Portal:Costa Rica

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"
ISO 3166 code	CR

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The Costa Rica Portal

Introduction

Costa Rica (UK: /ˌkɒstə ˈriːkə/, US: /ˌkoʊstə-/ ^ⓘ; Spanish: [ˈkosta ˈrika]; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica, 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 million0 in a land area of 51,060 km² (19,710 sq mi). An estimated 333,980 people live in the capital and largest city, San José, with around two million people in the surrounding metropolitan area.

The sovereign state is a unitary presidential constitutional republic. It has a long-standing and stable democracy and a highly educated workforce. The country spends roughly 6.9% of its budget (2016) on education, compared to a global average of 4.4%. 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.

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. (Full article...)

The Costa Rica Quiz

True or false: voting is mandatory in Costa Rica.

Answer

True, but in practice this is not enforced.^[2]

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The Costa Rica national football team (Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Costa Rica) represents Costa Rica in men's international football. The national team is administered by the Costa Rican Football Federation (FEDEFUTBOL), the governing body for football in Costa Rica. It has been a member of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since 1927, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) since 1961, and a member of the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) since 1990.

Costa Rica is the most successful national football team from the region of Central America, winning three CONCACAF Championships (1963, 1969, 1989) and leading the Copa Centroamericana tournament with four championships up until 2017, when it was absorbed into the CONCACAF Nations League. Costa Rica is the only national team in Central America to have played in six FIFA World Cup editions. Costa Rica's national football team has the all-time highest average Football Elo Ranking in Central America with 1597.1, and the all-time highest Football Elo Ranking in Central America, with 1806 in 2014. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that footballer Alexandra Pinell scored the Costa Rica U20 team's only goal at the FIFA tournament hosted by their country?
... that goalkeeper Daniela Solera had the most touches of any Costa Rican player in their opening match of the 2023 World Cup?
... that while Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios was exiled from Nicaragua and living in Costa Rica in the 1980s, his sister Claudia was there as Nicaragua’s ambassador?
... that in August 2021 Sheika Scott became the youngest player to score in the Costa Rican Women's Premier Division, at just 14 years old?
... that to animate conquistadors in Jungle Cruise, frogs were recorded in a Costa Rican forest?
... that Marita Camacho Quirós, who was First Lady of Costa Rica (1962–1966), is the oldest former first lady in the world and a supercentenarian?

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...that the Irazú Volcano in Costa Rica erupted violently in 1963, on the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy arrived in the country?

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Related portals

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Image 1Population pyramid for Costa Rica 2023 (from Costa Rica)
Image 2The Rio Celeste (sky blue river) at Tenorio Volcano National Park in Costa Rica. (from Water resources management in Costa Rica)
Image 3Stone spheres created by the Diquis culture at the National Museum of Costa Rica. The sphere is the icon of the country's cultural identity. (from Costa Rica)
Image 4An Intel microprocessor facility in Costa Rica that was, at one time, responsible for 20% of Costa Rican exports and 5% of the country's GDP. (from Costa Rica)
Image 5The 1849 national coat of arms was featured in the first postal stamp issued in 1862. (from Costa Rica)
Image 6The Ujarrás historical site in the Orosí Valley, Cartago province. The church was built between 1686 and 1693. (from Costa Rica)
Image 7Real GDP per capita development in Costa Rica (from Costa Rica)
Image 8Costa Rican breakfast with gallo pinto (from Costa Rica)
Image 9Red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas) (from Costa Rica)
Image 10The extent of Costa Rica's western EEZ in the Pacific (from Costa Rica)
Image 11Mantled howler monkey, male (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 12José María Castro Madriz formally declared Costa Rica as independent from the Federal Republic of Central America in 1848. (from History of Costa Rica)
Image 13Chatham beach on Cocos Island. (from Water resources management in Costa Rica)
Image 14Gallo Pinto (from Culture of Costa Rica)
Image 15Barack Obama and Laura Chinchilla with Costa Rican children in San José (from Costa Rica)
Image 16A coffee plantation in the Orosí Valley (from Costa Rica)
Image 17Costa Rica's tropical landscape (from Water resources management in Costa Rica)
Image 18Gregorio José Ramírez was the most notable political chief of the province of Costa Rica, leading republican forces victorious in the Battle of Ochomogo. (from History of Costa Rica)
Image 19Symbolic act of Costa Rica's army abolition by president José Figueres Ferrer on December 1, 1948, at Cuartel Bellavista (former army headquarters), site which now hosts the National Museum (from Costa Rica)
Image 20Epiphytes near Santa Elena (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 21Hospital CIMA in Escazú (from Costa Rica)
Image 22Countries (in blue) which have signed Free Trade Agreements with Costa Rica (from Costa Rica)
Image 23Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles (Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels, Cartago), during the 2007 pilgrimage (from Costa Rica)
Image 24Arenal Volcano National Park is one of the country's tourist attractions. (from Costa Rica)
Image 25José Figueres Ferrer's symbolic act of the army's abolition on December 1st, 1948 at Cuartel Bellavista, today the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica. (from History of Costa Rica)
Image 26Provinces 1 Alajuela, 2 Cartago, 3 Guanacaste, 4 Heredia, 5 Limón, 6 Puntarenas, 7 San José (from Costa Rica)
Image 27The Heliconius doris butterfly (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 28An industrial park in Heredia (from Costa Rica)
Image 29The zebra longwing butterfly (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 30Costa Rican school children (from Costa Rica)
Image 31Typical settlement of the Diquis indigenous people before the arrival of Columbus. (from History of Costa Rica)
Image 32Costa Rican Women in traditional dress (from Culture of Costa Rica)
Image 33Costa Rican kids. (from Culture of Costa Rica)
Image 34The scarlet macaw is native to Costa Rica. (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 35Waterfall in the Tenorio Volcano National Park (from Costa Rica)
Image 36Costa Rica map of Köppen climate classification (from Costa Rica)
Image 37The mangrove hummingbird is endemic to Costa Rica and specializes in feeding from the tea mangrove plant with its uniquely shaped beak. (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 38Eyelash viper (Bothriechis schlegelii) (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 39Yigüirro, Costa Rica's national bird (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 40The 1849 national coat of arms was featured in the first postal stamp issued in 1862. (from History of Costa Rica)
Image 41The University of Costa Rica is the largest university of the country and one of the most recognizable across Central America (from Costa Rica)
Image 42Las Carretas (oxcarts) are a national symbol. (from Costa Rica)
Image 43The golden toad, an amphibian once endemic to Costa Rica, is now extinct. (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 44A red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas) (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 45Hospital Calderón Guardia, named after the president who instituted universal health care across the country in 1941 (from Costa Rica)
Image 46Development of life expectancy in Costa Rica (from Costa Rica)
Image 47Costa Rica supporters at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil (from Costa Rica)