Demographics of Costa Rica

Source UN (World Population Prospects 2024)
Date15 Sep 2024

As of 2024, the population of Costa Rica is projected at 5.13 million, compared to 5.11 million in 2023. It ranks 127th in the world by population and 11th in North America. The population growth rate in 2024 is projected at 0.46 percent, the 148th highest among 237 countries and dependent territories.

There are 2.53 million males and 2.60 million females in Costa Rica. The percentage of the male population is 49.41%, compared to 50.59% of the female population. Costa Rica has 60k more females than males. The sex ratio in Costa Rica in 2024 will be 97.671 males per 100 females. Costa Rica is in the 99th position in terms of the female-to-male ratio.

  • Population
  • Growth rate
  • Gender

Costa Rica population

Year Population Growth (%) M per 100 F
MaleFemaleTotal
1950464,321462,437926,7583.32100.407
1955553,815549,2341,103,0493.61100.834
1960667,110660,3861,327,4963.75101.018
1965797,633788,5761,586,2083.29101.149
1970924,970913,9791,838,9492.69101.203
19751,052,1471,040,5722,092,7192.58101.112
19801,200,4171,190,2162,390,6332.72100.857
19851,376,2591,365,6342,741,8942.74100.778
19901,566,1691,555,5373,121,7062.55100.683
19951,764,8851,770,2913,535,1762.3899.695
20001,955,6901,982,0493,937,7391.8698.670
20052,113,1802,148,0594,261,2401.4598.376
20102,256,6892,299,2734,555,9621.1798.148
20152,385,7642,432,2754,818,0381.0598.088
20202,490,8122,543,5085,034,3200.6097.928
20212,502,3492,557,6385,059,9880.4297.838
20222,512,0392,569,7255,081,7650.4497.755
20232,523,1332,582,3925,105,5250.4997.705
20242,534,7282,595,1825,129,9100.4697.671
  • Life expectancy
  • Median age
  • Fertility rate

Demographics Indicators

YearLife expectancy Median ageFertility rate
195057.46116.8126.317
195560.45316.3186.571
196063.46315.7276.712
196564.76015.6055.960
197066.78716.4264.585
197570.25317.8333.804
198073.03419.2993.583
198574.76520.6083.511
199076.09421.7113.167
199576.44022.8742.779
200077.31724.2072.413
200578.87725.9612.038
201079.35427.9711.827
201580.40730.1551.797
202079.72532.5131.448
202178.05033.0221.353
202279.31633.5361.335
202380.79934.0701.330
202480.99634.6121.318
  • Total
  • Crude

Costa Rica death and birth rate

Year Total Crude(per 1000)
DeathBirthCrude deathCrude birth
195011,23041,60212.11744.890
195511,40250,49510.33745.778
196011,50060,3578.66345.467
196512,09063,2877.62239.898
197011,53759,9346.27432.592
197510,35662,3344.94829.786
198010,03072,5884.19530.364
198510,62583,4003.87530.417
199011,47483,2023.67626.653
199513,64481,2273.85922.977
200015,42179,6893.91620.237
200516,38173,5203.84417.253
201019,39270,1924.25615.407
201521,76670,8464.51814.704
202028,05657,2205.57311.366
202133,22953,3496.56710.543
202231,02952,4406.10610.319
202327,86151,9695.45710.179
202428,55151,2535.5669.991
  • Population
  • Urbanization

Urban and rural population of Costa Rica

Year Population Urban (%)
UrbanRural
1950321,509637,98633.508
1955379,324740,29333.880
1960456,615876,42534.254
1965568,9411,020,68035.791
1970717,8531,131,01338.827
1975867,2611,230,14641.349
19801,029,7571,359,55343.099
19851,240,7681,489,46545.445
19901,548,1021,547,89350.003
19951,915,6041,595,32254.561
20002,318,0401,607,40359.052
20052,789,6381,458,20365.672
20103,260,5901,284,69071.736
20153,695,4301,112,42276.862
20204,074,214969,96580.771
20214,142,550944,99381.425
20224,208,353921,16382.042
20234,271,646898,46682.622
20244,332,482876,89283.167
  • Population pyramid
  • Gender ratio

Costa Rica population by Age Group (2024)

Age group Male Female Total M per 100 F
PersonsShare (%)
00-04 138,148 132,405 270,553 5.27 104.337
05-09 173,472 166,308 339,780 6.62 104.308
10-14 180,853 173,200 354,053 6.90 104.419
15-19 184,770 177,157 361,928 7.06 104.297
20-24 192,370 184,810 377,180 7.35 104.091
25-29 203,056 196,794 399,851 7.79 103.182
30-34 208,017 202,713 410,729 8.01 102.617
35-39 208,496 205,587 414,083 8.07 101.415
40-44 188,048 190,465 378,513 7.38 98.731
45-49 161,677 170,226 331,902 6.47 94.978
50-54 143,613 155,909 299,522 5.84 92.113
55-59 139,621 152,745 292,366 5.70 91.408
60-64 129,666 142,644 272,310 5.31 90.902
65-69 101,844 114,728 216,572 4.22 88.770
70-74 75,190 86,885 162,075 3.16 86.540
75-79 52,637 62,730 115,367 2.25 83.910
80-84 31,192 40,732 71,924 1.40 76.579
85-89 15,482 24,042 39,523 0.77 64.396
90-94 5,334 11,102 16,436 0.32 48.045
95-99 1,121 3,404 4,525 0.09 32.932
100+ 118 600 718 0.01 19.667
Total 2,534,725 2,595,186 5,129,910 97.670