Country · Americas
Costa Rica
Republic of Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a country in Central America. About 5 million people live there, in an area of 51 100 square kilometres. Its capital city is San José.
Picture credit: belemita@gmail.com (CC BY 3.0) · rob Stoeltje (CC BY 2.0) · Åsa Berndtsson (CC BY 2.0) · Tico73 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Unknown author Unknown author (CC0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Costa Rica?
Costa Rica lies in Central America, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 1 113 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 1 290 km long.
It shares a border with 2 countries: Nicaragua and Panama.
How big is Costa Rica?
Costa Rica covers 51 100 square kilometres.
That is about 20 times the size of Luxembourg.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 126th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 97.8 people on every square kilometre.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Costa Rica?
About 5 million people live in Costa Rica.
That is the 119th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Spanish.
They pay with the Costa Rican colón (₡).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 76 years.
The land of Costa Rica
The land of Costa Rica sits on average 746 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 1 290 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 65 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Costa Rica different?
A dish the country is known for: Gallo pinto.
Websites from here often end in .cr.
Costa Rica and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about one lives in Costa Rica.
It takes up about 0.04 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas the country ranks 21st of 35 by size, and 20th by population.
Costa Rica and its neighbours
Nicaragua, its largest neighbour, is about 2.6 times bigger.
Nicaragua has more people: 6.5 million against 5 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 10 live wild in Costa Rica: Brown-throated sloth, Nine-banded armadillo, Scarlet macaw, Ruby-throated hummingbird, Green iguana, Green sea turtle and more. The highest mountain in the country is Cerro Chirripó, at 3 821 metres. The longest river in the country is the Térraba River. The largest lake in the country is Lake Cote.
Brown-throated sloth
Nine-banded armadillo
Scarlet macaw
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Green iguana
Green sea turtle
Red-eyed tree frog
Virginia opossum
Coyote
Black-handed spider monkey
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
How big is Costa Rica compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 183 times as big as Costa Rica: 9 372 610 km² against 51 100 km². See both on one map
- The United Kingdom is about 4.8 times as big as Costa Rica: 242 900 km² against 51 100 km². See both on one map
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Costa Rica?
The capital of Costa Rica is San José. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Costa Rica?
About 5 million people live in Costa Rica, which makes it the 119th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
How big is Costa Rica?
Costa Rica covers 51 100 square kilometres, making it the 126th largest country in the world. That is about 20 times the size of Luxembourg.
What is the highest mountain in Costa Rica?
The highest mountain in Costa Rica is Cerro Chirripó, 3 821 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the longest river in Costa Rica?
The longest river in Costa Rica is the Térraba River, about 160 kilometres long.
What is the largest lake in Costa Rica?
The largest lake in Costa Rica is Lake Cote. It covers about 2 km².
Which continent is Costa Rica in?
Costa Rica is in Americas, in the part called Central America.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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