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Official Name: Known officially as Republic of Costa Rica, or commonly Costa Rica.
Capital city: San Jose is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley which is elevated 1,290 meters above sea level in the heart of Costa Rica.
Location: Costa Rica, is located in Central Americ and has the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, sharing it's borders with Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south.
Size: The total land area of Costa Rica is 51,100 square kilometers and this ranks 129th globally.
Climate: Costa Rica has tropical and subtropical climate; The dry season runs from December to April and the rainy season from May to November. The highlands of Costa Rica are cooler then the area's surrounding the coast.
Population: Costa Rica has an estimated population of 4,516,220 and ranks 121th globally . The courty has a population growth rate of 1.347%.
Life Expectancy: The average life expectancy at birth for citizens of Costa Rica is 77.54 years, ranking at 56th globally. Females have a longer average life span at 80.28 years, while Males average 74.93 years from birth.
Prevalance of HIV/AIDS: The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Costa Rica is about 0.4%, placing 84th globally. This means that around 9,700 people in the country are living with the disease.
Major Illness: Potential health risks in Costa Rica include bacterial diarrhea and dengue fever.
Ethnic Groups: Costa Rica is mainly comprised of caucasian (including mestizo) 94%, black 3%, Amerindian 1%, Chinese 1% and other 1%
Languages: The official languages in Costa Rica are Spanish and English.
Religion: The major religion in Costa Rica is Roman Catholic accounting for 76.3%% of the population. Other religions include Evangelical at 13.7%, Jehovah's Witnessess at 1.3.%, other Protestant at 0.7%, other at 4.8%, none at 3.2%.
Government: Costa Rica is a democratic republic with a strong constitution. The country has had at least 59 years of uninterrupted democracy, making it one of the most stable countries in the region, and the only Latin America country included in the world's 22 older democracies since at least 1950 . Costa Rica is a republic with three powers, the presidents has executive responsibilities,legislative power is vested on the legislative assembly, and judicial power is vested on the supreme court.
Military: Costa Rica has no regular military forces, therefore Costa Rica use Ministry of Public Security, Government and Police to conduct the duties the of defence and public protection.
Economy: The Costa Rica economy has attracted one of the highest levels of foreign direct investment per capita in Latin America. However, many business encumbrances, such difficulties with enforcing contracts, high levels of bureaucracy and poor investors protection remain. Prior to the 2009 economic crises, Costa Rica economy was stable, although in 2009 the economy contracted by 1.6.%. The backbone of the economy is the traditional agricultural exports of bananas, coffee, sugar and beef. Tourism brings foreign exchange, Costa Rica has a remarkable biodiversity making it a main destination for ecotourism. Costa Rica's poverty rate for 20 years has remain between 15-20%, and a robust social safety net that was installed by the government has crumbled due to the financial pressure placed on the government expenditures. A labor force of 2.09 million, which excludes Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica, it is estimated 300,000-500,000 legal and illegal Nicaraguans are living in Costa Rica.
GDP: Costa Rica has a purchasing power parity of US$ 48.63 billion, ranking at 90th in the world. The country has a -1.6 % growth rate, which ranks 99th globally.
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