Costa Rica: Difference between revisions

Republic of Costa Rica
*República de Costa Rica* (Spanish)
Republic of Costa Rica República de Costa Rica (Spanish)
	Flag Coat of arms
	Anthem: "Himno Nacional de Costa Rica" (Spanish); "National Anthem of Costa Rica"
Capital and largest city	San José; 9°56′N 84°5′W / 9.933°N 84.083°W
Official languages	Spanish
Recognized regional languages	Mekatelyu; Bribri; Patois;
Ethnic groups (2021)	83.6% White or Mestizo; 6.7% Mulatto (mixed Black and White); 2.4% Indigenous; 1.1% Black; 6.2% others;
Religion (2021)	72.6% Christianity 47.5% Catholicism (official); 22.5% Protestantism; 2.6% other Christian; ; ; 27.0% no religion; 0.4% others;
Demonym(s)	Costa Rican; Tico(a);
Government	Unitary presidential republic
• President	Rodrigo Chaves
• 1st Vice-President	Stephan Brunner
• 2nd Vice-President	Mary Munive
Legislature	Legislative Assembly
Independence from
• from Spain	15 September 1821
• from First Mexican Empire	1 July 1823
• from the Federal; Republic of; Central America	14 November 1838
• Recognized by Spain	10 May 1850
• Current constitution	7 November 1949
Area
• Total	51,179.92 km2 (19,760.68 sq mi) (126th)
• Water (%)	1.05 (as of 2015)
Population
• 2022 census	5,044,197
• Density	220/sq mi (84.9/km2) (107th)
GDP (PPP)	2023 estimate
• Total	$141.527 billion (90th)
• Per capita	$26,809 (66th)
GDP (nominal)	2023 estimate
• Total	$85.590 billion (85th)
• Per capita	$16,213 (64th)
Gini (2022)	47.2; high inequality
HDI (2022)	0.806; very high (64th)
Currency	Costa Rican colón (CRC)
Time zone	UTC−6 (CST)
Drives on	right
Calling code	+506
ISO 3166 code	CR
Internet TLD	.cr; .co.cr

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Latest revision as of 06:40, 14 September 2024

Costa Rica (UK: /ˌkɒstə ˈriːkə/, US: /ˌkoʊstə-/ ^ⓘ; Spanish: [ˈkosta ˈrika]; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica,^[10] is a country in the Central American region of North America. Costa Rica is bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as maritime border with Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a population of around five million^[11]^[12] in a land area of nearly 51,180 km² (19,760 sq mi).^[13] An estimated 352,381 people live in the capital and largest city, San José, with around two million people in the surrounding metropolitan area.^[14]

The sovereign state is a presidential republic. It has a long-standing and stable constitutional democracy and a highly educated workforce.^[15] The country spends roughly 6.9% of its budget (2016) on education, compared to a global average of 4.4%.^[15] Its economy, once heavily dependent on agriculture, has diversified to include sectors such as finance, corporate services for foreign companies, pharmaceuticals, and ecotourism. Many foreign manufacturing and services companies operate in Costa Rica's Free Trade Zones (FTZ) where they benefit from investment and tax incentives.^[16]

Costa Rica was inhabited by indigenous peoples before coming under Spanish rule in the 16th century. It remained a peripheral colony of the empire until independence as part of the First Mexican Empire, followed by membership in the Federal Republic of Central America, from which it formally declared independence in 1847. Following the brief Costa Rican Civil War in 1948, it permanently abolished its army in 1949, becoming one of only a few sovereign nations without a standing army.^[17]^[18]^[19]

The country has consistently performed favorably in the Human Development Index (HDI), placing 58th in the world as of 2022^[update], and fifth in Latin America.^[20] It has also been cited by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as having attained much higher human development than other countries at the same income levels, with a better record on human development and inequality than the median of the region.^[21] It also performs well in comparisons of democratic governance, press freedom, subjective happiness and sustainable wellbeing. It has the 8th freest press according to the Press Freedom Index, it is the 35th most democratic country according to the Freedom in the World index, and it is the 23rd happiest country in the 2023 World Happiness Report.^[22]^[23] It is also a major tourist destination in the continent.^[24]

History

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.^[25]

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.^[26]

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.^[27]

The influence 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,^[28] and reported vast quantities of gold jewelry worn by natives.^[29] 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.^[30]

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.^[31] Costa Rica was described as "the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America" by a Spanish governor in 1719.^[32]

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.^[33]

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^[34] 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.

On March 3, 1824, the government of the State of Costa Rica officially proposed to the municipality of Nicoya its voluntary incorporation into the country, through a document in which it invited it "if it was convenient to join its Province without going against its will." On July 4, an open town hall was convened in Nicoya to discuss the matter, but attendees declined the invitation under the argument "that this Party... cannot be dissident."

On July 25, 1824, a second plebiscite was called in the city of Nicoya. After deliberation, the incorporation into Costa Rica was decided in an open town hall meeting, preparing a record in which the main reasons for it were noted, pointing out the advantages in terms of trade, the desire to participate in the advances that are palpable in Costa Rica, the economic, administrative and public service benefits, the creation of schools, security and quiet, referring to the state of war that Nicaragua was experiencing at that time and the fear that it would spread to the Partido populations, in addition to point out the poverty in which its towns find themselves and the geography of the territory as justifications for the union. Three days later, another similar plebiscite was held in Santa Cruz, with the same result. The election was by majority vote, with 77% of the Party's population in favor of incorporation, and 23% against it. The town of Guanacaste was the only one that declined annexation, due to the ties its residents had with the city of Rivas, Nicaragua.

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.^[35]^[36]^[37]

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,^[38] 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,^[39] 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.^[40] The revenue helped to modernize the country.^[41]^[42]

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.^[42] By the mid-1850s the main market for coffee was Britain.^[43] It soon became a high priority to develop an effective transportation route from the Central Plateau to the Atlantic Ocean. For this purpose, in the 1870s, the Costa Rican government contracted with U.S. businessman Minor C. Keith to build a railroad from San José to the Caribbean port of Limón. Despite enormous difficulties with construction, disease, and financing, the railroad was completed in 1890.^[44]

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[45] 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.^[46]^[47]

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.^[48] 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.^[49] 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.^[50]^[51]

Geography

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.^{[citation needed]}

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. March and April are the hottest months in the country, while December and January are the coldest. However, there are rainy days in the dry season, as well as weeks without rain in the wet season.

Flora and fauna

Despite its size, Costa Rica is one of the countries with the greatest biodiversity in all of Latin America.

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.^[52]^[53] Corcovado is the one park in Costa Rica where all four Costa Rican monkey species can be found.^[54] These include the white-headed capuchin, the mantled howler, the endangered Geoffroy's spider monkey,^[54]^[55] 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.^[56] La Amistad and Chirripó present the climate of the páramo, at a height of more than 3000 meters above sea level, providing other types of flora and fauna, such as the white-nosed coati, the sooty thrush and the rogiera amoena. 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.^[57] The country had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.65/10, ranking it 118th globally out of 172 countries.^[58]

Economy

The country has been considered economically stable with moderate inflation, estimated at 2.6% in 2017,^[59] and moderately high growth in GDP, which increased from US$41.3 billion in 2011 to US$52.6 billion in 2015.^[60] The estimated GDP for 2018 is US$59.0 billion and the estimated GDP per capita (purchasing power parity) is Intl$17,559.1.^[59] The growing debt and budget deficit are the country's primary concerns.^[61] 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.^[62]

Many foreign companies (manufacturing and services) operate in Costa Rica's Free Trade Zones (FTZ) where they benefit from investment and tax incentives.^[16] Well over half of that type of investment has come from the U.S.^[63] According to the government, the zones supported over 82,000 direct jobs and 43,000 indirect jobs in 2015.^[64] Companies with facilities in the America Free Zone in Heredia, for example, include Intel, Dell, HP, Bayer, Bosch, DHL, IBM and Okay Industries.^[65]^[66]

Of the 2016 GDP, 5.5% was generated by agriculture, 18.6% by industry and 75.9% by services. For the region, its unemployment level is moderately high (8.2% in 2016, according to the IMF).^[59] Although 20.5% of the population lives below the poverty line (2017),^[67] Costa Rica has one of the highest standards of living in Central America.^[68]

High-quality health care is provided by the government at a low cost to the users.^[69] Housing is also very affordable. Costa Rica is recognized in Latin America for the quality of its educational system, a result of which is that the country has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America, 97%.^[70] General Basic Education is mandatory and provided without cost to the user.^[71] 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).^[70]

Costa Rica sources much of its energy from renewables and is undertaking reforestation projects to reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions. In 2007, the Costa Rican government announced the commitment for Costa Rica to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021.^[72]^[73]^[74] Costa Rica would be, according to its leaders, the first country in the world to have launched in 2019 a comprehensive decarbonization plan (net zero carbon emissions by 2050).^[75]

Trade and foreign investment

Costa Rica has free trade agreements with many countries, including the US. There are no significant trade barriers that would affect imports and the country has been lowering its tariffs by other Central American countries.^[76] 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.^[64] 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.^[15]

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.^[77] 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.^[77]

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,^[78] but also other crops, including coffee.^[79] Coffee production played a key role in Costa Rica's history and in 2006, was the third cash crop export.^[79] As a small country, Costa Rica now provides under 1% of the world's coffee production.^[42] 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.^[78] 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.^[80]

Costa Rica has developed a system of payments for environmental services.^[81] Similarly, Costa Rica has a tax on water pollution to penalize businesses and homeowners that dump sewage, agricultural chemicals, and other pollutants into waterways.^[82] In May 2007, the Costa Rican government announced its intentions to become 100% carbon neutral by 2021.^[83] By 2015, 93 percent of the country's electricity came from renewable sources.^[84] In 2019, the country produced 99.62% of its electricity from renewable sources and ran completely on renewable sources for 300 continuous days.^[85]

In 1996, the Forest Law was enacted to provide direct financial incentives to landowners for the provision of environmental services.^[81] 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).^[81]

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).^[70] 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.^[86] Attempts by China to invest in upgrading such aspects were "stalled by bureaucratic and legal concerns".
The bureaucracy is "often slow and cumbersome".

Tourism

Costa Rica had 2.9 million foreign visitors in 2016, up 10% from 2015.^[87] In 2015, the tourism sector was responsible for 5.8% of the country's GDP, or $3.4 billion.^[88] In 2016, the highest number of tourists came from the United States, with 1,000,000 visitors, followed by Europe with 434,884 arrivals.^[89] 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.^[90]

By 2004, tourism was generating more revenue and foreign exchange than bananas and coffee combined.^[79]^[91] 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.^[92]

A pioneer of ecotourism, Costa Rica draws many tourists to its extensive series of national parks and other protected areas.^[93] 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.^[94] By the time of the 2017 report, the country had reached 38th place, slightly behind Panama.^[95] 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.^[96] Costa Rica began reversing deforestation in the 1990s, and they are moving towards using only renewable energy, with 93% of all its energy being renewable.^[97]

Government and politics

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).

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.^[98]

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.^[99]

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.^[100] 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.^[101]

In 2010, there was also a dispute around Isla Calero, and the effects of Nicaraguan dredging of the river in that area.^[102]

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.^[103] 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.^[104]

Costa Rica is the 58th most peaceful country in the world, according to the 2024 Global Peace Index.^[105]

Pacifism

On 1 December 1948, Costa Rica abolished its military force.^[50] 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.^[49]^[106] 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."^[51] 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.^[107]^[108]

Leadership in World governance initiatives

Costa Rica has been one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution.^[109]^[110] As a result, in 1968, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.^[111] Francisco Orlich Bolmarcich, then president of Costa Rica signed the agreement to convene a World Constituent Assembly^[112] along with former presidents José Figueres Ferrer and Otilio Ulate Blanco.^[109]^[110]

Environmentalism

In 2021, Costa Rica, alongside Denmark, launched the "Beyond Oil and Gas alliance" (BOGA) for stopping the use of fossil fuels.^[113] 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.^[114]

Demographics

Costa Rican Censuses
Year	Population	%±
1864	120,499	—
1883	182,073	51.1
1892	243,205	33.6
1927	471,524	93.9
1950	800,875	69.8
1963	1,336,274	66.9
1973	1,871,780	40.1
1984	2,416,809	29.1
2000	3,810,179	57.7
2011	4,301,712	12.9
2012	5,044,197	14.7

The 2022 census counted a total population of 5,044,197 people.^[6] In 2022, the census also recorded ethnic or racial identity for all groups separately for the first time in more than ninety-five years since the 1927 census. Options included indigenous, Black or Afro-descendant, Mulatto, Chinese, Mestizo, white and other on section IV: question 7.^[115] In 2011 data for the following groups were : 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.^[2]

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), Ngäbe (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,^[1] 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.^[116]^[117]

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.^[1] 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.^[118]^[119] 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.^[120]

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.^[121] The number of migrants declined in later years but in 2015, there were some 420,000 immigrants in Costa Rica^[122] 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.^[123] 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.^[124]^[125]

Largest cantons

Largest cantons in Costa Rica Estimations from 2022^[126]
	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
San José Alajuela	1	San José	San José	352 381	Desamparados San Carlos
	2	Alajuela	Alajuela	322 143
	3	Desamparados	San José	223 226
	4	San Carlos	Alajuela	198 742
	5	Cartago	Cartago	165 417
	6	Pérez Zeledón	San José	156 917
	7	Pococí	Limón	146 320
	8	Puntarenas	Puntarenas	141 697
	9	Goicoechea	San José	132 104
	10	Heredia	Heredia	131 901

Religion

Religion in Costa Rica (CIEP 2018)^[3]

Catholicism (52%)

Protestantism (25%)

No religion (17%)

Other religions (3%)

No answer (3%)

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, United Kingdom, Denmark, Iceland, and Greece.^[127]

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.^[128] This survey indicated a decline in the share of Catholics and rise in the share of Protestants and irreligious.^[128] A University of Costa Rica survey of 2018 showed similar rates; 52% Catholics, 22% Protestants, 17% irreligious and 3% other.^[3] 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).^[129] 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.^[130]

The Sinagoga Shaarei Zion synagogue^[131] 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.^[132]

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.^[133] However, they represent less than 1% of the population.^[134]^[135]

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.^[136]

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.^[136]

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.^[137]

Culture

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.^{[citation needed]}

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

In November 2017, National Geographic magazine named Costa Rica as the happiest country in the world,^[138] and the country routinely ranks high in various happiness metrics.^[139] 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".^[140] 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,^[141] denoting a simple life, free of stress, a positive, relaxed feeling.^[142] The expression is used in various contexts in conversation.^[143] 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."^[144] In that usage, it might be translated as "awesome", indicating that all is very well.^[143] When used as a question, the connotation would be "everything is going well?" or "how are you?".^[141]

Costa Rica rates 12th on the 2017 Happy Planet Index in the World Happiness Report by the UN^[145] 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.^[146]^[147]

Cuisine

Costa Rican cuisine is a blend of Native American, Spanish, African, and many other cuisine origins. Dishes such as the very traditional tamale and many others made of corn are the most representative of its indigenous inhabitants, and similar to other neighboring Mesoamerican countries. Spaniards brought many new ingredients to the country from other lands, especially spices and domestic animals. And later in the 19th century, the African flavor lent its presence with influence from other Caribbean mixed flavors. This is how Costa Rican cuisine today is very varied, with every new ethnic group who had recently become part of the country's population influencing the country's cuisine.^[148]^{[unreliable source?]}

Sports

Costa Rica entered the Summer Olympics for the first time in 1936.^[149] 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.^[150]^[151]^[152]

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.^[153]^[154] 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.^[155] 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.^[156]^[157] On 17 November 2020, FIFA announced that the event would be held in Costa Rica in 2022.^[158]

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.^[159] Costa Rica featured a women's national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018–2020 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.^[160]

Education

The literacy rate in Costa Rica is approximately 97 percent and English is widely spoken primarily due to Costa Rica's tourism industry.^[70] When the army was abolished in 1949, it was said that the "army would be replaced with an army of teachers".^[161] 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.^[70] Costa Rica was ranked 74th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023, down from 55th in 2019.^[162]^[163]^[164]

Health

According to the UNDP, in 2010 the life expectancy at birth for Costa Ricans was 79.3 years.^[165] 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.^[166]^[167] 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.^[168]^[169] 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.^[170]

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.^[171]^[172]^[173] 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.^[174]

Costa Rica has been cited as Central America's great health success story.^[175] Its healthcare system is ranked higher than that of the United States, despite having a fraction of its GDP.^[176] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Costa Rica is among the Latin America countries that have become popular destinations for medical tourism.^[177]^[178] In 2006, Costa Rica received 150,000 foreigners that came for medical treatment.^[177]^[178]^[179] Costa Rica is particularly attractive to Americans due to geographic proximity, high quality of medical services, and lower medical costs.^[178]

Notes

^ Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Costa Rica". The World Factbook (2024 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 4 October 2011. (Archived 2011 edition.)
^ ^a ^b "Live Costa Rica Population Clock 2017 – Population of Costa Rica Today". www.livepopulation.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c Murillo, Alvaro (7 July 2021). "Encuesta CIEP-UCR evidencia a una Costa Rica estatista y menos religiosa". Semanario Universidad. Archived from the original on 7 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
^ "International Religious Freedom Report for 2017". www.state.gov. 2018. Archived from the original on 23 March 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
^ "Surface water and surface water change". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
^ ^a ^b "National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica". Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de Costa Rica, or INEC. 2022. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2023 Edition. (CR)". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. 10 October 2023. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
^ "Gini Index". World Bank. Archived from the original on 8 June 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
^ "Human Development Report 2023/24" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
^ (Spanish: República de Costa Rica), [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkosta ˈrika]
^ "World Population Prospects 2022". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
^ "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
^ Instituto Geográfico Nacional del Registro Nacional (2 July 2021). "Actualización en el Cálculo de las Áreas Continental e Insular de Costa Rica" [Update on the Calculation of the Continental and Insular Areas of Costa Rica] (PDF). Sistema Nacional de Información Territorial (in Spanish). Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 July 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
^ "Capital Facts for San José, Costa Rica". 18 October 2017. Archived from the original on 13 April 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2017.^{[full citation needed]}
^ ^a ^b ^c "Amazon invests in Costa Rica as tiny nation carves out profitable niche in world economy". 11 March 2017. Archived from the original on 7 September 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ ^a ^b "The Investment Promotion Agency of Costa Rica". www.cinde.org. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
^ "Abolición del Ejército". El Espíritu del 48 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 September 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
^ "Costa Rica". World Desk Reference. Archived from the original on 11 February 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
^ "Costa Rica". Uppsala University. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
^ "Human Development Report 2019". United Nations Development Programme. 10 December 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
^ "Table 1: Human development index 2010 and its components". UNDP Human Development Report 2010 (PDF). January 2010. pp. 5, 49, 144. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ "World Happiness, Trust and Social Connections in Times of Crisis". worldhappiness.report. 20 March 2023. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
^ "Costa Rica World Happiness Index". countryeconomy.com. 2023. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
^ Brierley, Tor (29 September 2023). "Why This Popular Central American Country Is Breaking All Tourism Records Right Now". Travel Off Path. Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
^ Botey Sobrado, Ana María (2002). Costa Rica: estado, economía, sociedad y cultura desde las sociedades autóctonas hasta 1914 (in Spanish) (2a ed.). Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica. pp. 30–31. OCLC 51817062.
^ Botey Sobrado 2002, p. 32
^ Botey Sobrado 2002, pp. 32–33
^ "About Costa Rica". Embassy of Costa Rica in Washington DC. Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
^ "History of Costa Rica". Lonely Planet. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
^ Rojas, Eugenia Ibarra (2001). Fronteras etnicas en la conquista de Nicaragua y Nicoya: entre la solidaridad y el conflicto 800 d.C.-1544. Universidad de Costa Rica. ISBN 9789977676852. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
^ Claudia Quirós. La Era de la Encomienda. Historia de Costa Rica. Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica. 1990.
^ Shafer, D. Michael (1994). Winners and losers: how sectors shape the developmental prospects of states. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-8188-8.
^ "Costa Rica – Cartago". Costarica.com. 22 May 2009. Archived from the original on 22 February 2008. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^ "Aniversario de la Independencia Nacional". Ministerio de Educación Pública (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 September 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
^ Cartilla Histórica de Costa Rica. EUNED. 2005. ISBN 9789968313759.
^ Alarmvogel (1966). Apuntes para la historia de la ciudad de Alajuela. San José, Costa Rica: Impr. Nacional. OCLC 14462048.
^ Obregón Loría, Rafael. "Hechos Militares y Políticos de Nuestra Historia Patria". Museo Histórico Cultural Juan Santamaría, Costa Rica, 1981.
^ "Central America". www.cotf.edu. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
^ "Costa Rica's Coffee Tradition – Costa Rica Star News". 21 October 2016. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
^ "Coffee of Costa Rica – el café". www.travelcostarica.nu. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
^ "History of Coffee in Costa Rica". Embajada de Costa Rica en Singapur. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c Imports, Cafe. "Cafe Imports – Costa Rica". www.cafeimports.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ "Costa Rica Coffee – Past & Present Coffee Cultivations". www.anywhere.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
^ "Coffee Production and Processing on a Large Costa Rican Finca". Bib. Orton IICA / CATIE – via Google Books.
^ Rankin, Monica A. (29 December 2017). The History of Costa Rica. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313379444 – via Google Books.
^ Bucheli, Marcelo (1 February 2005). Bananas and Business: The United Fruit Company in Colombia, 1899–2000. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814769874. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2020 – via Google Books.
^ Shafer, D. Michael (29 December 1994). Winners and Losers: How Sectors Shape the Developmental Prospects of States. Cornell University Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-0801481888 – via Internet Archive.
^ See Ian Holzhauer, "The Presidency of Calderón Guardia" (University of Florida History Thesis, 2004)
^ ^a ^b "The Happiest People". The New York Times. 6 January 2010. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Why getting rid of Costa Rica's army 70 years ago has been such a success". USA Today. 5 January 2018. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Costa Rican president backs holiday for army abolition". Deutsche Welle. 28 November 2018. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
^ "Corcovado National Park Costa Rica". costa-rica-guide.com. Archived from the original on 24 February 2004. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
^ "Diversity of Corcovado National Park". Govisitcostarica.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^ ^a ^b Hunter, L.; Andrew, D. (2002). Watching Wildlife Central America. Lonely Planet. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-86450-034-9.
^ Cortes-Ortíz, L.; Solano-Rojas, D.; Rosales-Meda, M.; Williams-Guillén, K.; Méndez-Carvajal, P.G.; Marsh, L.K.; Canales-Espinosa, D.; Mittermeier, R.A. (2021). "Ateles geoffroyi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T2279A191688782. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T2279A191688782.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
^ Solano-Rojas, D. (2021). "Saimiri oerstedii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T19836A17940807. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T19836A17940807.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
^ Nell Lewis (27 July 2020). "This country regrew its lost forest. Can the world learn from it?". CNN. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
^ Grantham, H. S.; Duncan, A.; Evans, T. D.; Jones, K. R.; Beyer, H. L.; Schuster, R.; Walston, J.; Ray, J. C.; Robinson, J. G.; Callow, M.; Clements, T.; Costa, H. M.; DeGemmis, A.; Elsen, P. R.; Ervin, J.; Franco, P.; Goldman, E.; Goetz, S.; Hansen, A.; Hofsvang, E.; Jantz, P.; Jupiter, S.; Kang, A.; Langhammer, P.; Laurance, W. F.; Lieberman, S.; Linkie, M.; Malhi, Y.; Maxwell, S.; Mendez, M.; Mittermeier, R.; Murray, N. J.; Possingham, H.; Radachowsky, J.; Saatchi, S.; Samper, C.; Silverman, J.; Shapiro, A.; Strassburg, B.; Stevens, T.; Stokes, E.; Taylor, R.; Tear, T.; Tizard, R.; Venter, O.; Visconti, P.; Wang, S.; Watson, J. E. M. (2020). "Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity – Supplementary Material". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 5978. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.5978G. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7723057. PMID 33293507.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Global Finance Magazine – Costa Rica GDP and Economic Data". Global Finance Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ FocusEconomics (2 January 2014). "Costa Rica Economy – GDP, Inflation, CPI and Interest Rate". FocusEconomics – Economic Forecasts from the World's Leading Economists. Archived from the original on 30 November 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ "IMF Mission Concludes Visit to Costa Rica". IMF. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ "Costa Rica "Playing With Fire" By Delaying Fiscal Reform Says Intl Expert – Costa Rica Star News". 24 July 2017. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ "CINDE – Why Invest in Costa Rica". www.cinde.org. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Major Business Success for Costa Rica Free Trade Zones – Costa Rica Star News". 23 August 2016. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
^ "America Free Zone". www.americafreezone.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
^ "Okay Industries Expands Operation in Costa Rica and Reinvests US$ 2 Million". 19 June 2017. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
^ "Costa Rica records lowest poverty figures in seven years". The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate. 27 October 2016. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
^ "Costa Rica country profile". BBC News. 4 July 2017. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
^ Maldonado, Gabriel (16 February 2017). "Costa Rica's Healthcare: One of the Best at a Low Cost – The Costa Rica News". Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ITA. "Export.gov – CCG". 2016.export.gov. Archived from the original on 18 April 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ "The Structure of the Educational System in Costa Rica - CostaRicaLaw.com". 29 November 2015. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
^ Burnett, John (18 February 2008). "Costa Rica Aims to Be a Carbon-Neutral Nation". NPR. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
^ Herro, Alana (12 March 2007). "Costa Rica Aims to Become First "Carbon Neutral" Country". Worldwatch Institute. Archived from the original on 26 March 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
^ Alejandra Vargas M. "País quiere ser primera nación con balance neutro de carbono". Nacion.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
^ "Costa Rica unveils plan to achieve zero emissions by 2050 in climate change fight". The Guardian. Reuters. 25 February 2019. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
^ "Costa Rica - Import Tariffs - export.gov". www.export.gov. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
^ ^a ^b "OEC – Costa Rica (CRI) Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners". atlas.media.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Costa Rica's Fruits Exports Beyond Pineapples And Bananas". 16 May 2017. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c Departamento de Estadísticas ICT (2006). "Anuário Estadísticas de Demanda 2006" (PDF) (in Spanish). Intituto Costarricense de Turismo. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2008. Table 44 and 45
^ "Annual report" (PDF). gain.fas.usda.gov. 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Jessica Brown and Neil Bird 2010. Costa Rica sustainable resource management: Successfully tackling tropical deforestation Archived 14 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine. London: Overseas Development Institute
^ "Costa Rica taxing firms that dump wastewater into rivers". Latin American Herald Tribune. 7 April 2007. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
^ Sawin, Janet L. (7 November 2007). "Bright Green: Costa Rica and New Zealand on Path to Carbon Neutrality". Worldchanging. Archived from the original on 4 May 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
^ "Costa Rica uses 100 pct. clean energy to generate power for over 90 days". EFE. Fox News Latino. 13 August 2015. Archived from the original on 18 August 2015.
^ "Costa Rica's Electricity Is Nearly At 100% Renewable Energy". intelligentliving.co. 23 February 2020. Archived from the original on 23 February 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
^ Pisu, Mauro; Villalobos, Federico (3 August 2016). "A bird-eye view of Costa Rica's transport infrastructure". OECD Economics Department Working Papers. doi:10.1787/5jlswbwvwqjf-en. ISSN 1815-1973. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ "Costa Rica: Flow of Visitors Up 10% in 2016". Central America Data. 8 February 2017. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
^ "Tourism Represents 5.8% of GDP in Costa Rica – Costa Rica Star News". Costa Rica Star News. 16 June 2017. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
^ Rodriguez Valverde, Andrea (17 February 2017). "Costa Rica alcanza cifra récord en llegadas internacionales: 2,9 millones de visitantes". El Financiero. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
^ "Costa Rica Vacations". Costa Rica Vacations. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
^ José Enrique Rojas (29 December 2004). "Turismo, principal motor de la economía durante el 2004". La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
^ "Research" (PDF). www.wttc.org. 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ Honey, Martha (1999). Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?. Island Press; 1 edition, Washington, D.C. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-55963-582-0.
^ Jennifer Blanke; Thea Chiesa, eds. (2011). "Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011" (PDF). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
^ "Costa Rica Ranks 38th in Tourism and Travel Competitiveness Report 2017 – Costa Rica Star News". 23 June 2017. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ Blakemore, Molly; Blansfield, Karen; Lance, Morgan; Greenwald, Natalie Lefevre with Jeff. "The Most Ethical Travel Destinations for 2017". Earth Island Journal. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
^ Democracy Now! (13 December 2018), Fossil-Free Costa Rica: How One Country Is Pursuing Decarbonization Despite Global Inaction, archived from the original on 27 October 2021, retrieved 13 December 2018
^ "Costa Rican Ministry of International Relations Declaration of Objectives". Costa Rican Ministry of International relations. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
^ "Costa Rica re-establishes ties with Cuba". CNN World. 18 March 2009. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009.
^ "IJC Court Ruling". nacion.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
^ "World Court Settles San Juan River Dispute; Nicaragua and Costa Rica Both Claim Victory". Allbusiness.com. 16 July 2009. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
^ "International Court of Justice recent provisional Costa Rica-Nicaragua decision" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
^ "Costa Rica Boots Taiwan, Welcomes China In Diplomatic Switch". Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2010.. allbusiness.com (14 June 2007). Retrieved: 20 May 2010
^ Section, United Nations News Service (6 July 2017). "UN News – UN Member States set to adopt 'historic' treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons". UN News Service Section. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
^ "2024 Global Peace Index" (PDF).
^ "Costa Rica's peace dividend: How abolishing the military paid off". Los Angeles Times. 15 December 2013. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
^ "Chapter XXVI: Disarmament – No. 9 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons". United Nations Treaty Collection. 7 July 2017. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
^ "Costa Rica, the 11th country to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons". Pressenza – International Press Agency. 6 July 2018. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Archived from the original on 3 July 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Archived from the original on 19 July 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
^ "Preparing earth constitution | Global Strategies & Solutions | The Encyclopedia of World Problems". The Encyclopedia of World Problems | Union of International Associations (UIA). Archived from the original on 19 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
^ Amerasinghe, Terence P. (2009). Emerging World Law, Volume 1. Institute for Economic Democracy. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-933567-16-7.
^ "Climate change: Whisper it cautiously... there's been progress in run-up to COP26". BBC. 25 September 2021. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
^ United Nations (11 November 2021). "Denmark, Sweden and Greenland in a new global alliance to seek an end to oil and gas production". Unric.org. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
^ "INEC Cuestionario Censo 2022" (PDF). INEC. 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
^ Schulman, Bob. "'Little Jamaica' Rocks on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
^ Koch, Charles W. (1977). "Jamaican Blacks and Their Descendants in Costa Rica". Social and Economic Studies. 26 (3). Jamaica: Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, University of the West Indies: 339–361. JSTOR 27861669.
^ www.state.gov "Background Note: Costa Rica – People" Archived 21 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, United States Department of State.
^ Dickerson, Marla; Kimitch, Rebecca (23 March 2006). "Costa Rica Seeks to Shut Its Doors to Illegal Migrants From Nicaragua". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
^ Biesanz, Karen Zubris; Biesanz, Mavis Hiltunen; Biesanz, Richard (1998). The Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-55587-737-8.
^ "Costa Rica country profile (from the Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011)" (PDF). World Bank. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 November 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
^ "International Migrants by Country". 10 November 2016. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
^ Holpuch, Amanda (26 July 2016). "US partners with Costa Rica to protect Central American refugees". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
^ "Costa Rica Becomes A Magnet For Migrants". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
^ Robinson, Circles (5 December 2016). "Nicaragua, Trump, Deportations and the Affect [sic] on Family Remittances". Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
^ Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (2023). "Resultados Estimacion de Poblacion y Vivienda 2022" [2022 Population and Housing Estimate Results] (XLSX) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 June 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
^ Travis Mitchell, "Many Countries Favor Specific Religions, Officially and Unofficially", Pew Research Center, Oct 3, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Latinobarómetro 1995 – 2017: El Papa Francisco y la Religión en Chile y América Latina" (PDF) (in Spanish). January 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
^ "World – Buddhism in Costa Rica". www.buddhistchannel.tv. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
^ Quirós, Adriana (24 December 2010). "Navidad se vive diferente en hogares ticos no cristianos" [Christmas is lived differently in non-Christian Costa Rican homes]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 December 2010.
^ Centro Israelita de Costa Rica, Comunidad Judía de Costa Rica Archived 26 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Costa Rican Jewish Community
^ "Jewish Community in Costa Rica". Jcpa.org. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^ "Costa Rica". Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2008.. LDS Newsroom. Retrieved on 13 December 2008
^ "San José Costa Rica LDS (Mormon) Temple". Ldschurchtemples.com. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^ "List of LDS (Mormon) temples in Central America and the Caribbean". Lds.org. Archived from the original on 8 March 2002. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^ ^a ^b "What Languages Are Spoken In Costa Rica?". WorldAtlas. 17 July 2019. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
^ Jairo Villegas (13 March 2008). "Solo 1 de cada 10 adultos habla un segundo idioma". La Nación (Costa Rica). Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
^ "These Are the World's Happiest Places". National Geographic Society. 16 October 2017. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017.
^ "Costa Rica is one of the world's happiest countries. Here's what it does differently". World Economic Forum. 31 January 2019. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
^ "Costa Rica is the Happiest Places in the World According to National Geographic." 9 November 2017. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
^ ^a ^b "What does Pura Vida mean..." 12 August 2016. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
^ Rankin, Monica A. (29 December 2017). The History of Costa Rica. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313379444. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2020 – via Google Books.
^ ^a ^b "PURA VIDA: The Most Important Costa Rica Spanish Expression". Speaking Latino. 21 August 2012. Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
^ Trester, Anna Marie (2003). "Bienvenidos a Costa Rica, la tierra de la pura vida: A Study of the Expression "pura vida" in the Spanish of Costa Rica" (PDF). In Sayahi, Lotfi (ed.). Selected Proceedings of the First Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. pp. 61–69. ISBN 978-1-57473-400-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
^ "World Happiness Report 2017 – World Happiness Report". worldhappiness.report. 20 March 2017. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
^ Brodwin, Erin. "The 21 happiest countries in the world". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
^ "Revealed: The world's 10 happiest countries for 2019". The Telegraph. 20 March 2017. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
^ "Costa Rican Typical Food". Southerncostarica.biz. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
^ Mallon, Bill (2006). Historical dictionary of the Olympic movement. Ian Buchanan (3rd ed.). Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-8108-6524-2. OCLC 301358310. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
^ "Costa Rican Medals and Results in the Olympic Games". Olympian Data Base. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
^ "Costa Rican Olympic Medalists – list of medalists from Costa Rica". www.olympiandatabase.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
^ Staff, Tcrn (21 September 2018). "Sylvia Poll's Record: 30 Years of A Historical Feat". The Costa Rica News. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
^ Griffiths, F. (24 June 2014). "World Cup: Costa Rica defies the odds in winning Group D". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 27 June 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
^ Martel, B. (29 June 2014). "Navas Carries Costa Rica to World Cup Quarters". ABC News. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
^ "World Cup 2014: Paulo Wanchope, the player who put Costa Rica on the map, has warning for England". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
^ "Costa Rica and Panama to host FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup 2020". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 20 November 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
^ "Bureau of the FIFA Council decisions on FIFA events". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 12 May 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
^ "Update on FIFA Club World Cup 2020 and women's youth tournaments". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
^ "Belize drops game to Nicaragua, drops to 1–4 at Central American Senior Women's Volleyball Championship". Breaking Belize News. 23 October 2021. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
^ "Continental Cup Finals start in Africa". FIVB. 22 June 2021. Archived from the original on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
^ Abolición del Ejército en Costa Rica Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Ministerio de Cultura, Juventud y Deportes, San José, Costa Rica. 2004. ISBN 9968-856-21-5
^ WIPO (16 December 2023). Global Innovation Index 2023, 15th Edition. World Intellectual Property Organization. doi:10.34667/tind.46596. ISBN 9789280534320. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
^ "Global Innovation Index 2019". www.wipo.int. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
^ "Global Innovation Index". INSEAD Knowledge. 28 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
^ Human Development Report. "International Human Development Indicators". UNDP. Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
^ Anne Casselman (14 April 2008). "Long-Lived Costa Ricans Offer Secrets to Reaching 100". National Geographic News. Archived from the original on 16 April 2008. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
^ Dan Buettner (2 February 2007). "Report from the 'Blue Zone': Why Do People Live Long in Costa Rica?". ABC News. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
^ Irene Rodríguez (14 June 2012). "Costa Rica es nuevamente el país más feliz del mundo, según índice 'Happy Planet'" [Costa Rica once again the happiest nation of the world, according to the Happy Planet Index]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 May 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
^ Harvey, Fiona (14 June 2012). "UK citizens better off than EU counterparts, says happiness index". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
^ Nic Marks (14 June 2012). "Measuring what matters: the Happy Planet Index 2012". New Economics Foundation. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
^ "Immunization, measles (% of children ages 12–23 months) – Costa Rica". World Bank. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
^ "Immunization, HepB3 (% of one-year-old children) – Costa Rica". World Bank. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
^ "Immunization, DPT (% of children ages 12–23 months) – Costa Rica". World Bank. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
^ Unger, Jean-Pierre; Buitrón, René; Soors, Werner; Soors, W. (2008). "Costa Rica: Achievements of a Heterodox Health Policy". American Journal of Public Health. 98 (4): 636–643. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.099598. PMC 2376989. PMID 17901439. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
^ OECD (22 November 2017). "Executive summary". OECD Reviews of Health Systems: Costa Rica 2017. pp. 11–12. doi:10.1787/9789264281653-3-en. ISBN 9789264281639. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
^ Jacob, Brian (2009). "CLOSING THE GAPS: The Challenge to Protect Costa Rica's Health Care System". The Georgetown Public Policy Review (77). Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
^ ^a ^b Herrick, Devon M. (2007). Medical Tourism: Global Competition in Health Care (PDF). National Center for Policy Analysis, Dallas, Texas. pp. 4–6, 9. ISBN 978-1-56808-178-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bookman, Milica Z.; Bookman, Karla R. (2007). Medical Tourism in Developing Countries. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. pp. 3–4, 58, 95, and 134–135. ISBN 978-0-230-60006-5.
^ "Medical Tourism Statistics and Facts". Health-Tourism.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.

External links

Costa Rica. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
Costa Rica at UCB Libraries GovPubs
Costa Rica at Curlie
"Costa Rica" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 219–222.
Street Art of San Jose by danscape Archived 28 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine
Costa Rica profile from the BBC News
Wikimedia Atlas of Costa Rica
Key Development Forecasts for Costa Rica from International Futures

Government and administration

Official website of the government of Costa Rica Archived 24 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)

Trade

World Bank Summary Trade Statistics Costa Rica

10°N 84°W / 10°N 84°W / 10; -84

[38] Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama

[CIA-1] "Costa Rica". The World Factbook (2024 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 4 October 2011. (Archived 2011 edition.)

[livepopulation.com-2] "Live Costa Rica Population Clock 2017 – Population of Costa Rica Today". www.livepopulation.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2017.

[ciep-3] Murillo, Alvaro (7 July 2021). "Encuesta CIEP-UCR evidencia a una Costa Rica estatista y menos religiosa". Semanario Universidad. Archived from the original on 7 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.

[irf2017-4] "International Religious Freedom Report for 2017". www.state.gov. 2018. Archived from the original on 23 March 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2018.

[5] "Surface water and surface water change". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2020.

[inec_cr-6] "National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica". Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de Costa Rica, or INEC. 2022. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.

[IMFWEO.CR-7] "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2023 Edition. (CR)". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. 10 October 2023. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023.

[wb-gini-8] "Gini Index". World Bank. Archived from the original on 8 June 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2023.

[9] "Human Development Report 2023/24" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.

[10] (Spanish: República de Costa Rica), [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkosta ˈrika]

[UN_WPP-11] "World Population Prospects 2022". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.

[UN_WPP_2022-12] "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.

[ignlandarea-13] Instituto Geográfico Nacional del Registro Nacional (2 July 2021). "Actualización en el Cálculo de las Áreas Continental e Insular de Costa Rica" [Update on the Calculation of the Continental and Insular Areas of Costa Rica] (PDF). Sistema Nacional de Información Territorial (in Spanish). Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 July 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2024.

[worldscapitalcities.com-14] "Capital Facts for San José, Costa Rica". 18 October 2017. Archived from the original on 13 April 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2017.^{[full citation needed]}

[seattletimes.com-15] "Amazon invests in Costa Rica as tiny nation carves out profitable niche in world economy". 11 March 2017. Archived from the original on 7 September 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[cinde.org-16] "The Investment Promotion Agency of Costa Rica". www.cinde.org. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[17] "Abolición del Ejército". El Espíritu del 48 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 September 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2008.

[18] "Costa Rica". World Desk Reference. Archived from the original on 11 February 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2009.

[19] "Costa Rica". Uppsala University. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2009.

[20] "Human Development Report 2019". United Nations Development Programme. 10 December 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2019.

[HDI10-21] "Table 1: Human development index 2010 and its components". UNDP Human Development Report 2010 (PDF). January 2010. pp. 5, 49, 144. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.

[22] "World Happiness, Trust and Social Connections in Times of Crisis". worldhappiness.report. 20 March 2023. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.

[23] "Costa Rica World Happiness Index". countryeconomy.com. 2023. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.

[24] Brierley, Tor (29 September 2023). "Why This Popular Central American Country Is Breaking All Tourism Records Right Now". Travel Off Path. Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.

[precolumbian1-25] Botey Sobrado, Ana María (2002). Costa Rica: estado, economía, sociedad y cultura desde las sociedades autóctonas hasta 1914 (in Spanish) (2a ed.). Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica. pp. 30–31. OCLC 51817062.

[precolumbian2-26] Botey Sobrado 2002, p. 32

[precolumban3-27] Botey Sobrado 2002, pp. 32–33

[embassy-28] "About Costa Rica". Embassy of Costa Rica in Washington DC. Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.

[lp-29] "History of Costa Rica". Lonely Planet. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2012.

[30] Rojas, Eugenia Ibarra (2001). Fronteras etnicas en la conquista de Nicaragua y Nicoya: entre la solidaridad y el conflicto 800 d.C.-1544. Universidad de Costa Rica. ISBN 9789977676852. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.

[31] Claudia Quirós. La Era de la Encomienda. Historia de Costa Rica. Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica. 1990.

[32] Shafer, D. Michael (1994). Winners and losers: how sectors shape the developmental prospects of states. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-8188-8.

[33] "Costa Rica – Cartago". Costarica.com. 22 May 2009. Archived from the original on 22 February 2008. Retrieved 26 June 2010.

[34] "Aniversario de la Independencia Nacional". Ministerio de Educación Pública (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 September 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.

[35] Cartilla Histórica de Costa Rica. EUNED. 2005. ISBN 9789968313759.

[36] Alarmvogel (1966). Apuntes para la historia de la ciudad de Alajuela. San José, Costa Rica: Impr. Nacional. OCLC 14462048.

[37] Obregón Loría, Rafael. "Hechos Militares y Políticos de Nuestra Historia Patria". Museo Histórico Cultural Juan Santamaría, Costa Rica, 1981.

[39] "Central America". www.cotf.edu. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.

[40] "Costa Rica's Coffee Tradition – Costa Rica Star News". 21 October 2016. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.

[41] "Coffee of Costa Rica – el café". www.travelcostarica.nu. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.

[42] "History of Coffee in Costa Rica". Embajada de Costa Rica en Singapur. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.

[cafeimports.com-43] Imports, Cafe. "Cafe Imports – Costa Rica". www.cafeimports.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[44] "Costa Rica Coffee – Past & Present Coffee Cultivations". www.anywhere.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.

[45] "Coffee Production and Processing on a Large Costa Rican Finca". Bib. Orton IICA / CATIE – via Google Books.

[46] Rankin, Monica A. (29 December 2017). The History of Costa Rica. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313379444 – via Google Books.

[47] Bucheli, Marcelo (1 February 2005). Bananas and Business: The United Fruit Company in Colombia, 1899–2000. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814769874. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2020 – via Google Books.

[48] Shafer, D. Michael (29 December 1994). Winners and Losers: How Sectors Shape the Developmental Prospects of States. Cornell University Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-0801481888 – via Internet Archive.

[49] See Ian Holzhauer, "The Presidency of Calderón Guardia" (University of Florida History Thesis, 2004)

[nytimes-military-50] "The Happiest People". The New York Times. 6 January 2010. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022.

[peace-51] "Why getting rid of Costa Rica's army 70 years ago has been such a success". USA Today. 5 January 2018. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.

[pacifism-52] "Costa Rican president backs holiday for army abolition". Deutsche Welle. 28 November 2018. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.

[53] "Corcovado National Park Costa Rica". costa-rica-guide.com. Archived from the original on 24 February 2004. Retrieved 19 May 2012.

[54] "Diversity of Corcovado National Park". Govisitcostarica.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.

[watching-55] Hunter, L.; Andrew, D. (2002). Watching Wildlife Central America. Lonely Planet. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-86450-034-9.

[56] Cortes-Ortíz, L.; Solano-Rojas, D.; Rosales-Meda, M.; Williams-Guillén, K.; Méndez-Carvajal, P.G.; Marsh, L.K.; Canales-Espinosa, D.; Mittermeier, R.A. (2021). "Ateles geoffroyi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T2279A191688782. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T2279A191688782.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.

[57] Solano-Rojas, D. (2021). "Saimiri oerstedii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T19836A17940807. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T19836A17940807.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.

[58] Nell Lewis (27 July 2020). "This country regrew its lost forest. Can the world learn from it?". CNN. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.

[FLII-Supplementary-59] Grantham, H. S.; Duncan, A.; Evans, T. D.; Jones, K. R.; Beyer, H. L.; Schuster, R.; Walston, J.; Ray, J. C.; Robinson, J. G.; Callow, M.; Clements, T.; Costa, H. M.; DeGemmis, A.; Elsen, P. R.; Ervin, J.; Franco, P.; Goldman, E.; Goetz, S.; Hansen, A.; Hofsvang, E.; Jantz, P.; Jupiter, S.; Kang, A.; Langhammer, P.; Laurance, W. F.; Lieberman, S.; Linkie, M.; Malhi, Y.; Maxwell, S.; Mendez, M.; Mittermeier, R.; Murray, N. J.; Possingham, H.; Radachowsky, J.; Saatchi, S.; Samper, C.; Silverman, J.; Shapiro, A.; Strassburg, B.; Stevens, T.; Stokes, E.; Taylor, R.; Tear, T.; Tizard, R.; Venter, O.; Visconti, P.; Wang, S.; Watson, J. E. M. (2020). "Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity – Supplementary Material". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 5978. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.5978G. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7723057. PMID 33293507.

[gfmag.com-60] "Global Finance Magazine – Costa Rica GDP and Economic Data". Global Finance Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[focus-economics.com-61] FocusEconomics (2 January 2014). "Costa Rica Economy – GDP, Inflation, CPI and Interest Rate". FocusEconomics – Economic Forecasts from the World's Leading Economists. Archived from the original on 30 November 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[ReferenceA-62] "IMF Mission Concludes Visit to Costa Rica". IMF. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[news.co.cr-63] "Costa Rica "Playing With Fire" By Delaying Fiscal Reform Says Intl Expert – Costa Rica Star News". 24 July 2017. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[64] "CINDE – Why Invest in Costa Rica". www.cinde.org. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[ReferenceC-65] "Major Business Success for Costa Rica Free Trade Zones – Costa Rica Star News". 23 August 2016. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[66] "America Free Zone". www.americafreezone.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[67] "Okay Industries Expands Operation in Costa Rica and Reinvests US$ 2 Million". 19 June 2017. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[68] "Costa Rica records lowest poverty figures in seven years". The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate. 27 October 2016. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.

[69] "Costa Rica country profile". BBC News. 4 July 2017. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2018.

[70] Maldonado, Gabriel (16 February 2017). "Costa Rica's Healthcare: One of the Best at a Low Cost – The Costa Rica News". Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.

[2016.export.gov-71] ITA. "Export.gov – CCG". 2016.export.gov. Archived from the original on 18 April 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[72] "The Structure of the Educational System in Costa Rica - CostaRicaLaw.com". 29 November 2015. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.

[73] Burnett, John (18 February 2008). "Costa Rica Aims to Be a Carbon-Neutral Nation". NPR. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2008.

[74] Herro, Alana (12 March 2007). "Costa Rica Aims to Become First "Carbon Neutral" Country". Worldwatch Institute. Archived from the original on 26 March 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2008.

[75] Alejandra Vargas M. "País quiere ser primera nación con balance neutro de carbono". Nacion.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2008.

[76] "Costa Rica unveils plan to achieve zero emissions by 2050 in climate change fight". The Guardian. Reuters. 25 February 2019. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2023.

[77] "Costa Rica - Import Tariffs - export.gov". www.export.gov. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[atlas.media.mit.edu-78] "OEC – Costa Rica (CRI) Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners". atlas.media.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[qcostarica.com-79] "Costa Rica's Fruits Exports Beyond Pineapples And Bananas". 16 May 2017. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[ICT2006-80] Departamento de Estadísticas ICT (2006). "Anuário Estadísticas de Demanda 2006" (PDF) (in Spanish). Intituto Costarricense de Turismo. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2008. Table 44 and 45

[81] "Annual report" (PDF). gain.fas.usda.gov. 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.

[ODI1-82] Jessica Brown and Neil Bird 2010. Costa Rica sustainable resource management: Successfully tackling tropical deforestation Archived 14 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine. London: Overseas Development Institute

[83] "Costa Rica taxing firms that dump wastewater into rivers". Latin American Herald Tribune. 7 April 2007. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2012.

[84] Sawin, Janet L. (7 November 2007). "Bright Green: Costa Rica and New Zealand on Path to Carbon Neutrality". Worldchanging. Archived from the original on 4 May 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.

[85] "Costa Rica uses 100 pct. clean energy to generate power for over 90 days". EFE. Fox News Latino. 13 August 2015. Archived from the original on 18 August 2015.

[86] "Costa Rica's Electricity Is Nearly At 100% Renewable Energy". intelligentliving.co. 23 February 2020. Archived from the original on 23 February 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020.

[87] Pisu, Mauro; Villalobos, Federico (3 August 2016). "A bird-eye view of Costa Rica's transport infrastructure". OECD Economics Department Working Papers. doi:10.1787/5jlswbwvwqjf-en. ISSN 1815-1973. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[Central_America_Data-88] "Costa Rica: Flow of Visitors Up 10% in 2016". Central America Data. 8 February 2017. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.

[89] "Tourism Represents 5.8% of GDP in Costa Rica – Costa Rica Star News". Costa Rica Star News. 16 June 2017. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.

[El_Financiero-90] Rodriguez Valverde, Andrea (17 February 2017). "Costa Rica alcanza cifra récord en llegadas internacionales: 2,9 millones de visitantes". El Financiero. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.

[Costa_RIca_Vacations-91] "Costa Rica Vacations". Costa Rica Vacations. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.

[92] José Enrique Rojas (29 December 2004). "Turismo, principal motor de la economía durante el 2004". La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2008.

[93] "Research" (PDF). www.wttc.org. 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[94] Honey, Martha (1999). Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?. Island Press; 1 edition, Washington, D.C. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-55963-582-0.

[TTCI2011-95] Jennifer Blanke; Thea Chiesa, eds. (2011). "Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011" (PDF). World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2011.

[96] "Costa Rica Ranks 38th in Tourism and Travel Competitiveness Report 2017 – Costa Rica Star News". 23 June 2017. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[97] Blakemore, Molly; Blansfield, Karen; Lance, Morgan; Greenwald, Natalie Lefevre with Jeff. "The Most Ethical Travel Destinations for 2017". Earth Island Journal. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.

[98] Democracy Now! (13 December 2018), Fossil-Free Costa Rica: How One Country Is Pursuing Decarbonization Despite Global Inaction, archived from the original on 27 October 2021, retrieved 13 December 2018

[99] "Costa Rican Ministry of International Relations Declaration of Objectives". Costa Rican Ministry of International relations. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2011.

[100] "Costa Rica re-establishes ties with Cuba". CNN World. 18 March 2009. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009.

[101] "IJC Court Ruling". nacion.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.

[102] "World Court Settles San Juan River Dispute; Nicaragua and Costa Rica Both Claim Victory". Allbusiness.com. 16 July 2009. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2010.

[103] "International Court of Justice recent provisional Costa Rica-Nicaragua decision" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2011.

[104] "Costa Rica Boots Taiwan, Welcomes China In Diplomatic Switch". Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2010.. allbusiness.com (14 June 2007). Retrieved: 20 May 2010

[105] Section, United Nations News Service (6 July 2017). "UN News – UN Member States set to adopt 'historic' treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons". UN News Service Section. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.

[106] "2024 Global Peace Index" (PDF).

[107] "Costa Rica's peace dividend: How abolishing the military paid off". Los Angeles Times. 15 December 2013. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.

[108] "Chapter XXVI: Disarmament – No. 9 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons". United Nations Treaty Collection. 7 July 2017. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.

[109] "Costa Rica, the 11th country to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons". Pressenza – International Press Agency. 6 July 2018. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.

[:0-110] "Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Archived from the original on 3 July 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.

[:1-111] "Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Archived from the original on 19 July 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.

[112] "Preparing earth constitution | Global Strategies & Solutions | The Encyclopedia of World Problems". The Encyclopedia of World Problems | Union of International Associations (UIA). Archived from the original on 19 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

[113] Amerasinghe, Terence P. (2009). Emerging World Law, Volume 1. Institute for Economic Democracy. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-933567-16-7.

[114] "Climate change: Whisper it cautiously... there's been progress in run-up to COP26". BBC. 25 September 2021. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2021.

[115] United Nations (11 November 2021). "Denmark, Sweden and Greenland in a new global alliance to seek an end to oil and gas production". Unric.org. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.

[116] "INEC Cuestionario Censo 2022" (PDF). INEC. 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2023.

[117] Schulman, Bob. "'Little Jamaica' Rocks on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019.

[118] Koch, Charles W. (1977). "Jamaican Blacks and Their Descendants in Costa Rica". Social and Economic Studies. 26 (3). Jamaica: Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, University of the West Indies: 339–361. JSTOR 27861669.

[119] www.state.gov "Background Note: Costa Rica – People" Archived 21 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, United States Department of State.

[120] Dickerson, Marla; Kimitch, Rebecca (23 March 2006). "Costa Rica Seeks to Shut Its Doors to Illegal Migrants From Nicaragua". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.

[121] Biesanz, Karen Zubris; Biesanz, Mavis Hiltunen; Biesanz, Richard (1998). The Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-55587-737-8.

[122] "Costa Rica country profile (from the Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011)" (PDF). World Bank. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 November 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011.

[123] "International Migrants by Country". 10 November 2016. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[124] Holpuch, Amanda (26 July 2016). "US partners with Costa Rica to protect Central American refugees". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.

[125] "Costa Rica Becomes A Magnet For Migrants". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.

[126] Robinson, Circles (5 December 2016). "Nicaragua, Trump, Deportations and the Affect [sic] on Family Remittances". Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.

[2022popest-127] Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (2023). "Resultados Estimacion de Poblacion y Vivienda 2022" [2022 Population and Housing Estimate Results] (XLSX) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 June 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2024.

[128] Travis Mitchell, "Many Countries Favor Specific Religions, Officially and Unofficially", Pew Research Center, Oct 3, 2017.

[latbar-129] "Latinobarómetro 1995 – 2017: El Papa Francisco y la Religión en Chile y América Latina" (PDF) (in Spanish). January 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2018.

[buddhistchannel.tv-130] "World – Buddhism in Costa Rica". www.buddhistchannel.tv. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.

[131] Quirós, Adriana (24 December 2010). "Navidad se vive diferente en hogares ticos no cristianos" [Christmas is lived differently in non-Christian Costa Rican homes]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 December 2010.

[132] Centro Israelita de Costa Rica, Comunidad Judía de Costa Rica Archived 26 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Costa Rican Jewish Community

[133] "Jewish Community in Costa Rica". Jcpa.org. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.

[134] "Costa Rica". Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2008.. LDS Newsroom. Retrieved on 13 December 2008

[135] "San José Costa Rica LDS (Mormon) Temple". Ldschurchtemples.com. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2010.

[136] "List of LDS (Mormon) temples in Central America and the Caribbean". Lds.org. Archived from the original on 8 March 2002. Retrieved 26 June 2010.

[worldatlas.com-137] "What Languages Are Spoken In Costa Rica?". WorldAtlas. 17 July 2019. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2020.

[138] Jairo Villegas (13 March 2008). "Solo 1 de cada 10 adultos habla un segundo idioma". La Nación (Costa Rica). Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2010.

[139] "These Are the World's Happiest Places". National Geographic Society. 16 October 2017. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017.

[140] "Costa Rica is one of the world's happiest countries. Here's what it does differently". World Economic Forum. 31 January 2019. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.

[141] "Costa Rica is the Happiest Places in the World According to National Geographic." 9 November 2017. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.

[elementonatural.com-142] "What does Pura Vida mean..." 12 August 2016. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.

[143] Rankin, Monica A. (29 December 2017). The History of Costa Rica. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313379444. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2020 – via Google Books.

[speakinglatino.com-144] "PURA VIDA: The Most Important Costa Rica Spanish Expression". Speaking Latino. 21 August 2012. Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2017.

[145] Trester, Anna Marie (2003). "Bienvenidos a Costa Rica, la tierra de la pura vida: A Study of the Expression "pura vida" in the Spanish of Costa Rica" (PDF). In Sayahi, Lotfi (ed.). Selected Proceedings of the First Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. pp. 61–69. ISBN 978-1-57473-400-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.

[146] "World Happiness Report 2017 – World Happiness Report". worldhappiness.report. 20 March 2017. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.

[147] Brodwin, Erin. "The 21 happiest countries in the world". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2020.

[148] "Revealed: The world's 10 happiest countries for 2019". The Telegraph. 20 March 2017. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.

[149] "Costa Rican Typical Food". Southerncostarica.biz. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2011.

[150] Mallon, Bill (2006). Historical dictionary of the Olympic movement. Ian Buchanan (3rd ed.). Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-8108-6524-2. OCLC 301358310. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2022.

[151] "Costa Rican Medals and Results in the Olympic Games". Olympian Data Base. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.

[152] "Costa Rican Olympic Medalists – list of medalists from Costa Rica". www.olympiandatabase.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.

[153] Staff, Tcrn (21 September 2018). "Sylvia Poll's Record: 30 Years of A Historical Feat". The Costa Rica News. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.

[154] Griffiths, F. (24 June 2014). "World Cup: Costa Rica defies the odds in winning Group D". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 27 June 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2014.

[155] Martel, B. (29 June 2014). "Navas Carries Costa Rica to World Cup Quarters". ABC News. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2014.

[156] "World Cup 2014: Paulo Wanchope, the player who put Costa Rica on the map, has warning for England". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2019.

[157] "Costa Rica and Panama to host FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup 2020". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 20 November 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2019.

[158] "Bureau of the FIFA Council decisions on FIFA events". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 12 May 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.

[159] "Update on FIFA Club World Cup 2020 and women's youth tournaments". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.

[160] "Belize drops game to Nicaragua, drops to 1–4 at Central American Senior Women's Volleyball Championship". Breaking Belize News. 23 October 2021. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2021.

[161] "Continental Cup Finals start in Africa". FIVB. 22 June 2021. Archived from the original on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.

[162] Abolición del Ejército en Costa Rica Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Ministerio de Cultura, Juventud y Deportes, San José, Costa Rica. 2004. ISBN 9968-856-21-5

[163] WIPO (16 December 2023). Global Innovation Index 2023, 15th Edition. World Intellectual Property Organization. doi:10.34667/tind.46596. ISBN 9789280534320. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.

[164] "Global Innovation Index 2019". www.wipo.int. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.

[165] "Global Innovation Index". INSEAD Knowledge. 28 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.

[166] Human Development Report. "International Human Development Indicators". UNDP. Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2012.

[167] Anne Casselman (14 April 2008). "Long-Lived Costa Ricans Offer Secrets to Reaching 100". National Geographic News. Archived from the original on 16 April 2008. Retrieved 4 March 2011.

[168] Dan Buettner (2 February 2007). "Report from the 'Blue Zone': Why Do People Live Long in Costa Rica?". ABC News. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.

[HPI01-169] Irene Rodríguez (14 June 2012). "Costa Rica es nuevamente el país más feliz del mundo, según índice 'Happy Planet'" [Costa Rica once again the happiest nation of the world, according to the Happy Planet Index]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 May 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2012.

[HPI02-170] Harvey, Fiona (14 June 2012). "UK citizens better off than EU counterparts, says happiness index". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2012.

[171] Nic Marks (14 June 2012). "Measuring what matters: the Happy Planet Index 2012". New Economics Foundation. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

[measles-vaccine-172] "Immunization, measles (% of children ages 12–23 months) – Costa Rica". World Bank. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.

[hepb-vaccine-173] "Immunization, HepB3 (% of one-year-old children) – Costa Rica". World Bank. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.

[dpt-vaccine-174] "Immunization, DPT (% of children ages 12–23 months) – Costa Rica". World Bank. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.

[175] Unger, Jean-Pierre; Buitrón, René; Soors, Werner; Soors, W. (2008). "Costa Rica: Achievements of a Heterodox Health Policy". American Journal of Public Health. 98 (4): 636–643. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.099598. PMC 2376989. PMID 17901439. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2010.

[176] OECD (22 November 2017). "Executive summary". OECD Reviews of Health Systems: Costa Rica 2017. pp. 11–12. doi:10.1787/9789264281653-3-en. ISBN 9789264281639. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019.

[177] Jacob, Brian (2009). "CLOSING THE GAPS: The Challenge to Protect Costa Rica's Health Care System". The Georgetown Public Policy Review (77). Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2012.

[Herrick-178] Herrick, Devon M. (2007). Medical Tourism: Global Competition in Health Care (PDF). National Center for Policy Analysis, Dallas, Texas. pp. 4–6, 9. ISBN 978-1-56808-178-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011.

[Bookman-179] Bookman, Milica Z.; Bookman, Karla R. (2007). Medical Tourism in Developing Countries. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. pp. 3–4, 58, 95, and 134–135. ISBN 978-0-230-60006-5.

[Stats-180] "Medical Tourism Statistics and Facts". Health-Tourism.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[a]

[38]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

[43]

[44]

[45]

[46]

[47]

[48]

[49]

[50]

[51]

[52]

[53]

[54]

[55]

[56]

[57]

[58]

[59]

[60]

[61]

[62]

[63]

[64]

[65]

[66]

[67]

[68]

[69]

[70]

[71]

[72]

[73]

[74]

[75]

[76]

[77]

[78]

[79]

[80]

[81]

[82]

[83]

[84]

[85]

[86]

[87]

[88]

[89]

[90]

[91]

[92]

[93]

[94]

[95]

[96]

[97]

[98]

[99]

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States France BnF data Japan Czech Republic Spain Israel
Geographic	MusicBrainz area
People	UK Parliament
Other	IdRef Historical Dictionary of Switzerland NARA