Poverty: Share of population living on less than $30 a day … 2011 in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Poverty: Share of population living on less than $30 a day … 2011 was 76.7% in 2023. ▼ Falling
Poverty: Share of population living on less than $30 a day (2011 prices) in Costa Rica, 1981–2023
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2023, poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day (2011 prices) in Costa Rica stood at 76.7%. That is the lowest value across all 37 years on record.
That represents a change of down 3.0% on the previous year and down 0.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day (2011 prices) in Costa Rica peaked at 100.0% in 1986 and was at its lowest, 76.7%, in 2023.
Costa Rica ranks 79th of 119 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 37 years of available data.
Poverty: Share of population living on less than $30 a day … 2011 in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 99.3% | — |
| 1986 | 100.0% | +0.7% |
| 1989 | 97.0% | -3.0% |
| 1990 | 96.6% | -0.5% |
| 1991 | 97.4% | +0.9% |
| 1992 | 97.0% | -0.4% |
| 1993 | 95.2% | -1.8% |
| 1994 | 93.8% | -1.5% |
| 1995 | 94.6% | +0.9% |
| 1996 | 94.6% | +0.0% |
| 1997 | 94.5% | -0.2% |
| 1998 | 92.4% | -2.2% |
| 1999 | 92.6% | +0.2% |
| 2000 | 92.7% | +0.1% |
| 2001 | 87.4% | -5.7% |
| 2002 | 87.2% | -0.2% |
| 2003 | 86.9% | -0.4% |
| 2004 | 88.7% | +2.1% |
| 2005 | 87.6% | -1.2% |
| 2006 | 87.2% | -0.5% |
| 2007 | 85.2% | -2.3% |
| 2008 | 84.7% | -0.6% |
| 2009 | 82.7% | -2.4% |
| 2010 | 81.5% | -1.4% |
| 2011 | 80.1% | -1.7% |
| 2012 | 78.9% | -1.4% |
| 2013 | 77.4% | -1.9% |
| 2014 | 79.3% | +2.4% |
| 2015 | 79.1% | -0.2% |
| 2016 | 78.2% | -1.1% |
| 2017 | 77.9% | -0.5% |
| 2018 | 77.9% | +0.1% |
| 2019 | 78.1% | +0.2% |
| 2020 | 81.4% | +4.2% |
| 2021 | 78.8% | -3.1% |
| 2022 | 79.1% | +0.3% |
| 2023 | 76.7% | -3.0% |
Costa Rica compared with similar countries
- Costa Rica's 76.7% is above the median for high income countries, which is 27.5%, 2.8× the median. (41 countries reporting)
- Costa Rica's 76.7% is below the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 92.0%, 83% of the median. (19 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 98.8% | 97.0% | 100.0% | 3 |
| 1990s | 94.9% | 92.4% | 97.4% | 10 |
| 2000s | 87.0% | 82.7% | 92.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 78.8% | 77.4% | 81.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 79.0% | 76.7% | 81.4% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
More poverty & inequality data for Costa Rica
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 10 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ 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 $30 a day (2011 prices) in Costa Rica?
- Poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day (2011 prices) in Costa Rica was 76.7% in 2023, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day (2011 prices) 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 $30 a day (2011 prices) recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 76.7% in 2023.
- How does Costa Rica rank for poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day (2011 prices)?
- Costa Rica ranks 79th out of 119 countries with data for 2023.
- Is poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day (2011 prices) rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.9%. 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 (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Poverty: Share of population living on less than $30 a day (2011 prices). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 37 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 $30 per day.