Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, and Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a population of around 5 million in a land area of 51,060 square kilometers. An estimated 333,980 people live in the capital and largest city, San José, with around 2 million people in the surrounding metropolitan area.
The economy of Costa Rica has been very stable for some years now, with continuing growth in the GDP and moderate inflation, though with a high unemployment rate: 11.49% in 2019. Costa Rica's economy emerged from recession in 1997 and has shown strong aggregate growth since then. The estimated GDP for 2017 is US$61.5 billion, up significantly from the US$52.6 billion in 2015 while the estimated 2017 per capita is US$12,382.
Aniceto del Carmen Esquivel Sáenz was President of Costa Rica for a brief period of three months in 1876 before being deposed in a coup d'état.
Bocas del Toro (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbokaz ðel ˈtoɾo]; meaning "Bull’s river mouths") is a province of Panama. Its area is 4,643.9 square kilometers, comprising the mainland and nine main islands. The province consists of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Bahía Almirante, Chiriquí Lagoon, and adjacent mainland. The capital is the city of Bocas del Toro on Isla Colón. Other major cities or towns include Almirante and Changuinola. The province has a population of 125,461 as of 2010.
Nicoya is a district and head city of the Nicoya canton, in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica, located on the Nicoya Peninsula. It is one of the country's most important tourist zones; it serves as a transport hub to Guanacaste's beaches and national parks.
San José is the first canton in the province of San José in Costa Rica. It includes the national capital city of San José.
Jacó is a district of the Garabito canton, in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. Jacó has a black sand beach that is 4 km (2.5 mi) long and is popular among surfers.
Asociación Deportiva Carmelita is a Costa Rican football team playing in the Segunda División. The team is based in Barrio El Carmen, Alajuela, Costa Rica and their home stadium is Rafael Bolaños Stadium in El Coyol, Alajuela
Costa Rican Americans are Americans of at least partial Costa Rican descent.
Miss Universe 1955, the 4th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 22 July 1955 at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, United States, with 33 female competitors.
Miss Universe 1967, the 16th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 15 July 1967 at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Sylvia Hitchcock of United States was crowned by Margareta Arvidsson of Sweden at the end of the event, This was Bob Barker's first Miss Universe pageant as host.
Tourism in Costa Rica has been one of the fastest growing economic sectors of the country and by 1995 became the largest foreign exchange earner. Since 1999, tourism has earned more foreign exchange than bananas, pineapples and coffee exports combined. The tourism boom began in 1987, with the number of visitors up from 329,000 in 1988, through 1.03 million in 1999, over 2 million in 2008, to a historical record of 2.66 million foreign visitors in 2015. In 2012, tourism contributed with 12.5% of the country's GDP and it was responsible for 11.7% of direct and indirect employment. In 2009, tourism attracted 17% of foreign direct investment inflows, and 13% in average between 2000 and 2009. In 2010, the tourism industry was responsible for 21.2% of foreign exchange generated by all exports. According to a 2007 report by ECLAC, tourism contributed to a reduction in poverty of 3% in the country.
Carmen is the first distrito of San José Canton in Costa Rica, and one of the four administrative units that form San José downtown. This district is not heavily populated although it is a busy downtown area in daytime.
Miss Costa Rica is a national beauty pageant in Costa Rica.
The Sixaola River is a river in southern Limón Province, Costa Rica. It flows from the Cordillera Talamanca to the Caribbean Sea northeast of Sixaola at 9°34′20″N82°33′54″W. The river's headwaters are part of the La Amistad International Park. For part of its length, the river forms the border between Limón Province, Costa Rica and Bocas del Toro Province, Panama.
The Nicaragua–Costa Rica San Juan River border dispute was a series of periodical conflicts between the Costa Rica and Nicaragua over the correct delimitation of their common border at its east-end, and the interpretation of the navigation rights on the San Juan River established in the Cañas-Jerez Treaty of 1858.
Irazú is the first Costa Rican satellite to be launched into space. The nano satellite was launched into space on 2 April 2018, onboard a Falcon 9 rocket headed for the International Space Station. It is expected to orbit the earth for six months with the function of monitoring carbon, humidity, and temperature levels in Costa Rican forests. Funds for the launch of satellite was provided, in a significant part, through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.
Costa Rica competed in the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019.
Sara Casal de Quirós was a Costa Rican teacher, writer and community worker. She was a pioneer of the women's rights movement in Costa Rica and wrote the first book defending women's rights in the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Costa Rica is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Costa Rica on 6 March 2020, after a 49-year-old woman tourist from New York, United States, tested positive for the virus.
