Reduction in income inequality before and after tax in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Reduction in income inequality before and after tax was 12.6% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Reduction in income inequality before and after tax in Costa Rica, 2010–2024
Source: OECD (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for reduction in income inequality before and after tax in Costa Rica is 12.6%, measured in 2024.
That represents a change of up 4.2% on the previous year and up 75.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, reduction in income inequality before and after tax in Costa Rica peaked at 13.7% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 6.5%, in 2010.
Costa Rica ranks 37th of 39 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 15 years of available data.
Reduction in income inequality before and after tax in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6.5% | — |
| 2011 | 6.8% | +3.7% |
| 2012 | 6.7% | -1.1% |
| 2013 | 6.8% | +1.6% |
| 2014 | 7.2% | +5.4% |
| 2015 | 8.3% | +16.0% |
| 2016 | 9.2% | +10.9% |
| 2017 | 9.4% | +1.6% |
| 2018 | 9.8% | +4.5% |
| 2019 | 10.2% | +3.7% |
| 2020 | 13.7% | +34.8% |
| 2021 | 11.5% | -15.7% |
| 2022 | 11.6% | +0.5% |
| 2023 | 12.1% | +3.9% |
| 2024 | 12.6% | +4.2% |
Costa Rica compared with similar countries
- Costa Rica's 12.6% is below the median for high income countries, which is 34.3%, 37% of the median. (36 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Reduction in income inequality before and after tax in Costa Rica changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +34.8% | 10.2% | 13.7% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 8.1% | 6.5% | 10.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 12.3% | 11.5% | 13.7% | 5 |
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 reduction in income inequality before and after tax in Costa Rica?
- Reduction in income inequality before and after tax in Costa Rica was 12.6% in 2024, according to OECD (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest reduction in income inequality before and after tax recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 13.7% in 2020.
- What is the lowest reduction in income inequality before and after tax recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 6.5% in 2010.
- How does Costa Rica rank for reduction in income inequality before and after tax?
- Costa Rica ranks 37th out of 39 countries with data for 2024.
- Is reduction in income inequality before and after tax rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 75.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from OECD (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Reduction in income inequality before and after tax. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 15 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
This is the percentage difference between the Gini coefficient before taxes and benefits and the Gini coefficient after taxes and benefits.