Map of Costa Rica | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: Costa Rica is a Central American success story: since the late 19th century only two brief periods of violence have marred its democratic development. Although still a largely agricultural country it has expanded its economy to include strong technology and tourism sectors. The standard of living is relatively high. Land ownership is widespread.


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Location: Middle America bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean between Nicaragua and Panama

Geographic coordinates: 10 00 N 84 00 W

Map reference: Central America and the Caribbean

Area
Total: 51,100 km²
Water: 440 km²
Note: includes Isla del Coco
Land: 50,660 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than West Virginia

Land boundaries
Total: 639 km
Border countries: (2) Nicaragua 309 km; , Panama 330 km

Coastline: 1290 km

Maritime claims
Continental shelf: 200 NM
Exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
Territorial sea: 12 NM

Climate: tropical and subtropical; dry season (December to April); rainy season (May to November); cooler in highlands

Terrain: coastal plains separated by rugged mountains including over 100 volcanic cones of which several are major volcanoes

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
Extremes highest point: Cerro Chirripo 3,810 m

Natural resources: hydropower

Land use
Arable land: 4.41%
Permanent crops: 5.48%
Other: 90.11% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 1260 km² (1998 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: occasional earthquakes hurricanes along Atlantic coast; frequent flooding of lowlands at onset of rainy season and landslides; active volcanoes

Geography
Note: four volcanoes two of them active rise near the capital of San Jose in the center of the country; one of the volcanoes Irazu erupted destructively in 1963-65


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Population: 3,896,092 (July 2003 est.)
Growth rate: 1.56% (2003 est.)
Below poverty line: 20.6% (1999 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Costa Rican
Adjective: Costa Rican

Ethnic groups: white (including mestizo) 94% black 3% Amerindian 1% Chinese 1% other 1%

Languages: Spanish (official) English

Religions: Roman Catholic 76.3% Evangelical 13.7% Jehovah's Witnesses 1.3% other Protestant 0.7% other 4.8% none 3.2%

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 30.1% (male 600,812; female 573,375)
15-64 years: 64.4% (male 1,269,667; female 1,241,097)
65 years and over: 5.4% (male 98,156; female 112,985) (2003 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age
Total: 25.4 years
Male: 24.9 years
Female: 25.8 years (2002)

Population growth rate: 1.56% (2003 est.)

Birth rate: 19.4 births/1000 population (2003 est.)

Death rate: 4.31 deaths/1000 population (2003 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.51 migrant(s)/1000 population (2003 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: deforestation and land use change largely a result of the clearing of land for cattle ranching and agriculture; soil erosion; coastal marine pollution; fisheries protection; solid waste management; air pollution
International agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands, Whaling
International agreements signed but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life Conservation

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.05 male/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male/female
65 years and over: 0.87 male/female
Total population: 1.02 male/female (2003 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Total: 10.56 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 9.59 deaths/1000 live births (2003 est.)
Male: 11.49 deaths/1000 live births

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 76.43 years
Male: 73.87 years
Female: 79.11 years (2003 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.38 children born/woman (2003 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.6% (2001 est.)
People living with hivaids: 11,000 (2001 est.)
Deaths: 890 (2001 est.)

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 96%
Male: 95.9%
Female: 96.1% (2003 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Costa Rica
Conventional short form: Costa Rica
Local short form: Costa Rica
Local long form: Republica de Costa Rica

Government type: democratic republic

Capital: San Jose

Administrative divisions: 7 provinces (provincias singular - provincia); Alajuela Cartago Guanacaste Heredia Limon Puntarenas San Jose

Dependent areas

Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain)

National holiday: Independence Day 15 September (1821)

Constitution: 7 November 1949

Legal system: based on Spanish civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; has accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Abel PACHECO (since 8 May 2002); First Vice President Lineth SABORIO (since NA May 2002); Second Vice President Luis FISHMAN (since NA May 2002); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Head of government: President Abel PACHECO (since 8 May 2002); First Vice President Lineth SABORIO (since NA May 2002); Second Vice President Luis FISHMAN (since NA May 2002); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Cabinet: Cabinet selected by the president
Elections: president and vice presidents elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms; election last held 3 February 2002; run-off election held 7 April 2002 (next to be held NA February 2006)
Election results: Abel PACHECO elected president; percent of vote - Abel PACHECO (PUSC) 58%; Rolando ARAYA (PLN) 42%

Legislative branch
Elections: last held 3 February 2002 (next to be held 3 February 2006)
Election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PUSC 19, PLN 17, PAC 14, PML 6, PRC 1

Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (22 justices are elected for eight-year terms by the Legislative Assembly)

Political parties and leaders
Note: mainly a two-party system - PUSC and PLN - until the 3 February 2002 election in which the PAC captured a significant percentage, forcing a run-off in April 2002

International organization participation: BCIE CACM ECLAC FAO G-77 IADB IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICCt ICFTU ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS ILO IMF IMO Interpol IOC IOM ISO ITU LAES LAIA (observer) NAM (observer) OAS OPANAL OPCW PCA RG UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UNU UPU WCL WCO WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Jaime DAREMBLUM Rosenstein
In the us chancery: 2,114 S Street NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us consulates general: Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Durham (North Carolina), Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Francisco, St. Paul, and Tampa
In the us consulates: Austin
In the us fax: [1] (202) 265-4,795
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 234-2,945
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador John J. DANILOVICH
From the us embassy: Calle 120 Avenida O, Pavas, San Jose
From the us mailing address: APO AA 34,020
From the us telephone: [506] 220-3,939
From the us fax: [506] 220-2,305

Flag description: five horizontal bands of blue (top) white red (double width) white and blue with the coat of arms in a white elliptical disk on the hoist side of the red band; above the coat of arms a light blue ribbon contains the words AMERICA CENTRAL and just below it near the top of the coat of arms is a white ribbon with the words REPUBLICA COSTA RICA

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Costa Rica's basically stable economy depends on tourism agriculture and electronics exports. Poverty has been substantially reduced over the past 15 years and a strong social safety net has been put into place. At the same time distribution of income remains severely unequal. Foreign investors remain attracted by the country's political stability and high education levels and tourism continues to bring in foreign exchange. However traditional export sectors have not kept pace. Low coffee prices and an overabundance of bananas have hurt the agricultural sector. The government continues to grapple with its large deficit and massive internal debt with the need to modernize the state-owned electricity and telecommunications sector and with the problem of bringing down inflation.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 2.8% (2002 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $8,300 (2002 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 9%
Industry: 30%
Services: 61% (2002 est.)

Agriculture products: coffee pineapples bananas sugar corn rice beans potatoes; beef; timber

Industries: microprocessors food processing textiles and clothing construction materials fertilizer plastic products

Industrial production growth rate: 2.9% (2002 est.)

Labor force: 1.9 million (1999)
By occupation agriculture: 20%
By occupation industry: 22%
By occupation services: 58% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate: 6.3% (2002 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 20.6% (1999 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 1.7%
Highest 10: 34.6% (2001)

Distribution of family income gini index: 45.9 (1997)

Budget
Revenues: $1.91 billion
Expenditures: $2.35 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 9.1% (2002 est.)

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $5.1 billion (2002)
Commodities: coffee bananas sugar; pineapples; textiles electronic components medical equipment
Partners: US 31.5% Netherlands 8.9% UK 4.5% (2002)

Imports: $6.4 billion (2002)
Commodities: raw materials consumer goods capital equipment petroleum
Partners: US 36.7% Japan 4.4% Mexico 4.2% (2002)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $4.8 billion (2002 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Costa Rican colones per US dollar - 359.82 (2002) 328.87 (2001) 308.19 (2000) 285.69 (1999) 257.23 (1998)


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Electricity
Production: 6.839 billion kWh (2001)
Production by source fossil fuel: 1.5%
Production by source hydro: 81.9%
Production by source other: 16.6% (2001)
Production by source nuclear: 0%
Consumption: 6.109 billion kWh (2001)
Exports: 379 million kWh (2001)
Imports: 128 million kWh (2001)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use note: 584,000 installed in 1997, but only about 450,000 were in use in 1998
Mobile cellular: 143,000 (2000)

Telephone system
General assessment: very good domestic telephone service
Domestic: point-to-point and point-to-multi-point microwave, fiber-optic, and coaxial cable link rural areas; Internet service is available
International: connected to Central American Microwave System; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); two submarine cables (1999)

Broadcast media

Internet
Country code: .cr
Service providers isps: 3 (of which only one is legal) (2000)
Users: 384,000 (2002)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $69 million (FY99)
Percent of gdp: 1.6% (FY99)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 151 (2002)
With paved runways total: 30
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 2
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 1
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 19
With paved runways under 914 m: 8 (2002)
With unpaved runways total: 121
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 28
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 93 (2002)

Heliports

Pipelines: refined products 421 km (2003)

Railways
Total: 950 km
Narrow gauge: 950 km 1.067-m gauge (260 km electrified) (2002)

Roadways

Waterways: 730 km (seasonally navigable)

Merchant marine
Total: 1 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 1,716 GRT/ DWT
Ships by type: passenger 1 (2002 est.)

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: legal dispute over navigational rights of Rio San Juan on border with Nicaragua

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: transshipment country for cocaine and heroin from South America; illicit production of cannabis on small scattered plots; domestic cocaine consumption is rising particularly crack cocaine