During 2024, Costa Rica recorded almost 43,000 crimes. The most common ones being theft with 14,937, robbery with 9,759, and burglary with 9,545 cases. In 2022, Costa Rica registered 611 homicide victims.

During 2024, Costa Rica recorded almost ****** crimes and around ** percent of them were registered in the province of San Jose. In 2024, Costa Rica registered under *** homicide victims.

In 2024, around 16.6 people were murdered per 100,000 inhabitants in Costa Rica. During the years prior to 2023, the homicide rate remained fairly stable, with figures varying between 9.5 and 12.1 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Historical dataset showing Costa Rica crime rate per 100K population by year from 1990 to 2021.

11,2 (cases per 100,000 population) in 2020. “Intentional homicide” is defined as unlawful death purposefully inflicted on a person by another person

During 2023, only ** percent of the homicides commited in Costa Rica were not related to the organized crime, whereas ** percent were related to it. It's the highest rate ever recorded in the Central American country.

In 2020, more than **** thousand property crimes were reported to the police in Costa Rica, a steep decrease from the more than ** thousand cases registered in 2019. Burglaries, which include break-ins to homes, commercial properties, and vehicles with the purpose of stealing other goods, were the most common type of property crime in 2020, with almost ** thousand cases.

During 2024, Costa Rica recorded almost ****** crimes and around ** percent of the victims were male. In 2024, Costa Rica registered under *** homicide victims.

The average for 2017 based on 79 countries was 105 robberies per 100,000 people. The highest value was in Costa Rica: 1587 robberies per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Oman: 1 robberies per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 2003 to 2017. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Costa Rica was the Central American country with the highest theft rate by far. According to the latest data, it was estimated that approximately *** thefts were reported per 100,000 inhabitants. Panama registered ****** such crime reports per 100,000, the second highest figure.

In 2024, the highest homicide rate among 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries surveyed was in Haiti, with around 62 murders committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Trinidad and Tobago came in second, with a homicide rate of 46, while Honduras ranked seventh, with 25. In the same year, the lowest rate was recorded in El Salvador, with a homicide rate of 1.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. A violence-ridden region Violence and crime are some of the most pressing problems affecting Latin American society nowadays. More than 40 of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world are located in this region, as well as one of the twenty countries with the least peace in the world according to the Global Peace Index. Despite governments’ large spending on security and high imprisonment rates, drug and weapon trafficking, organized crime, and gangs have turned violence into an epidemic that affects the whole region and a solution to this issue appears to be hardly attainable. The cost of violence in Mexico Mexico stands out as an example of the great cost that violence inflicts upon a country, since beyond claiming human lives, it also affects everyday life and has a negative impact on the economy. Mexicans have a high perceived level of insecurity, as they do not only fear becoming victims of homicide, but also of other common crimes, such as assault or rape. Such fear prevents people from performing everyday activities, for instance, going out at night, taking a taxi or going to the movies or the theater. Furthermore, the economic toll of violence in Mexico is more than considerable. For example, the cost of homicide and violent crime amounted to 2099.8 and 1778.1 billion Mexican pesos in 2023, respectively.

Costa Rica: Thefts per 100,000 people: Pour cet indicateur, The UN office on drugs and crime fournit des données pour la Costa Rica de 2003 à 2013. La valeur moyenne pour Costa Rica pendant cette période était de 333 thefts per 100,000 people avec un minimum de 167 thefts per 100,000 people en 2003 et un maximum de 697 thefts per 100,000 people en 2013.

A survey conducted in 2023 showed that almost 5.4 percent of respondents in Costa Rica had been asked or had to pay a bribe in interactions with police officers. Costa Rica is one of the Latin American countries with the lowest bribery victimization rate.

During the timeframe displayed, the highest number of femicide registered in Costa Rica was in 2011 with ** murders. In contrast, the lowest number was in 2019 with ** cases.

In 2024, 2,869 people were murdered in Guatemala. This is the lowest death toll of the last three years. Guatemala still has higher homicide rates than other Central American countries such as Panama and Costa Rica.

The Central American nation with the highest prison occupancy rate, as of April 2025, was Guatemala, when the level stood at almost 300 percent of its official capacity. Nicaragua followed with 177.6 percent of occupancy level. The lowest prison occupancy rate was found in Belize, which, with 67 percent, was the only country whose prison system was not overcrowded. That year, El Salvador had the highest prison population rate in Central America.

In 2022, Costa Rica had the highest burglary rate worldwide, with ***** occurrences per 100,000 inhabitants. Other countries with the highest burglary rate were Sweden, Luxembourg and Dominica.

Brazil led the list with a total of 4,390 kidnapping cases in the latest available data. Ecuador followed with 1,246 occurrences in 2022. On the flip side, there was only three reported kidnapping in the Antigua and Barbuda during that year. Homicides, another recurrent problem in Latin America Among the region's prevalent offenses, intentional homicide emerged as one of the main concerns in the region. Nonetheless, the rates vary among the different countries. Brazil leads the ranking of the most number of homicides in Latin America, as well as being the most populated country by far. On the other hand, Jamaica holds the top position according to the homicide rate, reporting nearly 61 instances per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. Nevertheless, even with these varying homicide rates across countries, four out of five of the world's most perilous urban centers are situated in Mexico, with Colima leading the pack at a 2024 homicide rate of 140 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Cost of violence in Central America Following criminal acts, the responsibility for addressing the consequences falls squarely on the government, causing government expenditure to surge, called the cost of violence. Notably, Panama is more severely impacted in Central America, with the economic cost of violence per inhabitant accounting for over 3,771 U.S. dollars in 2022. In terms of a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), El Salvador takes the first place with a value of 15 percent of their GDP.