Costa Rica
Name
| Official name | Republic of Costa Rica — República de Costa Rica |
|---|---|
| Demonym | Costa Rican; costarricense; Tico, Tica |
| Meaning of the name | "Rich coast" — credited to Columbus at Limón in 1502, for the gold ornaments of the people he met |
| Motto | "Vivan siempre el trabajo y la paz" — long live work and peace; on the arms |
| Saying | "Pura vida" — the greeting, the thanks and the philosophy |
Quick facts
| Capital | San José — the capital since 1823; at 1,170 m; about 350,000 in the canton, about 2.5 million in the metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Largest cities | San José; Alajuela; Cartago, the old capital; Heredia; Liberia; Puntarenas; Limón |
| Official language | Spanish; Limonese Creole, Bribri, Cabécar and other Indigenous languages recognized |
| Currency | Costa Rican colón — ISO code CRC, ₡; about 500 to the U.S. dollar |
| Time zone | Central Standard Time, UTC−6, all year |
| Calling code | +506 |
| Internet domain | .cr |
| ISO 3166 codes | CR · CRI · 188 |
| Vehicle registration code | CR |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 120 V, 60 Hz; plug types A and B |
| Independence | 15 September 1821, from Spain, with Central America — the news reached Cartago on 13 October |
| National days | 15 September, Independence Day, with the torch and the lantern parades; 11 April, Juan Santamaría Day, for Rivas 1856; 25 July, the annexation of Guanacaste; 1 December, the abolition of the army |
| Constitution | 7 November 1949 — after the civil war of 1948; Article 12 forbids a standing army |
| Population | 4,301,712 at the census of 2011; about 5.2 million (INEC, 2025 est.); the census of 2022 postponed |
| Area | 51,100 km² (19,730 sq mi) — land 51,060 km², water 40 km²; Cocos Island 550 km out in the Pacific |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Five horizontal bands of blue, white, red, white and blue, the red twice the width of the others — the sky, peace, and the blood of the patriots — with the coat of arms in a white disc toward the hoist on the state flag; designed by Pacífica Fernández, adopted 29 September 1848.Flag of Costa Rica |
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| Coat of arms | Three volcanoes between two oceans with a ship on each, the rising sun, and seven stars for the seven provinces, under the name of the republic and the motto — adopted 1848, revised 1964 and 1998 |
| National anthem | "Himno Nacional de Costa Rica" — music by Manuel María Gutiérrez, 1852; words by José María Zeledón, 1903; official 1949 |
| National motto | "Vivan siempre el trabajo y la paz" |
| National colors | Blue, white and red |
| National bird | The yigüirro — the clay-colored thrush, whose song opens the rains; declared 3 January 1977 |
| National flower | The guaria morada, Guarianthe skinneri — the purple orchid; declared 15 June 1939 |
| National tree | The guanacaste, Enterolobium cyclocarpum — the ear-pod tree of the northwest; declared 31 August 1959 |
| National animals | The white-tailed deer, declared 1995; the manatee, 2014; the two-toed and three-toed sloths, declared 2021 |
| National symbols by law | The oxcart and its painted wheels, 1988 — UNESCO intangible heritage 2005; the marimba, 1996; the torch of independence, 2005; the stone spheres of the Diquís, 2014; the National Theater, 2018; the coffee plant, 2020 |
| National dish | Gallo pinto — rice and beans; the casado; widely cited |
| Symbol status | Each symbol declared by law or executive decree of the republic; the dish widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Central America — between Nicaragua and Panama, on the Caribbean and the Pacific |
|---|---|
| Land borders | 661 km (411 mi) with two countries |
| Border with Panama | 348 km (216 mi) |
| Border with Nicaragua | 313 km (194 mi) — the San Juan River; the Isla Calero dispute settled by the International Court of Justice in 2015 and 2018 |
| Coastline | 1,290 km (802 mi) — about 1,016 km on the Pacific, 212 km on the Caribbean |
| Highest point | Cerro Chirripó, 3,819 m (12,530 ft), in the Talamanca range |
| Lowest point | The Pacific and the Caribbean, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 746 m (2,448 ft) |
| Volcanoes | Some 200, about a dozen active or dormant along the Guanacaste, Central and Talamanca ranges — Arenal, active 1968–2010; Poás and its acid crater lake; Irazú, 3,432 m, the highest, whose ash buried San José in 1963–65; Turrialba; Rincón de la Vieja |
| Major rivers | The San Juan on the northern border; the Tempisque of Guanacaste; the Reventazón and the Pacuare, the rafting rivers to the Caribbean; the Térraba, the longest, to the Pacific |
| Lakes | Lake Arenal, about 85 km², the largest — dammed for power in 1979; Lake Cocibolca of Nicaragua at the border |
| Terrain | The central valley at 1,000–1,500 m where most people live; the volcanic and Talamanca ranges; the Caribbean lowlands and Tortuguero canals; the Pacific dry forest of Guanacaste; the Nicoya and Osa peninsulas |
| Climate | Tropical — the dry season from December to April, the green season from May to November; the Caribbean wet all year; cool in the highlands |
| Natural hazards | Earthquakes — Limón 1991, Cinchona 2009; volcanoes; floods and landslides in the rains; hurricanes rare — Otto 2016 the first on record |
| Natural resources | Hydropower, geothermal and wind — 99% of electricity renewable; fisheries; little mineral wealth, mining banned since 2010 |
| Biodiversity | About 6% of the world's species on 0.03% of its land — some 500,000 species; about 26% of the territory protected, a quarter as national parks |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 37%; forest about 60%, doubled since the 1980s — the only tropical country to reverse deforestation |
| National parks | 30 national parks and 160 protected areas — Corcovado on the Osa Peninsula; Tortuguero; Manuel Antonio, the smallest and most visited; Arenal; Chirripó; Monteverde, the cloud forest reserve; Cocos Island |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 4 — the Talamanca Range–La Amistad Reserves (1983, shared with Panama); Cocos Island National Park (1997); the Guanacaste Conservation Area (1999); the Precolumbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquís (2014) |
| Administrative divisions | 7 provinces — San José, Alajuela, Cartago, Heredia, Guanacaste, Puntarenas and Limón — 84 cantons and some 490 districts |
People
| Population | 4,301,712 (census of 2011); about 5.2 million (2025 est.) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 100 per km² (260 per sq mi) |
| Population growth | About 0.5% a year |
| Median age | About 34 years |
| Life expectancy | About 80 years — among the highest in the Americas; the Nicoya Peninsula one of the world's five Blue Zones |
| Fertility rate | About 1.3 births per woman — among the lowest in Latin America |
| Urban population | About 83% |
| Adult literacy | About 98% |
| Ethnic groups | White and mestizo about 84%; mulatto about 7%; Indigenous about 2% — the Bribri, Cabécar, Ngäbe, Brunca, Maleku, Huetar and Chorotega; Afro-Caribbean about 1%, on the Limón coast; Chinese |
| Immigrants | About 10% foreign-born — Nicaraguans above all, about 400,000, with Colombians, Venezuelans and North American retirees; refugees from Nicaragua since 2018 |
| Languages | Spanish by nearly all; Limonese Creole English on the Caribbean coast; Bribri, Cabécar and five other Indigenous languages; English in tourism and business |
| Religion | Roman Catholic about 47% — the state religion under the Constitution, the last in the Americas; Protestant about 25%; no religion about 27% |
| Human Development Index | 0.833 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; about 64th of 193 |
| Sport | Football — La Sele, at six World Cups, the quarterfinal of 2014 and the Brazil win of that year; Keylor Navas; surfing; Claudia Poll's Olympic gold of 1996, the country's first |
| Diaspora | About 150,000 abroad, mostly in the United States |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 1949 — the president head of state and government, elected for four years, eligible again only after eight years out of office |
|---|---|
| President | Laura Fernández (Sovereign People's Party), since 8 May 2026 — the 50th; the second woman president after Laura Chinchilla, 2010–2014; a political scientist, born 4 July 1986 in Puntarenas; planning minister 2022–2025 and minister of the presidency under Chaves |
| Vice Presidents | Francisco Gamboa and Douglas Soto, since 8 May 2026 |
| The 2026 election | Held 1 February 2026: Fernández 48.53% — 1,243,141 votes — against 33.65% for Álvaro Ramos of the National Liberation Party and eighteen others; above the 40% that avoids the runoff of 5 April; turnout 69.22%, up nine points; the first outright first-round win since 2010 |
| The Legislative Assembly | 57 deputies elected for four years by province — the Sovereign People's Party 31, the first single-party majority since 1990; the National Liberation Party 17; the Broad Front 7; others 2 |
| Predecessor | Rodrigo Chaves (Social Democratic Progress), 2022–2026 — an economist and former World Bank official who left office with about 60% approval |
| The next election | Due in February 2030 |
| Security | Homicides above 800 in 2025 — about 17 per 100,000, the second-highest count on record after 2023 — on the cocaine routes through the ports; the maximum-security prison begun in 2025 the new government's promise; no army since 1 December 1948, the Fuerza Pública the police |
| Legal system | Civil law; the Supreme Court of Justice with its Constitutional Chamber, the Sala IV; the Supreme Electoral Tribunal a fourth branch of government |
| Provinces | 7, without elected governments; the 84 cantons with elected mayors |
| United Nations | A founding member, 2 November 1945; the University for Peace at Ciudad Colón; the Inter-American Court of Human Rights at San José |
| Memberships | The OAS, the Central American Integration System (SICA), the OECD (2021), the WTO, the Pacific Alliance as a candidate, CAFTA-DR with the United States since 2009 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$100 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$19,000 (2025) — among the highest in Latin America |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$30,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 4% a year (2023–25) |
| Economy by sector | Services about 70%, industry about 20%, agriculture about 4% |
| Currency | Costa Rican colón (CRC) |
| Medical devices and microchips | The largest exports — the free-trade zones around San José: Intel since 1997, Boston Scientific, Abbott and some 40 device makers; precision instruments and electronics about a third of exports |
| Agriculture | The largest exporter of pineapples in the world; bananas among the largest; coffee — arabica only by law, from the central valley and Tarrazú; sugar, palm oil, ornamental plants |
| Tourism | About 2.6 million visitors a year — ecotourism from the United States and Europe; about 8% of GDP |
| Energy | About 99% of electricity from renewables — hydropower, geothermal, wind and solar — for most of every year since 2015 |
| Trade partners | The United States about 40% of trade; the Netherlands, Belgium, Guatemala, Panama, China |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank); an OECD member since 25 May 2021 |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Juan Santamaría International at Alajuela, serving San José; Daniel Oduber Quirós International at Liberia, the gateway of Guanacaste |
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| Airlines | Avianca Costa Rica — the former LACSA of 1945; Sansa and Aerobell for the domestic hops |
| Main ports | Moín–Limón on the Caribbean, with the APM container terminal opened 2019 — the country's largest; Caldera on the Pacific |
| Railways | About 280 km (175 mi) in use — the commuter trains of the central valley; the Atlantic railway of 1890 to Limón, the work of Minor Keith, long closed; an electric train for San José planned |
| Roads | About 44,000 km (27,000 mi); the Pan-American Highway from Peñas Blancas to Paso Canoas; the Ruta 27 to Caldera; the Inter-American through the Cerro de la Muerte at 3,335 m |
| Tortuguero | Reached only by boat or plane — the canals of the Caribbean coast |
History in dates
| c. 300–1500 | The stone spheres of the Diquís |
|---|---|
| 1502 | Columbus anchors off Limón, 18 September |
| 1563 | Cartago founded by Juan Vázquez de Coronado |
| 1821 | Independence with Central America, 15 September |
| 1823 | The Battle of Ochomogo; San José becomes the capital |
| 1824 | Guanacaste votes to join Costa Rica, 25 July |
| 1838 | Costa Rica leaves the Central American federation |
| 1856 | The Battle of Rivas against William Walker, 11 April — Juan Santamaría |
| 1889 | The first free election; the democracy dates from here |
| 1890 | The railway to Limón opened; the banana age |
| 1948 | The civil war of 44 days; José Figueres abolishes the army, 1 December |
| 1949 | The Constitution, 7 November; women vote |
| 1987 | Óscar Arias wins the Nobel Peace Prize for the Central American peace plan |
| 1997 | Intel opens at Belén |
| 2010 | Laura Chinchilla, the first woman president, 8 May |
| 2014 | La Sele reaches the World Cup quarterfinal |
| 2021 | OECD membership, 25 May |
| 2022 | Rodrigo Chaves president, 8 May |
| 2026 | Laura Fernández elected, 1 February; inaugurated, 8 May |
Records & firsts
| The first country to abolish its army | 1 December 1948 — written into the Constitution of 1949 |
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| Six percent of the world's species | On 0.03% of its land |
| Electricity almost entirely renewable | About 99% since 2015 |
| The country that regrew its forest | From about 21% cover in 1987 to about 60% |
| The largest pineapple exporter | More than half the world's trade |
| A Blue Zone | Nicoya — one of five places on earth where people live longest |
| The oldest democracy in Central America | Continuous elections since 1953 |
| The Nobel Peace Prize | Óscar Arias, 1987 |
| A second woman president | Laura Fernández, 2026, after Laura Chinchilla, 2010 |
| Pura vida | A national philosophy in two words |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Costa Rica?
The Republic of Costa Rica — República de Costa Rica — since the constitution of 1848. The name, "rich coast," is credited to Columbus, who anchored off Limón on his fourth voyage in September 1502 and saw the gold ornaments of the people he met; the gold was never found, and the riches turned out to be coffee, then forests, then microchips.
What is the capital of Costa Rica?
San José, on the central plateau at 1,170 m — the capital since 1823, when it replaced Cartago after a short civil war, with about 350,000 people in the canton and some 2.5 million in the Greater Metropolitan Area that holds half the country. Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia ring it in the central valley; Limón and Puntarenas are the ports; Liberia the capital of Guanacaste.
How big is Costa Rica, and how many people live there?
About 51,100 km² (19,730 sq mi) — a little smaller than West Virginia — between Nicaragua and Panama, with coasts on the Caribbean and the Pacific 120 km apart at the narrowest. The census of 2011 counted 4,301,712 people; INEC estimates about 5.2 million for 2025, about a fifth of them born abroad, most from Nicaragua. A population census of 2022 was postponed and has yet to be taken.
What are the highest and lowest points of Costa Rica?
Cerro Chirripó, 3,819 m (12,530 ft), in the Talamanca range — from whose summit both oceans can be seen on a clear morning — and the two oceans. The volcanic ranges run the length of the country: Arenal, active from 1968 to 2010; Poás, with one of the largest crater lakes of acid in the world; Irazú, whose ash fell on San José in 1963; Turrialba and Rincón de la Vieja, active still.
What currency does Costa Rica use?
The Costa Rican colón (ISO code CRC, ₡), named for Columbus and issued by the Central Bank, at about 500 to the U.S. dollar, which is widely accepted. Clocks keep Central Standard Time, UTC−6, all year.
Who governs Costa Rica?
President Laura Fernández, the 50th, in office since 8 May 2026 for a single four-year term — the second woman to hold the office, elected at 39. A political scientist who served as planning minister and minister of the presidency under Rodrigo Chaves, she won the election of 1 February 2026 outright with 48.53 percent of the vote, above the 40 percent that avoids a runoff, against 33.65 for Álvaro Ramos, on a campaign of continuity and a hard line on the drug violence that has taken Costa Rican homicides to records. Her Sovereign People's Party holds 31 of the 57 seats of the Legislative Assembly, the first single-party majority since 1990. Costa Rica has had no army since 1948 and holds elections every four years without interruption since 1953.
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