Gini coefficient (before tax) in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Gini coefficient (before tax) was 0.6535 in 2022. ▲ Rising
Gini coefficient (before tax) in Costa Rica, 2011–2022
Source: World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Costa Rica recorded 0.6535 for gini coefficient (before tax) in 2022.
That represents a change of down 7.7% on the previous year and up 0.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, gini coefficient (before tax) in Costa Rica peaked at 0.7167 in 2020 and was at its lowest, 0.6521, in 2012.
Costa Rica ranks 12th of 113 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 12 years of available data.
Gini coefficient (before tax) in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 0.6558 | — |
| 2012 | 0.6521 | -0.6% |
| 2013 | 0.6692 | +2.6% |
| 2014 | 0.668 | -0.2% |
| 2015 | 0.6741 | +0.9% |
| 2016 | 0.6795 | +0.8% |
| 2017 | 0.668 | -1.7% |
| 2018 | 0.6695 | +0.2% |
| 2019 | 0.6904 | +3.1% |
| 2020 | 0.7167 | +3.8% |
| 2021 | 0.7081 | -1.2% |
| 2022 | 0.6535 | -7.7% |
Costa Rica compared with similar countries
- Costa Rica's 0.6535 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.4706, 1.4× the median. (45 countries reporting)
- Costa Rica's 0.6535 is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 0.6535, 1.0× the median. (11 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 0.6696 | 0.6521 | 0.6904 | 9 |
| 2020s | 0.6928 | 0.6535 | 0.7167 | 3 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
More poverty & inequality data for Costa Rica
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 10 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 1.33 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 3,807 kg per hectare (2024)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate -14.41 % change on previous year (2024)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 24.93 (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 24.9% (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is gini coefficient (before tax) in Costa Rica?
- Gini coefficient (before tax) in Costa Rica was 0.6535 in 2022, according to World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest gini coefficient (before tax) recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 0.7167 in 2020.
- What is the lowest gini coefficient (before tax) recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.6521 in 2012.
- How does Costa Rica rank for gini coefficient (before tax)?
- Costa Rica ranks 12th out of 113 countries with data for 2022.
- Is gini coefficient (before tax) rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 0.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Gini coefficient (before tax). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 12 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The Gini coefficient measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher inequality. Inequality is measured here in terms of income before taxes and benefits.