Costa Rica, (actually “Rich Coastline”), formally the Republic of Costa Rica, is a nation in Central America, surrounded by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Sea to the southwest, and maritime boundary with Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a populace of around 5 million in an acreage of 51,060 km2 (19,710 sq mi). An approximated 333,980 people live in the capital and biggest city, San José, with around two million people in the bordering city.

The sovereign state is a unitary governmental constitutional republic. It is recognized for its long-lasting and steady freedom, and also for its extremely informed labor force. The nation invests about 6.9% of its budget plan (2016) on education, compared to a worldwide average of 4.4%. Its economy, as soon as heavily depending on agriculture, has branched out to include sectors such as financing, business solutions for foreign firms, drugs, and also ecotourism. Several international production as well as services companies run in Costa Rica’s Free Trade Areas (FTZ) where they take advantage of financial investment and tax incentives.

Costa Rica was populated by native individuals before coming under Spanish rule in the 16th century. It stayed an outer nest of the empire till self-reliance as part of the First Mexican Realm, adhered to by membership in the Federal Republic of Central America, where it officially proclaimed independence in 1847. Following the short Costa Rican Civil Battle in 1948, it completely abolished its army in 1949, turning into one of just a few sovereign nations without a standing army.

The country has actually regularly carried out favorably in the Person Advancement Index (HDI), putting 62nd worldwide since 2020, and also fifth in Latin America. It has likewise been mentioned by the United Nations Advancement Program (UNDP) as having acquired a lot higher human growth than various other nations at the same earnings degrees, with a better document on human development and inequality than the mean of the area. It also does well in contrasts of the state of democracy, press flexibility as well as subjective happiness.

It has the 7th freest press according to journalism Freedom Index, it is the 37th most autonomous nation according to the Freedom on the planet index as well as it is the 12th happiest nation on the planet Happiness Report.