Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in the Central American region of North America. Costa Rica is bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as maritime border with Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a population of around five million in a land area of 51,060 km2 (19,710 sq mi). An estimated 333,980 people live in the capital and largest city, San José, with around two million people in the surrounding metropolitan area.
The politics of Costa Rica take place in a framework of a presidential, representative democratic republic, with a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the president and their cabinet, and the President of Costa Rica is both the head of state and head of government. Legislative power is vested in the Legislative Assembly. The president and 57 Legislative Assembly deputies are elected for four-year terms. The judiciary operates independently from the executive and the legislature, but is involved in the political process. Costa Rica has a strong system of constitutional checks and balances. Voting is compulsory de jure, but this is not enforced.
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 2023 is US$90 billion, up significantly from the US$52.6 billion in 2015 while the estimated 2024 per capita is US$28,558.
Costa Rica is an active member of the international community and, in 1983, claimed it was for neutrality. Due to certain powerful constituencies favoring its methods, it has a weight in world affairs far beyond its size. The country lobbied aggressively for the establishment of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and became the first nation to recognize the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Human Rights Court, based in San José.
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría is a Costa Rican economist, lawyer, businessman and politician who served as President of Costa Rica from 1998 to 2002. He was minister of planning from 1968 to 1970 and minister of the presidency in 1970 during the administration of Jose Joaquin Trejos Fernandez ; member of the board of the Costa Rican Central Bank from 1966 to 1969; congressman from 1990 to 1993, serving as president of the Legislative Assembly during the 1991 to 1992 period; and was elected Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2004. He voluntarily stepped down from this post to return to his country to face allegations of financial wrongdoing during his presidential tenure in Costa Rica. On April 27 of 2011 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but this ruling was later reversed in a December 2012 decision by an appeals court, which found him innocent of all charges.
José María Figueres Olsen is a Costa Rican businessman and politician, who served as President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. He also ran for president in the 2022 presidential election but was defeated by Rodrigo Chaves.
José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer served three terms as President of Costa Rica: 1948–1949, 1953–1958 and 1970–1974. During his first term in office he abolished the country's army, nationalized its banking sector, granted women and Afro-Costa Ricans the right to vote, and offered Costa Rican nationality to people of African descent.
The Costa Rican Civil War took place from 12 March to 24 April 1948. The conflict began after the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, dominated by pro-government representatives, voted on 1 March 1948 to annul the results of the presidential elections of 8 February, alleging that the triumph of opposition candidate Otilio Ulate over the ruling party's Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia had been achieved by fraud. This triggered an armed uprising led by José Figueres Ferrer, a businessman who had not participated in the elections, against the government of President Teodoro Picado.
Relations between Costa Rica and the United States have been historically close; nevertheless there were instances in history where the US and Costa Rica disagreed. One such example might be the case of Freebooter William Walker. Nevertheless, considering that Costa Rica generally supports the U.S. in international fora, especially in the areas of democracy and human rights, modern day relations are very strong.
The China–Peru Free Trade Agreement is a bilateral free trade agreement designed to eliminate obstacles to trade and investment between China and Peru. The two sides concluded talks in November 2008 and signed the agreement in April 2009. The agreement was officially ratified by both countries governments on December 6, 2009, and came into effect on March 1, 2010.
Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen is a Costa Rican diplomat who has led national, international and multilateral policy negotiations. She was appointed Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in July 2010, six months after the failed COP15 in Copenhagen. During the next six years she worked to rebuild the global climate change negotiating process, leading to the 2015 Paris Agreement, widely recognized as a historic achievement.
René Castro Salazar, was FAO's Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department Assistant-Director General and a former Costa Rican politician.
The Indian Trade Service (ITdS) is a civil service under Group A of the Central Civil Services of the executive branch of the Government of India. It was created as a specialized cadre to handle India's international trade and commerce on the basis of the recommendations of the Mathur Committee in 1965. At present, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is the cadre controlling authority of the ITS. DGFT has 38 regional offices across India, and plays a significant role in promoting India's international trade with its policy formulation and implementation.
Bilateral relations between Brazil and Costa Rica commenced in 1907, when the first Brazilian diplomats were officially accredited by the Costa Rican government. Costa Rica has an embassy in Brasilia, and Brazil has an embassy in San José. Also, Costa Rica has consulates in Curitiba, Florianópolis, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Both countries are members of Organization of American States.
The nations of Costa Rica and Mexico established diplomatic relations 1838. Both nations are members of the Association of Caribbean States, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States and the United Nations.
Costa Rica–India relations refers to the international relations that exist between Costa Rica and India. Costa Rica has an embassy in New Delhi whilst India has a non resident ambassador in Panama.
Eduardo Octavio Trejos Lalli is a Costa Rican internationalist, private consultant and politician. Trejos is the current Costa Rican representative in the Central American Bank for Economic Integration. Trejos was also Director of National Intelligence and Security and has held the position of Deputy Foreign Minister, interim Foreign Minister and Ambassador of Costa Rica to Nicaragua
The Founding Junta of the Second Republic was a de facto government which existed in the Republic of Costa Rica from May 8, 1948, to November 8, 1949, with the overthrow of the constitutional president Teodoro Picado Michalski, by a group of revolutionaries headed by José Figueres Ferrer.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship is the ministry in charge of the foreign policy of Costa Rica, including the management of diplomatic missions around the world and their personnel.
The Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promoter (PROCOMER) is a Costa Rican investment promotion agency responsible for export promotion programs, attracting foreign direct investment, and providing technical and financial support for the administration of Costa Rica's special export regimes.
