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

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.^[20]

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.^[21]

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 modeled after animals have been found.^[22]

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,^[23] and reported vast quantities of gold jewelry worn by natives.^[24] 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.^[25]

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 mercantilist 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.^[26] Costa Rica was described as "the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America" by a Spanish governor in 1719.^[27]

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 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.^[28]

Independence

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 (1810–1821), the authorities in Guatemala declared the independence of all of Central America. That date is still celebrated as Independence Day in Costa Rica^[29] 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.^[30][31][32]

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. Since colonial times, Costa Rica has been reluctant to become economically tied with the rest of Central America. Even today, despite most of its neighbors'^[a] efforts to increase regional integration,^[33] Costa Rica has remained more independent.

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

Coffee was first planted in Costa Rica in 1808,^[34] and by the 1820s, it surpassed tobacco, sugar, and cacao as a primary export. Coffee production remained Costa Rica's principal source of wealth well into the 20th century, creating a wealthy class of growers, the so-called Coffee Barons.^[35] The revenue helped to modernize the country.^[36][37]

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.^[37] By the mid-1850s the main market for coffee was Britain.^[38] It soon became a high priority to developing 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.^[39]

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. 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.^[40] 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.^[41][42]

20th century

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 1917–1919, 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.^[43] 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.^[44] 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 15 additional presidential elections, the latest in 2022. With uninterrupted democracy dating back to at least 1948, the country is the region's most stable.^[45][46]

Discover more about History related topics

History of Costa Rica

History of Costa Rica

The first indigenous peoples of Costa Rica were hunters and gatherers, and when the Spanish conquerors arrived, Costa Rica was divided in two distinct cultural areas due to its geographical location in the Intermediate Area, between Mesoamerican and the Andean cultures, with influences of both cultures.

Diquis

Diquis

The Diquis culture was a pre-Columbian indigenous culture of Costa Rica that flourished from AD 700 to 1530. The word "diquís" means "great waters" or "great river" in the Boruca language. The Diquis formed part of the Greater Chiriqui culture that spanned from southern Costa Rica to western Panama.

Museo Nacional de Costa Rica

Museo Nacional de Costa Rica

The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica is the national museum of Costa Rica, located in the capital of San José. It is located at Calle 17, between Central and Second Avenue, Cuesta de Moras. It moved to its current location in 1950.

Pre-Columbian history of Costa Rica

Pre-Columbian history of Costa Rica

The pre-Columbian history of Costa Rica extends from the establishment of the first settlers until the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas.

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.

Intermediate Area

Intermediate Area

The Intermediate Area is an archaeological geographical area of the Americas that was defined in its clearest form by Gordon R. Willey in his 1971 book An Introduction to American Archaeology, Vol. 2: South America. It comprises the geographical region between Mesoamerica to the north and the Central Andes to the south, including portions of Honduras and Nicaragua and most of the territory of the republics of Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. As an archaeological concept, the Intermediate Area has always been somewhat poorly defined.

Pre-Columbian era

Pre-Columbian era

In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, the era covers the history of Indigenous cultures until significant influence by Europeans. This may have occurred decades or even centuries after Columbus for certain cultures.

Isthmo-Colombian Area

Isthmo-Colombian Area

The Isthmo-Colombian Area is defined as a cultural area encompassing those territories occupied predominantly by speakers of the Chibchan languages at the time of European contact. It includes portions of the Central American isthmus like eastern El Salvador, eastern Honduras, Caribbean Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and northern Colombia.

Hunter-gatherer

Hunter-gatherer

A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, honey, or anything safe to eat, and/or by hunting game, roughly as most animal omnivores do. Hunter-gatherer societies stand in contrast to the more sedentary agricultural societies, which rely mainly on cultivating crops and raising domesticated animals for food production, although the boundaries between the two ways of living are not completely distinct.

Clovis culture

Clovis culture

The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican culture, named for distinct stone and bone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna, particularly two mammoths, at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936 and 1937. It existed from roughly 13,400–12,700 years ago near the end of the last glacial period, is characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools, and it is represented by hundreds of sites, from which >10,000 Clovis points have been recovered.

South America

South America

South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southern subregion of a single continent called America.

Pottery

Pottery

Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery. The definition of pottery, used by the ASTM International, is "all fired ceramic wares that contain clay when formed, except technical, structural, and refractory products". End applications include tableware, decorative ware, sanitaryware, and in technology and industry such as electrical insulators and laboratory ware. In art history and archaeology, especially of ancient and prehistoric periods, pottery often means vessels only, and sculpted figurines of the same material are called terracottas.

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.^[47]

Climate

Costa Rica experiences a tropical climate year-round. There are two seasons. The dry season is December to April, and the 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.^[48][49] Corcovado is the one park in Costa Rica where all four Costa Rican monkey species can be found.^[50] These include the white-headed capuchin, the mantled howler, the endangered Geoffroy's spider monkey,^[50][51] 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.^[52] 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.^[53] The country had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.65/10, ranking it 118th globally out of 172 countries.^[54]

Discover more about Geography related topics

Geography of Costa Rica

Geography of Costa Rica

Costa Rica is located on the Central American Isthmus, surrounding the point 10° north of the equator and 84° west of the prime meridian. It has 212 km of Caribbean Sea coastline and 1,016 on the North Pacific Ocean.

Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles starting with Cuba, to the east by the Lesser Antilles, and to the south by the northern coast of South America. The Gulf of Mexico lies to the northwest.

Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the country's capital and largest city. As of 2015, it was estimated to be the second largest city in Central America. Nicaragua's multiethnic population of six million includes people of mestizo, Indigenous, European and African heritage. The main language is Spanish. Indigenous tribes on the Mosquito Coast speak their own languages and English.

Irazú Volcano

Irazú Volcano

The Irazú Volcano is an active volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera Central close to the city of Cartago.

Lake Arenal

Lake Arenal

Lake Arenal is a lake which is situated in the northern highlands of Costa Rica. It is currently the largest lake in Costa Rica at 85-square-kilometre (33 sq mi). Its depth varies between 30 and 60 meters (100–200 feet) seasonally.

Agalychnis callidryas

Agalychnis callidryas

Agalychnis callidryas, commonly known as the red-eyed tree frog, is a species of frog in the subfamily Phyllomedusinae. It is native to forests from Central America to north-western South America. This species is known for its bright coloration, namely its vibrant green body with blue and yellow stripes on the side. It has a white underside, brightly red and orange colored feet, and is named after its distinctive bright red eyes.

Corcovado National Park

Corcovado National Park

Corcovado National Park is a National Park on the Osa Peninsula, in Osa Canton, southwestern Costa Rica, which is part of the Osa Conservation Area. It was established on 24 October 1975, and encompasses an area of 424 square kilometres (164 sq mi). It is the largest park in Costa Rica and extends over about a third of the Osa Peninsula. It is widely considered the crown jewel in the extensive system of national parks and biological reserves spread across the country. National Geographic has called it "the most biologically intense place on Earth in terms of biodiversity".

List of Costa Rican monkey species

List of Costa Rican monkey species

Four species of monkey are native to the forests of Costa Rica, the Central American squirrel monkey, the Panamanian white-faced capuchin, the mantled howler and Geoffroy's spider monkey. All four species are classified scientifically as New World Monkeys. Two of the species, the Central American squirrel monkey and the white-faced capuchin, belong to the family Cebidae, the family containing the squirrel monkeys and capuchins. The other two species belong to the family Atelidae, the family containing the howler monkeys, spider monkeys, woolly monkeys and muriquis. Each of the four species can be seen in national parks within Costa Rica, where viewing them in natural surroundings is a popular tourist attraction. The only park in which all four species can be seen is Corcovado National Park, on the Osa Peninsula.

Mantled howler

Mantled howler

The mantled howler is a species of howler monkey, a type of New World monkey, from Central and South America. It is one of the monkey species most often seen and heard in the wild in Central America. It takes its "mantled" name from the long guard hairs on its sides.

Geoffroy's spider monkey

Geoffroy's spider monkey

Geoffroy's spider monkey, also known as the black-handed spider monkey or the Central American spider monkey, is a species of spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, from Central America, parts of Mexico and possibly a small portion of Colombia. There are at least five subspecies. Some primatologists classify the black-headed spider monkey, found in Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador as the same species as Geoffroy's spider monkey.

Central American squirrel monkey

Central American squirrel monkey

The Central American squirrel monkey, also known as the red-backed squirrel monkey, is a squirrel monkey species from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Panama. It is restricted to the northwestern tip of Panama near the border with Costa Rica, and the central and southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, primarily in Manuel Antonio and Corcovado National Parks.

Deforestation

Deforestation

Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. This is one-third less than the forest cover before the expansion of agriculture, a half of that loss occurring in the last century. Between 15 million to 18 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Bangladesh, are destroyed every year. On average 2,400 trees are cut down each minute.

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (September 2019)

Real GDP per capita development in Costa Rica

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.

A proportional representation of Costa Rica's exports, 2019

The country has been considered economically stable with moderate inflation, estimated at 2.6% in 2017,^[55] and moderately high growth in GDP, which increased from US$41.3 billion in 2011 to US$52.6 billion in 2015.^[56] The estimated GDP for 2018 is US$59.0 billion and the estimated GDP per capita (purchasing power parity) is Intl$17,559.1.^[55] The growing debt and budget deficit are the country's primary concerns.^[57] 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.^[58]

Many foreign companies (manufacturing and services) operate in Costa Rica's Free Trade Zones (FTZ) where they benefit from investment and tax incentives.^[14] Well over half of that type of investment has come from the U.S.^[59] According to the government, the zones supported over 82,000 direct jobs and 43,000 indirect jobs in 2015.^[60] Companies with facilities in the America Free Zone in Heredia, for example, include Intel, Dell, HP, Bayer, Bosch, DHL, IBM and Okay Industries.^[61][62]

Of the GDP, 5.5% is generated by agriculture, 18.6% by industry and 75.9% by services. (2016)^[55] Agriculture employs 12.9% of the labor force, industry 18.57%, services 69.02% (2016)^[63] For the region, its unemployment level is moderately high (8.2% in 2016, according to the IMF).^[55] Although 20.5% of the population lives below the poverty line (2017),^[64] Costa Rica has one of the highest standards of living in Central America.^[65]

High-quality health care is provided by the government at a low cost to the users.^[66] 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%.^[67] General Basic Education is mandatory and provided without cost to the user.^[68] A US government report confirms that the country has "historically placed a high priority on education and the creation of a skilled workforce" 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).^[67]

Trade and foreign investment

Countries (in blue) which have signed Free Trade Agreements with Costa Rica

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 by other Central American countries.^[69] 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.^[60] 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.^[13]

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.^[70] 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.^[70]

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,^[71] but also other crops, including coffee.^[72] Coffee production played a key role in Costa Rica's history and in 2006, was the third cash crop export.^[72] As a small country, Costa Rica now provides under 1% of the world's coffee production.^[37] 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.^[71] 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.^[73]

Costa Rica has developed a system of payments for environmental services.^[74] Similarly, Costa Rica has a tax on water pollution to penalize businesses and homeowners that dump sewage, agricultural chemicals, and other pollutants into waterways.^[75] In May 2007, the Costa Rican government announced its intentions to become 100% carbon neutral by 2021.^[76] By 2015, 93 percent of the country's electricity came from renewable sources.^[77] In 2019, the country produced 99.62% of its electricity from renewable sources and ran completely on renewable sources for 300 continuous days.^[78]

An industrial park in Heredia

In 1996, the Forest Law was enacted to provide direct financial incentives to landowners for the provision of environmental services.^[74] 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).^[74]

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).^[67] 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.^[79] Attempts by China to invest in upgrading such aspects were "stalled by bureaucratic and legal concerns".
• The bureaucracy is "often slow and cumbersome".

Poás Volcano Crater is one of the country's main tourist attractions.

Tourism

Costa Rica is the most-visited nation in the Central American region,^[80] with 2.9 million foreign visitors in 2016, up 10% from 2015.^[81] In 2015, the tourism sector was responsible for 5.8% of the country's GDP, or $3.4 billion.^[82] In 2016, the highest number of tourists came from the United States, with 1,000,000 visitors, followed by Europe with 434,884 arrivals.^[83] 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.^[84]

By 2004, tourism was generating more revenue and foreign exchange than bananas and coffee combined.^[72][85] 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.^[86]

A pioneer of ecotourism, Costa Rica draws many tourists to its extensive series of national parks and other protected areas.^[87] 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.^[88] By the time of the 2017 report, the country had reached 38th place, slightly behind Panama.^[89] 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.^[90] Costa Rica began reversing deforestation in the 1990s, and they are moving towards using only renewable energy.^[91]

Provinces 1.Alajuela2 Cartago, 3 Guanacaste, 4 Heredia, 5 Limón, 6 Puntarenas, 7 San José

Discover more about Economy related topics

Economy of Costa Rica

Economy of Costa Rica

The economy of Costa Rica has been very stable for some years now, with continuing growth in the GDP and moderate inflation, though with a high unemployment rate: 11.49% in 2019. Costa Rica's economy emerged from recession in 1997 and has shown strong aggregate growth since then. The estimated GDP for 2022 is US$68.5 billion, up significantly from the US$52.6 billion in 2015 while the estimated 2022 per capita is US$24,837.

Intel

Intel

Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 series of instruction sets, the instruction sets found in most personal computers (PCs). Incorporated in Delaware, Intel ranked No. 45 in the 2020 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for nearly a decade, from 2007 to 2016 fiscal years.

Debt

Debt

Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The debt may be owed by sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Commercial debt is generally subject to contractual terms regarding the amount and timing of repayments of principal and interest. Loans, bonds, notes, and mortgages are all types of debt. In financial accounting, debt is a type of financial transaction, as distinct from equity.

Coffee production in Costa Rica

Coffee production in Costa Rica

Coffee production has played a key role in Costa Rica's history and continues to be important to the country's economy. In 2006, coffee was Costa Rica's number three export, after being the number one cash crop export for several decades. In 1997, the agriculture sector employed 28 percent of the labor force and comprised 20 percent of Costa Rica's total GNP. Production increased from 158,000 tons in 1988 to 168,000 tons in 1992. The largest growing areas are in the provinces of San José, Alajuela, Heredia, Puntarenas, and Cartago. The coffee is exported to other countries in the world and is also exported to cities in Costa Rica.

Ecotourism

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds for ecological conservation, to directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, or to foster respect for different cultures and for human rights. Since the 1980s, ecotourism has been considered a critical endeavor by environmentalists, so that future generations may experience destinations relatively untouched by human intervention. Ecotourism may focus on educating travelers on local environments and natural surroundings with an eye to ecological conservation. Some include in the definition of ecotourism the effort to produce economic opportunities that make conservation of natural resources financially possible.

Payment for ecosystem services

Payment for ecosystem services

Payments for ecosystem services (PES), also known as payments for environmental services, are incentives offered to farmers or landowners in exchange for managing their land to provide some sort of ecological service. They have been defined as "a transparent system for the additional provision of environmental services through conditional payments to voluntary providers". These programmes promote the conservation of natural resources in the marketplace.

Agrochemical

Agrochemical

An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of agricultural chemical, is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical refers to biocides and synthetic fertilizers. It may also include hormones and other chemical growth agents.

Renewable energy in Costa Rica

Renewable energy in Costa Rica

Renewable energy in Costa Rica supplied about 98.1% of the electrical energy output for the entire nation in 2016. Fossil fuel energy consumption in Costa Rica was 49.48 as of 2014, with demand for oil increasing in recent years. In 2014, 99% of its electrical energy was derived from renewable energy sources, about 80% of which from hydroelectric power. For the first 75 days of 2015, 100% of its electrical energy was derived from renewable energy sources and in mid 2016 that feat was accomplished for 110 consecutive days despite suboptimal weather conditions.

Industrial park

Industrial park

An industrial park is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, which has offices and light industry, rather than heavy industry. Industrial parks are notable for being relatively simple to build; they often feature speedily erected single-space steel sheds, occasionally in bright colours.

Heredia, Costa Rica

Heredia, Costa Rica

Heredia is a district in the Heredia canton of Heredia province, Costa Rica. As the seat of the municipality of Heredia canton, it is awarded the status of city, and by virtue of being the city of the first canton, it is the Province Capital of Heredia province as well. It is 10 kilometers to the north of the country's capital, San José.

Deforestation

Deforestation

Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. This is one-third less than the forest cover before the expansion of agriculture, a half of that loss occurring in the last century. Between 15 million to 18 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Bangladesh, are destroyed every year. On average 2,400 trees are cut down each minute.

Poás Volcano National Park

Poás Volcano National Park

Poás Volcano National Park is a national park in Costa Rica that covers an area of approximately 65 square kilometres ; the summit is 2,700 metres (8,900 ft). It was established on 25 January 1971. Depending on conditions, visitors can walk all the way to the edge of the main crater, but on 13 April 2017 the park was closed to visitors due to an explosive eruption on the evening of 12 April. Still further eruptions, including on Easter, 16 April, caused the park to be closed until August 2018.

Administrative divisions

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).

Barack Obama and Laura Chinchilla with Costa Rican children in San José

Foreign relations

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. The main foreign policy objective of Costa Rica is to foster human rights and sustainable development as a way to secure stability and growth.^[92]

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

Symbolic act of Costa Rica's army abolition by president José Figueres Ferrer on December 1, 1948, at Cuartel Bellavista (former army headquarters), site which now hosts the National Museum

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.^[93]

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.^[94] In 2010, there was also a dispute around Isla Calero, and the impact of Nicaraguan dredging of the river in that area.^[95]

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.^[96]

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.^[97] 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.^[98]

Pacifism

On 1 December 1948, Costa Rica abolished its military force.^[45] 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.^[44][99] According to Deutsche Welle, "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."^[46] For law enforcement, Costa Rica has the Public Force of Costa Rica police agency.

In 2017, Costa Rica signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.^[100][101]

Environmentalism

In 2021 Costa Rica with Denmark launched the "Beyond Oil and Gas alliance" (BOGA) for stopping the use of fossil fuels.^[102] The BOGA campaign was presented in the COP26 Climate Summit, where Sweden joined as a core member, while New Zealand and Portugal joined as associate members.^[103]

Discover more about Government and politics related topics

Administrative divisions of Costa Rica

Administrative divisions of Costa Rica

According to the Political Constitution of Costa Rica of 1949, in article 168, the territorial division of Costa Rica is organized by law into three types of subnational entity:

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American former politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president of the United States. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004, and previously worked as a civil rights lawyer before entering politics.

Laura Chinchilla

Laura Chinchilla

Laura Chinchilla Miranda is a Costa Rican political scientist and politician who served as President of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014. She was one of Óscar Arias Sánchez's two Vice-Presidents and his administration's Minister of Justice. She was the governing PLN candidate for president in the 2010 general election, where she won with 46.76% of the vote on 7 February. She was the eighth woman president of a Latin American country and the first woman to become President of Costa Rica. She was sworn in as President of Costa Rica on 8 May 2010.

Foreign relations of Costa Rica

Foreign relations of Costa Rica

Costa Rica is an active member of the international community and, in 1983, claimed it was for neutrality. Due to certain powerful constituencies favoring its methods, it has a weight in world affairs far beyond its size. The country lobbied aggressively for the establishment of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and became the first nation to recognize the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Human Rights Court, based in San José.

Organization of American States

Organization of American States

The Organization of American States is an international organization that was founded on 30 April 1948 for the purposes of solidarity and co-operation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in the United States capital, Washington, D.C., the OAS has 35 members, which are independent states in the Americas. Since the 1990s, the organization has focused on election monitoring. The Secretary General of the OAS is Uruguayan Luis Almagro.

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an international court based in San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it was formed by the American Convention on Human Rights, a human rights treaty ratified by members of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Human rights

Human rights

Human rights are moral principles or norms for certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected in municipal and international law. They are commonly understood as inalienable, fundamental rights "to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being" and which are "inherent in all human beings", regardless of their age, ethnic origin, location, language, religion, ethnicity, or any other status. They are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal, and they are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone. They are regarded as requiring empathy and the rule of law and imposing an obligation on persons to respect the human rights of others, and it is generally considered that they should not be taken away except as a result of due process based on specific circumstances.

Community of Democracies

Community of Democracies

The Community of Democracies (C.O.D), established in 2000, is an intergovernmental coalition of states. Its aim is to bring together governments, civil society and the private sector in the pursuit of the common goal of supporting democratic rules, expanding political participation, advancing and protecting democratic freedoms, and strengthening democratic norms and institutions around the world. The Warsaw Declaration had outlined the task of promoting democracy. It is disputed if the coalition qualifies as an International Organization in the legal sense.

List of countries without armed forces

List of countries without armed forces

This is a list of countries without armed forces. The term country here means sovereign states and not dependencies whose defense is the responsibility of another country or an army alternative. The term armed forces refers to any government-sponsored defense used to further the domestic and foreign policies of their respective government. Some of the countries listed, such as Iceland and Monaco, have no standing armies but still have a non-police military force.

José Figueres Ferrer

José Figueres Ferrer

José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer served as President of Costa Rica on three occasions: 1948–1949, 1953–1958 and 1970–1974. During his first term in office he abolished the country's army, nationalized its banking sector, and granted women and Afro-Costa Ricans the right to vote, as well as access to Costa Rican nationality to people of African descent. He was a good friend of the Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Muñoz Marín, praising his political achievements in one of his essays.

Museo Nacional de Costa Rica

Museo Nacional de Costa Rica

The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica is the national museum of Costa Rica, located in the capital of San José. It is located at Calle 17, between Central and Second Avenue, Cuesta de Moras. It moved to its current location in 1950.

International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. It is distinct from the International Court of Justice, an organ of the United Nations that hears disputes between states. While praised as a major step toward justice, and as an innovation in international law and human rights, the ICC has faced a number of criticisms from governments and civil society, including objections to its jurisdiction, accusations of bias, Eurocentrism and racism, questioning of the fairness of its case selection and trial procedures, and doubts about its effectiveness. The African Union (AU) has encouraged African states to not work alongside the ICC. These leaders and political bodies said that “the ICC is acting as a neo-colonial force seeking to further empower Western political and extractive interests in Africa.”

The 2011 census counted a population of 4.3 million people^[104] 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 5.2 million.^[10][11]

Costa Rica population pyramid in 2021

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.^[105][106]

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.^[107][108] 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.^[109]

Costa Rican school children

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.^[110] The number of migrants declined in later years but in 2015, there were some 420,000 immigrants in Costa Rica^[111] 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.^[112] 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.^[113][114]

Largest cities

Largest cities or towns in Costa Rica Census 2011
	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
San José Cartago	1	San José	San José	342 188	Heredia
	2	Cartago	Cartago	151 744
	3	Heredia	Heredia	128 550
	4	Puntarenas	Puntarenas	122 335
	5	Limón	Limón	96 314
	6	Liberia	Guanacaste	64 797
	7	San Isidro de El General	San José	45 773
	8	Alajuela	Alajuela	42 975
	9	Quesada	Alajuela	42 060
	10	Desamparados	San José	36 794

Religion

Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles (Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels, Cartago), during the 2007 pilgrimage

Most Costa Ricans identify with a Christian religion, with Catholicism being the one with the largest number of members and also the official state religion according to the 1949 Constitution, which at the same time guarantees freedom of religion. Costa Rica is the only modern state in the Americas which currently has Catholicism as its state religion; other countries with state religions (Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Orthodox) are in Europe: Liechtenstein, Monaco, the Vatican City, Malta, Norway, United Kingdom, Denmark, Iceland, and Greece.^[115]

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.^[116] This survey indicated a decline in the share of Catholics and rise in the share of Protestants and irreligious.^[116] 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).^[117] 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.^[118]

The Sinagoga Shaarei Zion synagogue^[119] 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.^[120]

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.^[121] However, they represent less than 1% of the population.^[122][123]

Languages

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.^[124]

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.^[124]

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.^[125]

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Demographics of Costa Rica

Demographics of Costa Rica

This is a demography of the population of Costa Rica including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Mestizo

Mestizo

Mestizo is a term used for ethno-racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though their ancestors are not. The term was used as an ethno-racial exonym for mixed-race castas that evolved during the Spanish Empire. Although, broadly speaking, mestizo means someone of mixed European/Indigenous heritage, the term did not have a fixed meaning in the colonial period. It was a formal label for individuals in official documents, such as censuses, parish registers, Inquisition trials, and others. Priests and royal officials might have classified persons as mestizos, but individuals also used the term in self-identification.

Mulatto

Mulatto

Mulatto is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is not, and can even be a source of pride. A mulatta is a female mulatto.

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.

Quitirrisí

Quitirrisí

Quitirrisí is a district of the Mora canton, in the San José province of Costa Rica.

Maleku people

Maleku people

The Maleku are an indigenous people of Costa Rica located in the Guatuso Indigenous Reserve near the town of Guatuso. Historically they were also known as the Guatuso, the name used by Spanish colonizers. Around 600 aboriginal people live on the reserve, making this the smallest tribe in Costa Rica, but outsiders have come into the community as well. Before the Spanish colonization, their territory extended as far west as Rincon de la Vieja, and included the volcano Arenal to the south and Rio Celeste as sacred sites. Today their reserve is concentrated south of San Rafael de Guatuso, an hour north of La Fortuna.

Bribri people

Bribri people

The Bribri are an Indigenous people in eastern Costa Rica and northern Panama. Today, most Bribri people speak the Bribri language or Spanish.

Cabécar people

Cabécar people

The Cabécar are an indigenous group of the remote Talamanca region of eastern Costa Rica. They speak Cabécar, a language belonging to the Chibchan language family of the Isthmo-Colombian Area of lower Central America and northwestern Colombia. According to census data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica, the Cabécar are the largest indigenous group in Costa Rica with a population of nearly 17,000.

Jamaicans

Jamaicans

Jamaicans are the citizens of Jamaica and their descendants in the Jamaican diaspora. The vast majority of Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African descent, with minorities of Europeans, East Indians, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and others of mixed ancestry. The bulk of the Jamaican diaspora resides in other Anglophone countries, namely Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Jamaican populations are also prominent in other Caribbean countries, territories and Commonwealth realms, where in the Cayman Islands, Jamaican born residents make up 24.8% of the population. Outside of Anglophone countries, the largest Jamaican diaspora community lives in Costa Rica, where Jamaicans make up a significant percentage of the population.

Las Carretas (oxcarts) are a national symbol.

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 the Spanish language and the Catholic religion as primary influences.

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.

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,^[126] and the country routinely ranks high in various happiness metrics.^[127] 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".^[128] 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,^[129] denoting a simple life, free of stress, a positive, relaxed feeling.^[130] The expression is used in various contexts in conversation.^[131] 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."^[132] In that usage, it might be translated as "awesome", indicating that all is very well.^[131] When used as a question, the connotation would be "everything is going well?" or "how are you?".^[129]

Costa Rica rates 12th on the 2017 Happy Planet Index in the World Happiness Report by the UN^[133] 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.^[134][135]

Cuisine

Costa Rican breakfast with gallo pinto

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.^[136]

Sports

Costa Rica supporters at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

Costa Rica entered the Summer Olympics for the first time in 1936.^[137] The sisters Silvia and Claudia Poll have won all four of the country's Olympic Medals for swimming; one Gold, one Silver, and two Bronze.^{[138][139][140]}

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.^[141][142] 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.^[143] 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.^[144][145] On 17 November 2020, FIFA announced that the event would be held in Costa Rica in 2022.^[146]

As of late 2021, Costa Rica's women's national volleyball team has been the top team in Central America's AFECAVOL (Asociación de Federaciones CentroAmericanas de Voleibol) zone.^[147] Costa Rica featured a women's national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018–2020 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.^[148]

Discover more about Culture related topics

Culture of Costa Rica

Culture of Costa Rica

Costa Rican culture has been heavily influenced by Spanish culture ever since the Spanish colonization of the Americas including the territory which today forms Costa Rica. Parts of the country have other strong cultural influences, including the Caribbean province of Limón and the Cordillera de Talamanca which are influenced by Jamaican immigrants and indigenous native people, respectively.

Nahuatl

Nahuatl

Nahuatl, Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about 1.7 million Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller populations in the United States.

Bachata (music)

Bachata (music)

Bachata is a genre of music that originated in the Dominican Republic in the 20th century. It is a fusion of southwestern European influences, mainly Spanish guitar music, with indigenous Taino and Sub Saharan African musical elements, representative of the cultural diversity of the Dominican population.

Merengue music

Merengue music

Merengue is a type of music and dance originating in the Dominican Republic, which has become a very popular genre throughout Latin America, and also in several major cities in the United States with Latino communities. Merengue was inscribed on November 30, 2016 in the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.

Cumbia

Cumbia

Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. It is said to have come from funeral traditions in the Afro-Colombian community.

Happy Planet Index

Happy Planet Index

The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is an index of human well-being and environmental impact that was introduced by the New Economics Foundation in 2006. Each country's HPI value is a function of its average subjective life satisfaction, life expectancy at birth, and ecological footprint per capita. The exact function is a little more complex, but conceptually it approximates multiplying life satisfaction and life expectancy and dividing that by the ecological footprint. The index is weighted to give progressively higher scores to nations with lower ecological footprints.

Costa Rican cuisine

Costa Rican cuisine

Costa Rican cuisine is known for being mostly mild, with high reliance on fruits and vegetables. Rice and black beans are a staple of most traditional Costa Rican meals, often served three times a day. Costa Rican fare is nutritionally well rounded, and nearly always cooked from scratch from fresh ingredients. Owing to the location of the country, tropical fruits and vegetables are readily available and included in the local cuisine.

Gallo pinto

Gallo pinto

Gallo pinto or gallopinto is a traditional dish from Central America. Consisting of rice and beans as a base, gallo pinto has a long history and is important to Nicaraguan identity and culture, just as rice and beans variations are equally important in many Latin American cultures as well.

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.

Costa Rica at the Olympics

Costa Rica at the Olympics

Costa Rica first participated at the Olympic Games in 1936, but then missed the next four Olympiads. The nation returned to the Games in 1964, and has participated in every Summer Olympic Games since then. Costa Rica has also participated in several Winter Olympic Games since 1980.

Football in Costa Rica

Football in Costa Rica

Football is the most popular sport in Costa Rica. Costa Rica has long been considered an exporter of footballers within Central America, with 19 players in European professional football leagues during 2006. The newspaper, La Nación, has prepared an annual census of these "Legionnaires" since 1994.

2014 FIFA World Cup

2014 FIFA World Cup

The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2007. It was the second time that Brazil staged the competition, the first being in 1950, and the fifth time that it was held in South America.

The University of Costa Rica is the largest university of the country and one of the most recognizable across Central America

The literacy rate in Costa Rica is approximately 97 percent and English is widely spoken primarily due to Costa Rica's tourism industry.^[67] When the army was abolished in 1949, it was said that the "army would be replaced with an army of teachers".^[149] Universal public education is guaranteed in the constitution; primary education is obligatory, and both preschool and secondary 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 state-funded University of Costa Rica has been awarded the title "Meritorious Institution of Costa Rican Education and Culture" and hosts around 25,000 students who study at numerous campuses established around the country.

A 2016 report by the U.S. government report identifies the current challenges facing the education system, including the high dropout rate among secondary 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 mathematics (STEM) programs, according to the report.^[67] Costa Rica was ranked 56th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, down from 55th in 2019.^{[150][151][152][153]}

Discover more about Education related topics

Education in Costa Rica

Education in Costa Rica

Education in Costa Rica is divided in 3 cycles: pre-education, primary education, and secondary school, which leads to higher education. School year starts between the second and third week of February, stops at the last week of June, it continues again between the third and fourth week of July and finishes between the last week of November and the second week of December. Preschool and basic education are free to the public. Elementary and secondary school are both divided in two cycles. Since 1869, education is free and compulsory.

University of Costa Rica

University of Costa Rica

The University of Costa Rica is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Montes de Oca, in the province of San José. It is the oldest and largest institution of higher learning in Costa Rica, originally established as the Universidad de Santo Tomás in 1843. It is also the most important research university in the country and Central America and is counted among the most prestigious universities of Latin America. Approximately 45,000 students attend UCR throughout the year.

Central America

Central America

Central America is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Central America usually consists of seven countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Within Central America is the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from northern Guatemala to central Panama. Due to the presence of several active geologic faults and the Central America Volcanic Arc, there is a high amount of seismic activity in the region, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes which has resulted in death, injury, and property damage.

Global Innovation Index

Global Innovation Index

The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and World Business, a British magazine. Until 2021 it was published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, in partnership with Cornell University, INSEAD, and other organisations and institutions. It is based on both subjective and objective data derived from several sources, including the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

Development of life expectancy in Costa Rica

Hospital Calderón Guardia, named after the president who instituted universal health care across the country in 1941

According to the UNDP, in 2010 the life expectancy at birth for Costa Ricans was 79.3 years.^[154] 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.^[155][156] 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.^[157][158] 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.^[159]

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 2020 was above 95% for all antigens.^{[160][161][162]} 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.^[163]

Hospital CIMA in Escazú

Costa Rica has been cited as Central America's great health success story.^[164] Its healthcare system is ranked higher than that of the United States, despite having a fraction of its GDP.^[165] 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 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.

Costa Rica is among the Latin America countries that have become popular destinations for medical tourism.^[166][167] In 2006, Costa Rica received 150,000 foreigners that came for medical treatment.^{[166][167][168]} Costa Rica is particularly attractive to Americans due to geographic proximity, high quality of medical services, and lower medical costs.^[167]

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Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia

Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia

Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia was a Costa Rican medical doctor and politician, who served as President from 1940 to 1944.

Universal health care

Universal health care

Universal health care is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized around providing either all residents or only those who cannot afford on their own, with either health services or the means to acquire them, with the end goal of improving health outcomes.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy

Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth (LEB), which can be defined in two ways. Cohort LEB is the mean length of life of a birth cohort and can be computed only for cohorts born so long ago that all their members have died. Period LEB is the mean length of life of a hypothetical cohort assumed to be exposed, from birth through death, to the mortality rates observed at a given year.

Nicoya Peninsula

Nicoya Peninsula

The Nicoya Peninsula is a peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It is divided into two provinces: Guanacaste Province in the north, and the Puntarenas Province in the south. It is located at 10°N 85.4166667°W. It varies from 19 to 37 miles (60 km) wide and is approximately 75 miles (121 km) long, forming the largest peninsula in the country. It is known for its beaches and is a popular tourist destination.

New Economics Foundation

New Economics Foundation

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a British think-tank that promotes "social, economic and environmental justice".

Happy Planet Index

Happy Planet Index

The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is an index of human well-being and environmental impact that was introduced by the New Economics Foundation in 2006. Each country's HPI value is a function of its average subjective life satisfaction, life expectancy at birth, and ecological footprint per capita. The exact function is a little more complex, but conceptually it approximates multiplying life satisfaction and life expectancy and dividing that by the ecological footprint. The index is weighted to give progressively higher scores to nations with lower ecological footprints.

Ecological footprint

Ecological footprint

The ecological footprint is a method promoted by the Global Footprint Network to measure human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to support people and their economies. It tracks this demand through an ecological accounting system. The accounts contrast the biologically productive area people use for their consumption to the biologically productive area available within a region, nation, or the world. In short, it is a measure of human impact on the environment and whether that impact is sustainable.

Malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. Symptoms usually begin ten to fifteen days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. If not properly treated, people may have recurrences of the disease months later. In those who have recently survived an infection, reinfection usually causes milder symptoms. This partial resistance disappears over months to years if the person has no continuing exposure to malaria.

Measles

Measles

Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than 40 °C (104 °F), cough, runny nose, and inflamed eyes. Small white spots known as Koplik's spots may form inside the mouth two or three days after the start of symptoms. A red, flat rash which usually starts on the face and then spreads to the rest of the body typically begins three to five days after the start of symptoms. Common complications include diarrhea, middle ear infection (7%), and pneumonia (6%). These occur in part due to measles-induced immunosuppression. Less commonly seizures, blindness, or inflammation of the brain may occur. Other names include morbilli, rubeola, red measles, and English measles. Both rubella, also known as German measles, and roseola are different diseases caused by unrelated viruses.

Hospital CIMA

Hospital CIMA

Hospital CIMA San Jose is a hospital in San José, Costa Rica. The hospital opened in 2000.

General practitioner

General practitioner

In the medical profession, a general practitioner (GP) or family physician is a physician who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education to patients of all ages. GPs' duties are not confined to specific fields of medicine, and they have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues. They are trained to treat patients to levels of complexity that vary between countries. The term "primary care physician" is more usually used in the US. In Asian countries like India, this term has been replaced mainly by Medical Officers, Registered Medical Practicioner etc.

Medical tourism

Medical tourism

Medical tourism refers to people traveling abroad to obtain medical treatment. In the past, this usually referred to those who traveled from less-developed countries to major medical centers in highly developed countries for treatment unavailable at home. However, in recent years it may equally refer to those from developed countries who travel to developing countries for lower-priced medical treatments. The motivation may be also for medical services unavailable or non-licensed in the home country: There are differences between the medical agencies world-wide which decide whether a drug is approved in their country or not. Even within Europe, although therapy protocols might be approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), several countries have their own review organizations in order to evaluate whether the same therapy protocol would be "cost-effective", so that patients face differences in the therapy protocols, particularly in the access of these drugs, which might be partially explained by the financial strength of the particular Health System.