem
service to teach biologists and ecologists about its environmental protection
measures.[51] The country had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of
4.65/10, ranking it 118th globally out of 172 countries.[52]

Economy
Ambox current red Americas.svg
This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent
events or newly available information. (September 2019)

An Intel microprocessor facility in Costa Rica that was, at one time, responsible
for 20% of Costa Rican exports and 5% of the country's GDP.
Main article: Economy of Costa Rica
The country has been considered economically stable with moderate inflation,
estimated at 2.6% in 2017,[53] and moderately high growth in GDP, which increased
from US$41.3 billion in 2011 to US$52.6 billion in 2015.[54] The estimated GDP for
2017 is US$61.5 billion and the estimated GDP per capita (purchasing power parity)
is US$12,382.[53] The growing debt and budget deficit are the country's primary
concerns.[55] A 2017 study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development warned that reducing the foreign debt must be a very high priority for
the government. Other fiscal reforms were also recommended to moderate the budget
deficit.[56]

Many foreign companies (manufacturing and services) operate in Costa Rica's Free
Trade Zones (FTZ) where they benefit from investment and tax incentives.[12] Well
over half of that type of investment has come from the U.S.[57] According to the
government, the zones supported over 82,000 direct jobs and 43,000 indirect jobs in
2015.[58] Companies with facilities in the America Free Zone in Heredia, for
example, include Intel, Dell, HP, Bayer, Bosch, DHL, IBM and Okay Industries.[59]
[60]

Of the GDP, 5.5% is generated by agriculture, 18.6% by industry and 75.9% by

services. (2016)[53] Agriculture employs 12.9% of the labor force, industry 18.57%,
services 69.02% (2016)[61] For the region, its unemployment level is moderately
high (8.2% in 2016, according to the IMF).[53] Although 20.5% of the population
lives below the poverty line (2017),[62] Costa Rica has one of the highest
standards of living in Central America.[63]

High quality health care is provided by the government at low cost to the users.
[64] Housing is also very affordable. Costa Rica is recognized in Latin America for
the quality of its educational system. Because of its educational system, Costa
Rica has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America, 97%.[65] General Basic
Education is mandatory and provided without cost to the user.[66] A US government
report confirms that the country has "historically placed a high priority on
education and the creation of a skilled work force" but notes that the high school
drop-out rate is increasing. As well, Costa Rica would benefit from more courses in
languages such as English, Portuguese, Mandarin and French and also in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).[65]

Trade and foreign investment

Costa Rica has free trade agreements with many countries, including the US. There
are no significant trade barriers that would affect imports and the country has
been lowering its tariffs in accordance with other Central American countries.[67]
The country's Free Trade Zones provide incentives for manufacturing and service
industries to operate in Costa Rica. In 2015, the zones supported over 82 thousand
direct jobs and 43 thousand indirect jobs in 2015 and average wages in the FTZ were
1.8 times greater than the average for private enterprise work in the rest of the
country.[58] In 2016, Amazon.com for example, had some 3,500 employees in Costa
Rica and planned to increase that by 1,500 in 2017, making it an important
employer.[11]

The central location provides access to American markets and direct ocean access to
Europe and Asia. The most important exports in 2015 (in order of dollar value) were
medical instruments, bananas, tropical fruits, integrated circuits and orthopedic
appliances.[68] Total imports in that year were US$15 billion. The most significant
products imported in 2015 (in order of dollar value) were refined petroleum,
automobiles, packaged medications, broadcasting equipment and computers. The total
exports were US$12.6 billion for a trade deficit of US$2.39 billion in 2015.[68]

A coffee plantation in the Orosí Valley

Pharmaceuticals, financial outsourcing, software development, and ecotourism have
become the prime industries in Costa Rica's economy. High levels of education among
its residents make the country an attractive investing location. Since 1999,
tourism earns more foreign exchange than the combined exports of the country's
three main cash crops: bananas and pineapples especially,[69] but also other crops,
including coffee.[70] Coffee production played a key role in Costa Rica's history
and in 2006, was the third cash crop export.[70] As a small country, Costa Rica now
provides under 1% of the world's coffee production.[34] In 2015, the value of
coffee exports was US$305.9 million, a small part of the total agricultural exports
of US$2.7 billion.[69] Coffee production increased by 13.7% percent in 2015–16,
declined by 17.5% in 2016–17, but was expected to increase by about 15% in the
subsequent year.[71]

Costa Rica has developed a system of payments for environmental services.[72]

Similarly, Costa Rica has a tax on water pollution to penalize businesses and
homeowners that dump sewage, agricultural chemicals, and other pollutants into
waterways.[73] In May 2007, the Costa Rican government announced its intentions to
become 100% carbon neutral by 2021.[74] By 2015, 93 percent of the country's
electricity came from renewable sources.[75] In 2019, the country produced 99.62%
of its electricity from renewable sources and ran completely on renewable sources
for 300 continuous days.[76]

In 1996, the Forest Law was enacted to provide direct financial incentives to
landowners for the provision of environmental services.[72] This helped reorient
the forestry sector away from commercial timber production and the resulting
deforestation, and helped create awareness of the services it provides for the
economy and society (i.e., carbon fixation, hydrological services such as producing
fresh drinking water, biodiversity protection, and provision of scenic beauty).[72]

A 2016 report by the U.S. government report identifies other challenges facing
Costa Rica as it works to expand its economy by working with companies from the US
(and probably from other countries).[65] The major concerns identified were as
follows:

The ports, roads, railways and water delivery systems would benefit from major
upgrading, a concern voiced by other reports too.[77] Attempts by China to invest
in upgrading such aspects were "stalled by bureaucratic and legal concerns".
The bureaucracy is "often slow and cumbersome".
Tourism
Main article: Tourism in Costa Rica
See also: List of airports in Costa Rica
Poás Volcano Crater is one of the country's main tourist attractions.
Costa Rica is the most-visited nation in the Central American region,[78] with 2.9
million foreign visitors in 2016, up 10% from 2015.[79] In 2015, the tourism sector
was responsible for 5.8% of the country's GDP, or $3.4 billion.[80] In 2016, the
highest number of tourists came from the United States, with 1,000,000 visitors,
followed by Europe with 434,884 arrivals.[81] According to Costa Rica Vacations,
once tourists arrive in the country, 22% go to Tamarindo, 18% go to Arenal, 17%
pass through Liberia (where the Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport is
located), 16% go to San José, the country's capital (passing through Juan
Santamaría International Airport), while 18% choose Manuel Antonio and 7%
Monteverde.[82]

By 2004, tourism was generating more revenue and foreign exchange than bananas and
coffee combined.[70][83] In 2016, the World Travel & Tourism Council's estimates
indicated a direct contribution to the GDP of 5.1% and 110,000 direct jobs in Costa
Rica; the total number of jobs indirectly supported by tourism was 271,000.[84]

A pioneer of ecotourism, Costa Rica draws many tourists to its extensive series of
national parks and other protected areas.[85] The trail Camino de Costa Rica
supports this by allowing travelers to walk across the country from the Atlantic to
the Pacific coast. In the 2011 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, Costa Rica
ranked 44th in the world and second among Latin American countries after Mexico in
2011.[86] By the time of the 2017 report, the country had reached 38th place,
slightly behind Panama.[87] The Ethical Traveler group's ten countries on their
2017 list of The World's Ten Best Ethical Destinations includes Costa Rica. The
country scored highest in environmental protection among the winners.[88] Costa
Rica began reversing deforestation in the 1990s, and they are moving towards using
only renewable energy.[89]

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Costa Rica
Administrative divisions

Provinces: 1 Alajuela, 2 Cartago, 3 Guanacaste, 4 Heredia, 5 Limón, 6 Puntarenas, 7

San José
Main article: Administrative divisions of Costa Rica
Costa Rica is composed of seven provinces, which in turn are divided into 82
cantons (Spanish: cantón, plural cantones), each of which is directed by a mayor.
Mayors are chosen democratically every four years by each canton. There are no
provincial legislatures. The cantons are further divided into 488 districts
(distritos).

Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Costa Rica

The extent of Costa Rica's western EEZ in the Pacific

Barack Obama and Laura Chinchilla with Costa Rican children in San José
Costa Rica is an active member of the United Nations and the Organization of
American States. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the United Nations
University of Peace are based in Costa Rica. It is also a member of many other
international organizations related to human rights and democracy, such as the
Community of Democracies. A main foreign policy objective of Costa Rica is to
foster human rights and sustainable development as a way to secure stability and
growth.[90]

Costa Rica is a member of the International Criminal Court, without a Bilateral

Immunity Agreement of protection for the United States military (as covered under
Article 98). Costa Rica is an observer of the Organisation internationale de la
Francophonie.

On 10 September 1961, some months after Fidel Castro declared Cuba a socialist
state, Costa Rican President Mario Echandi ended diplomatic relations with Cuba
through Executive Decree Number 2. This freeze lasted 47 years until President
Óscar Arias Sánchez re-established normal relations on 18 March 2009, saying, "If
we have been able to turn the page with regimes as profoundly different to our
reality as occurred with the USSR or, more recently, with the Republic of China,
how would we not do it with a country that is geographically and culturally much
nearer to Costa Rica?" Arias announced that both countries would exchange
ambassadors.[91]

Costa Rica has a long-term disagreement with Nicaragua over the San Juan River,
which defines the border between the two countries, and Costa Rica's rights of
navigation on the river.[92] In 2010, there was also a dispute around Isla Calero,
and the impact of Nicaraguan dredging of the river in that area.[93]

On 14 July 2009, the International Court of Justice in the Hague upheld Costa
Rica's navigation rights for commercial purposes to subsistence fishing on their
side of the river. An 1858 treaty extended navigation rights to Costa Rica, but
Nicaragua denied passenger travel and fishing were part of the deal; the court
ruled Costa Ricans on the river were not required to have Nicaraguan tourist cards
or visas as Nicaragua argued, but, in a nod to the Nicaraguans, ruled that Costa
Rican boats and passengers must stop at the first and last Nicaraguan port along
their route. They must also have an identity document or passport. Nicaragua can
also impose timetables on Costa Rican traffic. Nicaragua may require Costa Rican
boats to display the flag of Nicaragua, but may not charge them for departure
clearance from its ports. These were all specific items of contention brought to
the court in the 2005 filing.[94]

On 1 June 2007, Costa Rica broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan, switching recognition
to the People's Republic of China. Costa Rica was the first of the Central American
nations to do so. President Óscar Arias Sánchez admitted the action was a response
to economic exigency.[95] In response, the PRC built a new, $100 million, state-of-
the-art football stadium in Parque la Sabana, in the province of San José.
Approximately 600 Chinese engineers and laborers took part in this project, and it
was inaugurated in March 2011, with a match between the national teams of Costa
Rica and China.

Costa Rica finished a term on the United Nations Security Council, having been
elected for a nonrenewable, two-year term in the 2007 election. Its term expired on
31 December 2009; this was Costa Rica's third time on the Security Council. Elayne
Whyte Gómez is the Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN Office at
Geneva (2017) and President of the United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally
Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons.[96]

Pacifism
On December 1, 1948, Costa Rica abolished its military force.[43] In 1949, the
abolition of the military was introduced in Article 12 of the Costa Rican
Constitution. The budget previously dedicated to the military is now dedicated to
providing health care services and education.[42][97] According to DW, "Costa Rica
is known for its stable democracy, progressive social policies, such as free,
compulsory public education, high social well-being, and emphasis on environmental
protection."[44]

In 2017, Costa Rica signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[98]
[99]

Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Costa Rica
Costa Rican Censuses
The 2011 census counted a population of 4.3 million people[100] distributed among
the following groups: 83.6% whites or mestizos, 6.7% mulattoes, 2.4% Native
American, 1.1% black or Afro-Caribbean; the census showed 1.1% as Other, 2.9%
(141,304 people) as None, and 2.2% (107,196 people) as unspecified.[1] By 2016, the
UN estimation for the population was around 5 million.[5][6]

Population pyramid 2016

In 2011, there were over 104,000 Native American or indigenous inhabitants,
representing 2.4% of the population. Most of them live in secluded reservations,
distributed among eight ethnic groups: Quitirrisí (in the Central Valley), Matambú
or Chorotega (Guanacaste), Maleku (northern Alajuela), Bribri (southern Atlantic),
Cabécar (Cordillera de Talamanca), Guaymí (southern Costa Rica, along the Panamá
border), Boruca (southern Costa Rica) and Térraba [es] (southern Costa Rica).

The population includes European Costa Ricans (of European ancestry), primarily of
Spanish descent,[2] with significant numbers of Italian, German, English, Dutch,
French, Irish, Portuguese, and Polish families, as well a sizable Jewish community.
The majority of the Afro-Costa Ricans are Creole English-speaking descendants of
19th century black Jamaican immigrant workers.[101][102]

Costa Rican school children

The 2011 census classified 83.6% of the population as white or Mestizo; the latter
are persons of combined European and Amerindian descent. The Mulatto segment (mix
of white and black) represented 6.7% and indigenous people made up 2.4% of the
population.[2] Native and European mixed blood populations are far less than in
other Latin American countries. Exceptions are Guanacaste, where almost half the
population is visibly mestizo, a legacy of the more pervasive unions between
Spanish colonists and Chorotega Amerindians through several generations, and Limón,
where the vast majority of the Afro-Costa Rican community lives.

Costa Rica hosts many refugees, mainly from Colombia and Nicaragua. As a result of
that and illegal immigration, an estimated 10–15% (400,000–600,000) of the Costa
Rican population is made up of Nicaraguans.[103][104] Some Nicaraguans migrate for
seasonal work opportunities and then return to their country. Costa Rica took in
many refugees from a range of other Latin American countries fleeing civil wars and
dictatorships during the 1970s and 1980s, notably from Chile and Argentina, as well
as people from El Salvador who fled from guerrillas and government death squads.
[105]

According to the World Bank, in 2010 about 489,200 immigrants lived in the country,
many from Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize, while
125,306 Costa Ricans live abroad in the United States, Panama, Nicaragua, Spain,
Mexico, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador.[106] The
number of migrants declined in later years but in 2015, there were some 420,000
immigrants in Costa Rica[107] and the number of asylum seekers (mostly from
Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) rose to more than 110,000, a
fivefold increase from 2012.[108] In 2016, the country was called a "magnet" for
migrants from South and Central America and other countries who were hoping to
reach the U.S.[109][110]

Largest cities
Further information: Cantons of Costa Rica
vte
Largest cities or towns in Costa Rica
Census 2011
Rank Name Province Pop.
San José
San José
Alajuela
Alajuela 1 San José San José 342 188 Cartago
Cartago
Heredia
Heredia
2 Alajuela Alajuela 276 794
3 Cartago Cartago 151 744
4 Heredia Heredia 128 550
5 Puntarenas Puntarenas 122 335
6 Limón Limón 96 314
7 Liberia Guanacaste 64 797
8 San Isidro de El General San José 45 773
9 Quesada Alajuela 42 060
10 Desamparados San José 36 794
Religion
Religion in Costa Rica (CIEP 2018)[4]

Catholicism (52%)
Protestantism (25%)
Agnostic/Atheist/None (17%)
Other religions (3%)
No answer (3%)
Main article: Religion in Costa Rica

Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles (Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels),
during 2007 pilgrimage
Christianity is Costa Rica's predominant religion, with Roman Catholicism being the
official state religion according to the 1949 Constitution, which at the same time
guarantees freedom of religion. It is the only state in the Americas which
established Roman Catholicism as its state religion; other such countries are
microstates in Europe: Liechtenstein, Monaco, the Vatican City and Malta.

The Latinobarómetro survey of 2017 found that 57% of the population identify
themselves as Roman Catholics, 25% are Evangelical Protestants, 15% report that
they do not have a religion, and 2% declare that they belong to another religion.
[111] This survey indicated a decline in the share of Catholics and rise in the
share of Protestants and irreligious.[111] A University of Costa Rica survey of
2018 show similar rates; 52% Catholics, 22% Protestants, 17% irreligious and 3%
other.[4] The rate of secularism is high by Latin American standards.

Due to small, but continuous, immigration from Asia and the Middle East, other
religions have grown, the most popular being Buddhism, with about 100,000
practitioners (over 2% of the population).[112] Most Buddhists are members of the
Han Chinese community of about 40,000 with some new local converts. There is also a
small Muslim community of about 500 families, or 0.001% of the population.[113]

The Sinagoga Shaarei Zion synagogue[114] is near La Sabana Metropolitan Park in San
José. Several homes in the neighborhood east of the park display the Star of David
and other Jewish symbols.[115]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims more than 35,000 members,
and has a temple in San José that served as a regional worship center for Costa
Rica.[116] However, they represent less than 1% of the population.[117][118]

Languages
Main article: Languages of Costa Rica
The primary language spoken in Costa Rica is Spanish, which features
characteristics distinct to the country, a form of Central American Spanish. Costa
Rica is a linguistically diverse country and home to at least five living local
indigenous languages spoken by the descendants of pre-Columbian peoples: Maléku,
Cabécar, Bribri, Guaymí, and Buglere.

Of native languages still spoken, primarily in indigenous reservations, the most

numerically important are the Bribri, Maléku, Cabécar and Ngäbere languages; some
of these have several thousand speakers in Costa Rica while others have a few
hundred. Some languages, such as Teribe and Boruca, have fewer than a thousand
speakers. The Buglere language and the closely related Guaymí are spoken by some in
southeast Puntarenas.[119]

A Creole-English language, Jamaican patois (also known as Mekatelyu), is an

English-based Creole language spoken by the Afro-Carib immigrants who have settled
primarily in Limón Province along the Caribbean coast.[119]

About 10.7% of Costa Rica's adult population (18 or older) also speaks English,
0.7% French, and 0.3% speaks Portuguese or German as a second language.[120]

Culture

Las Carretas (oxcarts) are a national symbol.

Main article: Culture of Costa Rica
Costa Rica was the point where the Mesoamerican and South American native cultures
met. The northwest of the country, the Nicoya peninsula, was the southernmost point
of Nahuatl cultural influence when the Spanish conquerors (conquistadores) came in
the 16th century. The central and southern portions of the country had Chibcha
influences. The Atlantic coast, meanwhile, was populated with African workers
during the 17th and 18th centuries.

As a result of the immigration of Spaniards, their 16th-century Spanish culture and

its evolution marked everyday life and culture until today, with Spanish language
and the Catholic religion as primary influences.

MishCatt singer-songwriter from San Jose

The Department of Culture, Youth, and Sports is in charge of the promotion and
coordination of cultural life. The work of the department is divided into Direction
of Culture, Visual Arts, Scenic Arts, Music, Patrimony and the System of Libraries.
Permanent programs, such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica and the
Youth Symphony Orchestra, are conjunctions of two areas of work: Culture and Youth.
[citation needed]

Dance-oriented genres, such as soca, salsa, bachata, merengue, cumbia and Costa
Rican swing are enjoyed increasingly by older rather than younger people. The
guitar is popular, especially as an accompaniment to folk dances; however, the
marimba was made the national instrument.

In November 2017, National Geographic magazine named Costa Rica as the happiest
country in the world,[121] and the country routinely ranks high in various
happiness metrics.[122] The article included this summary: "Costa Ricans enjoy the
pleasure of living daily life to the fullest in a place that mitigates stress and
maximizes joy".[123] It is not surprising then that one of the most recognizable
phrases among "Ticos" is "Pura Vida", pure life in a literal translation. It
reflects the inhabitant's philosophy of life,[124] denoting a simple life, free of
stress, a positive, relaxed feeling.[125] The expression is used in various
contexts in conversation.[126] Often, people walking down the streets, or buying
food at shops say hello by saying Pura Vida. It can be phrased as a question or as
an acknowledgement of one's presence. A recommended response to "How are you?"
would be "Pura Vida."[127] In that usage, it might be translated as "awesome",
indicating that all is very well.[126] When used as a question, the connotation
would be "everything is going well?" or "how are you?".[124]

Costa Rica rates 12th on the 2017 Happy Planet Index in the World Happiness Report
by the UN[128] but the country is said to be the happiest in Latin America. Reasons
include the high level of social services, the caring nature of its inhabitants,
long life expectancy and relatively low corruption.[129][130]

Cuisine

Costa Rican breakfast with gallo pinto

Further information: Costa Rican cuisine
Costa Rican cuisine is a blend of Native American, Spanish, African and many other
cuisine origins. Dishes such as the very traditional tamale and many others made of
corn are the most representative of its indigenous inhabitants, and similar to
other neighboring Mesoamerican countries. Spaniards brought many new ingredients to
the country from other lands, especially spices and domestic animals. And later in
the 19th century, the African flavor lent its presence with influence from other
Caribbean mixed flavors. This is how Costa Rican cuisine today is very varied, with
every new ethnic group who had recently become part of the country's population
influencing the country's cuisine.[131][unreliable source?]

Sports
Main articles: Costa Rica at the Olympics and Association football in Costa Rica

Costa Rica supporters at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

Costa Rica entered the Summer Olympics for the first time in 1936 with the fencer
Bernardo de la Guardia and the Winter Olympics for the first time in 1980 with the
skier Arturo Kinch. All four of Costa Rica's Olympic medals were won by the sisters
Silvia and Claudia Poll in swimming, with Claudia winning the only gold medal in
1996.

Football is the most popular sport in Costa Rica. The national team has played in
five FIFA World Cup tournaments and reached the quarter-finals for the first time
in 2014.[132][133] Its best performance in the regional CONCACAF Gold Cup was
runner-up in 2002. Paulo Wanchope, a forward who played for three clubs in
England's Premier League in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is credited with
enhancing foreign recognition of Costa Rican football.[134] Costa Rica, along with
Panama, was granted the hosting rights of 2020 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, which
was postponed until 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[135][136] On 17 November
2020, FIFA announced that the event would be held in Costa Rica in 2022.[137]

Basketball is also a popular sport in Costa Rica even though the country's national
team has not yet qualified for a major international tournament such as the FIBA
AmeriCup or the FIBA World Cup.[138]

Education
Main article: Education in Costa Rica
The literacy rate in Costa Rica is approximately 97 percent and English is widely
spoken primarily due to Costa Rica's tourism industry.[65] When the army was
abolished in 1949, it was said that the "army would be replaced with an army of
teachers".[139] Universal public education is guaranteed in the constitution;
primary education is obligatory, and both preschool and high school are free.
Students who finish 11th grade receive a Costa Rican Bachillerato Diploma
accredited by the Costa Rican Ministry of Education.

There are both state and private universities. The University of Costa Rica has
been awarded the title "Meritorious Institution of Costa Rican Education and
Culture".

A 2016 report by the U.S. government report identifies the current challenges
facing the education system, including the high dropout rate among high school
students. The country needs even more workers who are fluent in English and
languages such as Portuguese, Mandarin and French. It would also benefit from more
graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs, according
to the report.[65]

Health
Main article: Health care in Costa Rica
According to the UNDP, in 2010 the life expectancy at birth for Costa Ricans was
79.3 years.[140] The Nicoya Peninsula is considered one of the Blue Zones in the
world, where people commonly live active lives past the age of 100 years.[141][142]
The New Economics Foundation (NEF) ranked Costa Rica first in its 2009 Happy Planet
Index, and once again in 2012. The index measures the health and happiness they
produce per unit of environmental input.[143][144] According to NEF, Costa Rica's
lead is due to its very high life expectancy which is second highest in the
Americas, and higher than the United States. The country also experienced well-
being higher than many richer nations and a per capita ecological footprint one-
third the size of the United States.[145]

In 2002, there were 0.58 new general practitioner (medical) consultations and 0.33
new specialist consultations per capita, and a hospital admission rate of 8.1%.
Preventive health care is also successful. In 2002, 96% of Costa Rican women used
some form of contraception, and antenatal care services were provided to 87% of all
pregnant women. All children under one have access to well-baby clinics, and the
immunization coverage rate in 2002 was above 91% for all antigens.[citation needed]
Costa Rica has a very low malaria incidence of 48 per 100,000 in 2000 and no
reported cases of measles in 2002. The perinatal mortality rate dropped from 12.0
per 1000 in 1972 to 5.4 per 1000 in 2001.[146]

Costa Rica has been cited as Central America's great health success story.[147] Its
healthcare system is ranked higher than that of the United States, despite having a
fraction of its GDP.[148] Prior to 1940, government hospitals and charities
provided most health care. But since the 1941 creation of the Social Insurance
Administration (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social – CCSS), Costa Rica has
provided universal health care to its wage-earning residents, with coverage
extended to dependants over time. In 1973, the CCSS took over administration of all
29 of the country's public hospitals and all health care, also launching a Rural
Health Program (Programa de Salud Rural) for primary care to rural areas, later
extended to primary care services nationwide. In 1993, laws were passed to enable
elected health boards that represented health consumers, social insurance
representatives, employers, and social organizations. By the year 2000, social
health insurance coverage was available to 82% of the Costa Rican population. Each
health committee manages an area equivalent to one of the 83 administrative cantons
of Costa Rica. There is limited use of private, for-profit services (around 14.4%
of the national total health expenditure). About 7% of GDP is allocated to the
health sector, and over 70% is government funded.

Primary health care facilities in Costa Rica include health clinics, with a general
practitioner, nurse, clerk, pharmacist and a primary health technician. In 2008,
there were five specialty national hospitals, three general national hospitals,
seven regional hospitals, 13 peripheral hospitals, and 10 major clinics serving as
referral centers for primary care clinics, which also deliver biopsychosocial
services, family and community medical services and promotion and prevention
programs. Patients can choose private health care to avoid waiting lists.[citation
needed]
Costa Rica is among the Latin America countries that have become popular
destinations for medical tourism.[149][150] In 2006, Costa Rica received 150,000
foreigners that came for medical treatment.[149][150][151] Costa Rica is
particularly attractive to Americans due to geographic proximity, high quality of
medical services, and lower medical costs.[150]

Since 2012, smoking in Costa Rica is subject to some of the most restrictive
regulations in the world.

See also
flag Costa Rica portal
Index of Costa Rica-related articles
Outline of Costa Rica
Camino de Costa Rica (trail across the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific
coast)
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cristianos" [Christmas is lived differently in non-Christian Costa Rican homes]. La
Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 December 2010.
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2008.. LDS Newsroom. Retrieved on 13 December 2008
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2010.
"List of LDS (Mormon) temples in Central America and the Caribbean". Lds.org.
Archived from the original on 8 March 2002. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
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idioma". La Nación (Costa Rica). Retrieved 22 July 2010.
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. World Economic Forum https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/sun-sea-and-stable-
democracy-what-s-the-secret-to-costa-rica-s-success/#:~:text=As%20a%20result%2C
%20Costa%20Rica,Happy%20Planet%20Index%20(HPI).&text=A%20recent%20Gallup%20poll
%20found,longer%20than%20in%20the%20US. Retrieved 30 October 2020. Missing or empty
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A Study of the Expression "pura vida" in the Spanish of Costa Rica" (PDF). In
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Further reading
Blake, Beatrice. The New Key to Costa Rica (Berkeley: Ulysses Press, 2009).
Chase, Cida S. "Costa Rican Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America,
edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2014), pp. 543–551. online
Edelman, Marc. Peasants Against Globalization: Rural Social Movements in Costa Rica
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.
Eisenberg, Daniel (1985). "In Costa Rica". Journal of Hispanic Philology. 10. pp.
1–6.
Huhn, Sebastian: Contested Cornerstones of Nonviolent National Self-Perception in
Costa Rica: A Historical Approach, 2009.
Keller, Marius; Niestroy, Ingeborg; García Schmidt, Armando; Esche, Andreas. "Costa
Rica: Pioneering Sustainability". Excerpt (pp. 81–102) from Bertelsmann Stiftung
(ed.). Winning Strategies for a Sustainable Future. Gütersloh, Germany: Verlag
Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2013.
Lara, Sylvia Lara, Tom Barry, and Peter Simonson. Inside Costa Rica: The Essential
Guide to Its Politics, Economy, Society and Environment London: Latin America
Bureau, 1995.
Lehoucq, Fabrice E. and Ivan Molina. Stuffing the Ballot Box: Fraud, Electoral
Reform, and Democratization in Costa Rica Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2002.
Lehoucq, Fabrice E. Policymaking, Parties, and Institutions in Democratic Costa
Rica, 2006.
Longley, Kyle. Sparrow and the Hawk: Costa Rica and the United States during the
Rise of José Figueres (University of Alabama Press, 1997).
Mount, Graeme S. "Costa Rica and the Cold War, 1948–1990." Canadian Journal of
History 50.2 (2015): 290–316.
Palmer, Steven and Iván Molina. The Costa Rica Reader: History, Culture, Politics
Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2004.
Sandoval, Carlos. Threatening Others: Nicaraguans and the Formation of National
Identities in Costa Rica Athens: Ohio University Press, 2004.
Wilson, Bruce M. Costa Rica: Politics, Economics, and Democracy: Politics,
Economics and Democracy. Boulder, London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998.
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