| Country Information |  National name: República de Costa Rica
President: Abel Pacheco (2002)
Area: 19,730 sq mi (51,100 sq km)
Capital and largest city (2003 est.): San José, 1,527,300 (metro. area), 337,200 (city proper)
Monetary unit: Colón
Population (2005 est.): 4,016,173 (growth rate: 1.5%);
- birth rate: 18.6/1000;
- infant mortality rate: 9.9/1000;
- life expectancy: 76.8;
- density per sq mi: 204
Language:
- Spanish (official),
- English
Ethnicity/race:
- white (including mestizo) 94%,
- black 3%,
- Amerindian 1%,
- Chinese 1%,
- other 1% | Religion:
- Roman Catholic 76.3%,
- Evangelical 13.7%,
- Jehovah's Witnesses 1.3%,
- other Protestant 0.7%,
- other 4.8%,
- none 3.2% |
Literacy rate: 96% (2003 est.)
Economic summary:
- GDP/PPP (2004 est.): $37.97 billion; per capita $9,600.
- Real growth rate: 3.9%.
- Inflation: 11.5%.
- Unemployment: 6.6%.
- Arable land: 4%.
- Agriculture: coffee, pineapples, bananas, sugar, corn, rice, beans, potatoes; beef; timber.
- Labor force: 1.81 million; agriculture 20%, industry 22%, services 58% (1999 est.).
- Industries: microprocessors, food processing, textiles and clothing, construction materials, fertilizer, plastic products.
- Natural resources: hydropower.
- Exports: $6.176 billion (2003 est.): coffee, bananas, sugar; pineapples; textiles, electronic components, medical equipment.
- Imports: $7.057 billion (2003 est.): raw materials, consumer goods, capital equipment, petroleum.
- Major trading partners: U.S., Netherlands, UK, Japan, Mexico.
Communications:
- Telephones: main lines in use: 450,000 (1998); mobile cellular: 143,000 (2000).
- Radio broadcast stations: AM 50, FM 43, shortwave 19 (1998).
 - Radios: 980,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations: 6 (plus 11 repeaters) (1997).
- Televisions: 525,000 (1997).
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3 (of which only one is legal) (2000).
- Internet users: 384,000 (2002).
Transportation:
- Railways: total: 950 km (2002).
- Highways: total: 35,892 km; paved: 7,896 km; unpaved: 27,996 km (2000).
- Waterways: 730 km, seasonally navigable.
- Ports and harbors: Caldera, Golfito, Moin, Puerto Limon, Puerto Quepos, Puntarenas.
- Airports: 151 (2002).
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