---
title: "Costa Rica vs New Zealand — area, population, currency"
description: "Costa Rica is 51,100 km² with 5,152,950 people; New Zealand is 268,838 km² with 5,324,700. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/costa-rica-vs-new-zealand/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Costa Rica vs New Zealand

**Costa Rica vs New Zealand: New Zealand is larger; New Zealand has more people**

51,100 km² vs 268,838 km² · 5,152,950 vs 5,324,700

New Zealand is 5.3 times larger than Costa Rica — 268,838 against 51,100 km². New Zealand is slightly more populous, by 3.3% — 5,324,700 against 5,152,950 people.

## Side by side

|  | Costa Rica | New Zealand |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | San José | Wellington |
| Area | 51,100 km² | 268,838 km² |
| Population | 5,152,950 (2025) | 5,324,700 (2025) |
| Density | 100.8 /km² | 19.8 /km² |
| Currency | Costa Rican colón (CRC) | New Zealand dollar (NZD) |
| Official languages | Spanish | English, Māori, New Zealand Sign Language |
| Time zones | UTC-06:00 | UTC+12:00, UTC+12:45 |
| Calling code | +506 | +64 |
| Drives on the | right | left |
| Continent | North America | Oceania |
| ISO codes | CR / CRI | NZ / NZL |

## Population density

Costa Rica is 5.1 times more densely populated than New Zealand — 101 against 20 people per km². Density is where area and population interact, and it often reverses the impression the headline figures give — a large country with a small population can feel emptier than a small crowded one by an enormous margin.

## Practical differences

- They drive on opposite sides — Costa Rica on the right, New Zealand on the left.
- Different currencies: the Costa Rican colón and the New Zealand dollar.
- New Zealand spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
- Different continents — North America and Oceania.

## Costa Rica

Costa Rica covers about 0.03 percent of the Earth's surface but holds roughly five percent of its known species. More than a quarter of the country is protected, forest cover has roughly doubled since the 1980s, and it runs on close to 100 percent renewable electricity most years. It has around sixty volcanoes, six of them active.

## New Zealand

Two main islands and around 600 smaller ones, roughly 1,600 km long. New Zealand broke away from Gondwana about 80 million years ago and had no land mammals except bats until people arrived, which is why so many of its birds are flightless. The Southern Alps run most of the South Island and reach 3,724 m at Aoraki / Mount Cook.

> Neutral facts only. Nothing here addresses politics, government, economics or which country is preferable in any respect — population is the one figure that dates, and it carries its year.

## Common questions

### Is Costa Rica bigger than New Zealand?

New Zealand is larger — 268,838 km² against 51,100 km².

### Which has more people, Costa Rica or New Zealand?

New Zealand, with 5,324,700 against 5,152,950.

### What is the time difference between Costa Rica and New Zealand?

Costa Rica is UTC-06:00 and New Zealand is UTC+12:00, UTC+12:45. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [Costa Rica](https://atoneplace.net/country/costa-rica/)
- [New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country/new-zealand/)
- [India vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-new-zealand/)
- [China vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-new-zealand/)
- [China vs Costa Rica](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-costa-rica/)
- [Japan vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-new-zealand/)
- [Canada vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-new-zealand/)
- [Canada vs Costa Rica](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-costa-rica/)
- [Australia vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/australia-vs-new-zealand/)
- [Australia vs Costa Rica](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/australia-vs-costa-rica/)
- [New Zealand vs United States](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/new-zealand-vs-united-states/)
- [New Zealand vs United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/new-zealand-vs-united-kingdom/)
- [New Zealand vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/new-zealand-vs-russia/)
- [New Zealand vs Spain](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/new-zealand-vs-spain/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/) [CC BY 4.0]