Costa Rica
population: Natl annual projection (30 Jun 2025) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 6 metros tracked
🗺️ Geography6 metros
Costa Rica metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.
Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.
🏙️ 6 tracked metros
| Metro | State | Tier | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #430 | San José★ Capital▲ Largest | San José | 2.7M | 5.9 | Established Metro |
| #580 | Liberia | Guanacaste | 77K | 4.0 | Emerging Metro |
| #2246 | Ciudad Quesada | Alajuela | 200K | 0.3 | Local Metro |
| #2377 | Puntarenas | Puntarenas | 140K | 0.3 | Local Metro |
| #3619 | Limón | Limón | 100K | 0.0 | Local Metro |
| #4075 | Esparza | Puntarenas | 38K | 0.0 | Local Metro |
🗂️ Provinces
7 entries listed under Costa Rica. Click any to see its metros and footprint.
📋 At a glance
- Official language
- Spanish
- Currency
- Costa Rican colón (CRC)
- Legislature
- Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica
- Constitution
- 1949, 36 amendment events since
- Demonym
- Costa Rican
- Time zone
- UTC−06:00
- Driving side
- Right
- Calling code
- +506
- Internet TLD
- .cr
- ISO 3166
- CR
- Established
- 1821
- Highest point
- Cerro Chirripó (3,820 m (12,533 ft))
- National anthem
- Noble patria, tu hermosa bandera
Facts via Wikidata.
💹 Economy and developmentHigh income
Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.
Alliances & Organisations4 full memberships
Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer
🏛️ Leadership History16 leaders · click to expand
marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.
Modern democracy
Laura Fernández Delgado✦ Current
2026–PresentPresident
Rodrigo Chaves Robles
2022–2026President
Carlos Alvarado Quesada
2018–2022President
Luis Guillermo Solís
2014–2018President
Laura Chinchilla
2010–2014President
Óscar Arias Sánchez
2006–2010President
Abel Pacheco
2002–2006President
Óscar Arias Sánchez
1986–1990President
| Name | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Laura Fernández Delgado✦ Current | President | 2026–Present |
| Rodrigo Chaves Robles | President | 2022–2026 |
| Carlos Alvarado Quesada | President | 2018–2022 |
| Luis Guillermo Solís | President | 2014–2018 |
| Laura Chinchilla | President | 2010–2014 |
| Óscar Arias Sánchez | President | 2006–2010 |
| Abel Pacheco | President | 2002–2006 |
| Óscar Arias Sánchez | President | 1986–1990 |
Second Republic
José Figueres Ferrer
1953–1958President
| Name | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| José Figueres Ferrer | President | 1953–1958 |
Second Republic founding
José Figueres Ferrer
1948–1949President (Founding Junta of the Second Republic)
| Name | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| José Figueres Ferrer | President (Founding Junta of the Second Republic) | 1948–1949 |
Republic of Costa Rica
Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia
1940–1948President
Ricardo Jiménez
1910–1940President
Cleto González Víquez
1906–1910President
⚠️ Tomás Guardia
1870–1906President
Juan Rafael Mora Porras
1849–1870President
Braulio Carrillo
1838–1849President
| Name | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia | President | 1940–1948 |
| Ricardo Jiménez | President | 1910–1940 |
| Cleto González Víquez | President | 1906–1910 |
| ⚠️ Tomás Guardia | President | 1870–1906 |
| Juan Rafael Mora Porras | President | 1849–1870 |
| Braulio Carrillo | President | 1838–1849 |
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.
⚔️ Conflicts since 19454 interstate wars · click to expand
| Conflict | Years | Against | Combat deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coto War | 1921 | PanamaPanama | — |
| Barrios' War of Reunification | 1885 | Guatemala,Honduras | — |
| Campaign of 1856–57 | 1856–1857 | Republic of Sonora,Nicaragua | — |
| Filibuster War | 1856–1857 | Legitimistas (conservative party),Democráticos (liberal party),United States (naval support) | — |
Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”
👥 Population over time
Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.
👥 To 2100
The UN’s probabilistic projection for Costa Rica: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.
Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.
What drives it
Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.
Show all 16 decades
Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.
🏆 National Teams
Costa Rica on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.
National Teams Champions
Every major championship won by Costa Rica's national teams, newest first. 3 in total.
| Year | Date | Champion | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 1989-11-19 | Costa Rica | CONCACAF Championship |
| 1969 | 1969-12-07 | Costa Rica | CONCACAF Championship |
| 1963 | 1963-04-07 | Costa Rica | CONCACAF Championship |