Poverty: Share of population living on less than $40 a day in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Poverty: Share of population living on less than $40 a day was 74.3% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Poverty: Share of population living on less than $40 a day in Costa Rica, 1981–2025
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2025, poverty: share of population living on less than $40 a day in Costa Rica stood at 74.3%. That is the lowest value across all 39 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 3.9% on the previous year and down 9.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, poverty: share of population living on less than $40 a day in Costa Rica peaked at 100.0% in 1986 and was at its lowest, 74.3%, in 2025.
That places Costa Rica 81st out of 120 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 39 years of available data.
Poverty: Share of population living on less than $40 a day in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 99.6% | — |
| 1986 | 100.0% | +0.4% |
| 1989 | 97.8% | -2.2% |
| 1990 | 97.4% | -0.4% |
| 1991 | 97.9% | +0.6% |
| 1992 | 97.7% | -0.3% |
| 1993 | 96.2% | -1.5% |
| 1994 | 94.9% | -1.3% |
| 1995 | 95.8% | +1.0% |
| 1996 | 95.7% | -0.1% |
| 1997 | 95.6% | -0.2% |
| 1998 | 93.8% | -1.8% |
| 1999 | 93.8% | -0.0% |
| 2000 | 94.1% | +0.3% |
| 2001 | 88.8% | -5.6% |
| 2002 | 88.8% | +0.0% |
| 2003 | 88.7% | -0.2% |
| 2004 | 90.4% | +2.0% |
| 2005 | 89.6% | -0.9% |
| 2006 | 89.0% | -0.6% |
| 2007 | 87.5% | -1.7% |
| 2008 | 86.8% | -0.9% |
| 2009 | 84.9% | -2.1% |
| 2010 | 83.8% | -1.3% |
| 2011 | 82.9% | -1.2% |
| 2012 | 81.5% | -1.6% |
| 2013 | 80.3% | -1.5% |
| 2014 | 81.9% | +2.0% |
| 2015 | 81.9% | -0.0% |
| 2016 | 81.4% | -0.6% |
| 2017 | 80.4% | -1.1% |
| 2018 | 80.9% | +0.5% |
| 2019 | 80.8% | -0.0% |
| 2020 | 84.0% | +3.9% |
| 2021 | 81.6% | -2.8% |
| 2022 | 82.0% | +0.4% |
| 2023 | 80.0% | -2.4% |
| 2024 | 77.4% | -3.3% |
| 2025 | 74.3% | -3.9% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 99.1% | 97.8% | 100.0% | 3 |
| 1990s | 95.9% | 93.8% | 97.9% | 10 |
| 2000s | 88.9% | 84.9% | 94.1% | 10 |
| 2010s | 81.6% | 80.3% | 83.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 79.9% | 74.3% | 84.0% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
More poverty & inequality data for Costa Rica
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 10 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ 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 poverty: share of population living on less than $40 a day in Costa Rica?
- Poverty: share of population living on less than $40 a day in Costa Rica was 74.3% in 2025, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest poverty: share of population living on less than $40 a day recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 100.0% in 1986.
- What is the lowest poverty: share of population living on less than $40 a day recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 74.3% in 2025.
- How does Costa Rica rank for poverty: share of population living on less than $40 a day?
- Costa Rica ranks 81st out of 120 countries with data for 2025.
- Is poverty: share of population living on less than $40 a day rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is down 9.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Poverty: Share of population living on less than $40 a day. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 39 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage of population living in households with an income or consumption below $40 per day.