---
title: "Costa Rica vs Russia — area, population, currency"
description: "Costa Rica is 51,100 km² with 5,152,950 people; Russia is 17,098,242 km² with 143,513,328. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/costa-rica-vs-russia/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Costa Rica vs Russia

**Costa Rica vs Russia: Russia is larger; Russia has more people**

51,100 km² vs 17,098,242 km² · 5,152,950 vs 143,513,328

Russia is 335 times larger than Costa Rica — 17,098,242 against 51,100 km². Russia is 28 times more populous than Costa Rica — 143,513,328 against 5,152,950 people.

## Side by side

|  | Costa Rica | Russia |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | San José | Moscow |
| Area | 51,100 km² | 17,098,242 km² |
| Population | 5,152,950 (2025) | 143,513,328 (2025) |
| Density | 100.8 /km² | 8.4 /km² |
| Currency | Costa Rican colón (CRC) | Russian ruble (RUB) |
| Official languages | Spanish | Russian |
| Time zones | UTC-06:00 | UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00, UTC+04:00, UTC+05:00, UTC+06:00, UTC+07:00, UTC+08:00, UTC+09:00, UTC+10:00, UTC+11:00, UTC+12:00 |
| Calling code | +506 | +7 |
| Drives on the | right | right |
| Continent | North America | Europe |
| ISO codes | CR / CRI | RU / RUS |

## Population density

Costa Rica is 12 times more densely populated than Russia — 101 against 8 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

- Different currencies: the Costa Rican colón and the Russian ruble.
- Russia spans 11 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
- Different continents — North America and Europe.

## 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.

## Russia

The largest country in the world by land area, close to twice the size of the next one, and it spans eleven time zones. Lake Baikal in Siberia is the deepest lake on Earth at 1,642 m and holds roughly a fifth of the world's unfrozen fresh water — more than all five North American Great Lakes combined. Russia and China each border fourteen countries, more than any other state.

> 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 Russia?

Russia is larger — 17,098,242 km² against 51,100 km².

### Which has more people, Costa Rica or Russia?

Russia, with 143,513,328 against 5,152,950.

### What is the time difference between Costa Rica and Russia?

Costa Rica is UTC-06:00 and Russia is UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00, UTC+04:00, UTC+05:00, UTC+06:00, UTC+07:00, UTC+08:00, UTC+09:00, UTC+10:00, UTC+11:00, UTC+12:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [Costa Rica](https://atoneplace.net/country/costa-rica/)
- [Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country/russia/)
- [India vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-russia/)
- [China vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-russia/)
- [China vs Costa Rica](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-costa-rica/)
- [Japan vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-russia/)
- [Canada vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-russia/)
- [Canada vs Costa Rica](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-costa-rica/)
- [Australia vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/australia-vs-russia/)
- [Australia vs Costa Rica](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/australia-vs-costa-rica/)
- [New Zealand vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/new-zealand-vs-russia/)
- [France vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/france-vs-russia/)
- [Germany vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/germany-vs-russia/)
- [Italy vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/italy-vs-russia/)

## 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]