At One Place

Costa Rica

Costa Rica
Capital San José
51,100 km² · 5,152,950 people (2025) · Costa Rican colón

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.

The facts

Capital
San José
Area
51,100 km² — 19,730 sq mi
Population
5,152,950 (2025)
Density
100.8 people per km²
Currency
Costa Rican colón (CRC, ₡)
Official language
Spanish
Time zone
UTC-06:00
Calling code
+506
Drives on the
right
ISO codes
CR · CRI
Continent
North America

How it compares

By area
127 of 200
By population
127 of 200

Population is the only figure on this page that dates — it is a 2025 estimate and will drift. Area, capital, currency, languages, calling code and driving side change rarely or never.

Countries of a similar size

Country Area (km²) Population
Croatia 56,594 3,876,200
Bosnia and Herzegovina 51,197 3,140,095
Costa Rica ← 51,100 5,152,950
Slovakia 49,035 5,413,813
Dominican Republic 48,670 11,520,487

Common questions

What is the capital of Costa Rica?
San José
What currency does Costa Rica use?
The Costa Rican colón (CRC).
How big is Costa Rica?
51,100 km², or 19,730 square miles — 127 of 200 by area.
Which side of the road does Costa Rica drive on?
The right.

Related pages

Sources

  1. The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))
  2. World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (CC BY 4.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked