In 2023, the share of population living on less than 3.2 U.S. dollars per day in Costa Rica decreased by 0.3 percentage points (-9.09 percent) compared to 2022. This marks the lowest share during the observed period. The poverty headcount ratio refers to the share of the total population living on less than an average of 3.2 dollars per day. 2011 international dollars and purchasing power parity (PPP) have been used to allow comparisons over extended periods without the influence of monetary inflation.Find more key insights for the share of population living on less than 3.2 U.S. dollars per day in countries like Honduras and El Salvador.

As of July 2024, in Costa Rica, the poverty rate among the population has been higher in the regions of Brunca and the Caribbean Huetar, with around 30 percent of the people in each region experiencing poverty.

Over the last decade in Costa Rica, the share of households living in poverty conditions has consistently remained higher in rural areas. As of 2024, it reached its lowest value, with 22.1 percent of the households in these conditions.

Costa Rica CR: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $1.90 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data was reported at 2.100 % in 2020. This records an increase from the previous number of 1.000 % for 2019. Costa Rica CR: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $1.90 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 4.500 % from Dec 1981 (Median) to 2020, with 34 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 25.200 % in 1981 and a record low of 1.000 % in 2019. Costa Rica CR: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $1.90 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Costa Rica – Table CR.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $1.90 a day at 2011 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.; ; World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see http://pip.worldbank.org.; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from around 2000 household surveys across 169 countries. See the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) for details (www.pip.worldbank.org).

0,90 (%) in 2023. Population below $1.9 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $1.9 a day at 2005 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

Costa Rica CR: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $5.50 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data was reported at 16.100 % in 2020. This records an increase from the previous number of 10.600 % for 2019. Costa Rica CR: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $5.50 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 22.650 % from Dec 1981 (Median) to 2020, with 34 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 66.200 % in 1981 and a record low of 9.900 % in 2017. Costa Rica CR: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $5.50 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Costa Rica – Table CR.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Poverty headcount ratio at $5.50 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $5.50 a day at 2011 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.; ; World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see http://pip.worldbank.org.; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from around 2000 household surveys across 169 countries. See the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) for details (www.pip.worldbank.org).

3,00 (%) in 2023. Population below $3.1 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $3.1 a day at 2005 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

Costa Rica CR: Increase in Poverty Gap at $1.90: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: USD data was reported at 0.033 USD in 2012. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.050 USD for 2004. Costa Rica CR: Increase in Poverty Gap at $1.90: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: USD data is updated yearly, averaging 0.050 USD from Dec 1992 (Median) to 2012, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.050 USD in 1992 and a record low of 0.033 USD in 2012. Costa Rica CR: Increase in Poverty Gap at $1.90: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: USD data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Costa Rica – Table CR.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Increase in poverty gap at $1.90 ($ 2011 PPP) poverty line due to out-of-pocket health care expenditure, expressed in US dollars (2011 PPP). The poverty gap increase due to out-of-pocket health spending is one way to measure how much out-of-pocket health spending pushes people below or further below the poverty line (the difference in the poverty gap due to out-of-pocket health spending being included or excluded from the measure of household welfare). This difference corresponds to the total out-of-pocket health spending for households that are already below the poverty line, to the amount that exceeds the shortfall between the poverty line and total consumption for households that are impoverished by out-of-pocket health spending and to zero for households whose consumption is above the poverty line after accounting for out-of-pocket health spending.;World Health Organization and World Bank. 2019. Global Monitoring Report on Financial Protection in Health 2019. NOTE: This indicator has been discontinued as of December 2021. Please see the following indicators: SH.UHC.FBP1.ZS, SH.UHC.FBP2.ZS, SH.UHC.FBP1.TO and SH.UHC.FBP2.TO.;Weighted average;

Poverty gap at $3.2 a day of Costa Rica sank by 23.08% from 1.3 % in 2018 to 1.0 % in 2019. Since the 7.14% jump in 2015, poverty gap at $3.2 a day plummeted by 33.33% in 2019. Poverty gap at $3.20 a day (2011 PPP) is the mean shortfall in income or consumption from the poverty line $3.20 a day (counting the nonpoor as having zero shortfall), expressed as a percentage of the poverty line. This measure reflects the depth of poverty as well as its incidence.

Throughout the time period shown in Costa Rica, the share of the households living in extreme poverty conditions has decreased, reaching the lowest value during the pandemic in 2024, at 4.8 percent.

Out of all OECD countries, Cost Rica had the highest poverty rate as of 2022, at over 20 percent. The country with the second highest poverty rate was the United States, with 18 percent. On the other end of the scale, Czechia had the lowest poverty rate at 6.4 percent, followed by Denmark.

The significance of the OECD

The OECD, or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, was founded in 1948 and is made up of 38 member countries. It seeks to improve the economic and social well-being of countries and their populations. The OECD looks at issues that impact people’s everyday lives and proposes policies that can help to improve the quality of life.

Poverty in the United States

In 2022, there were nearly 38 million people living below the poverty line in the U.S.. About one fourth of the Native American population lived in poverty in 2022, the most out of any ethnicity. In addition, the rate was higher among young women than young men. It is clear that poverty in the United States is a complex, multi-faceted issue that affects millions of people and is even more complex to solve.

The index provides the only comprehensive measure available for non-income poverty, which has become a critical underpinning of the SDGs. Critically the MPI comprises variables that are already reported under the Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) and Multi-Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) The resources subnational multidimensional poverty data from the data tables published by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford. The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) measures multidimensional poverty in over 100 developing countries, using internationally comparable datasets and is updated annually. The measure captures the severe deprivations that each person faces at the same time using information from 10 indicators, which are grouped into three equally weighted dimensions: health, education, and living standards. The global MPI methodology is detailed in Alkire, Kanagaratnam & Suppa (2023)

The aim of the Human Development Report is to stimulate global, regional and national policy-relevant discussions on issues pertinent to human development. Accordingly, the data in the Report require the highest standards of data quality, consistency, international comparability and transparency. The Human Development Report Office (HDRO) fully subscribes to the Principles governing international statistical activities.

The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. The HDI can also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. These contrasts can stimulate debate about government policy priorities. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living. The HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices for each of the three dimensions.

The 2019 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) data shed light on the number of people experiencing poverty at regional, national and subnational levels, and reveal inequalities across countries and among the poor themselves.Jointly developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford, the 2019 global MPI offers data for 101 countries, covering 76 percent of the global population. The MPI provides a comprehensive and in-depth picture of global poverty – in all its dimensions – and monitors progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 – to end poverty in all its forms. It also provides policymakers with the data to respond to the call of Target 1.2, which is to ‘reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women, and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definition'.

0,4 (%) in 2019. Poverty gap at $1.90 a day (2011 PPP) is the mean shortfall in income or consumption from the poverty line $1.90 a day (counting the nonpoor as having zero shortfall), expressed as a percentage of the poverty line. This measure reflects the depth of poverty as well as its incidence. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

This table contains subnational multidimensional poverty data from the data tables published by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford. The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) measures multidimensional poverty in over 100 developing countries, using internationally comparable datasets and is updated annually. The measure captures the severe deprivations that each person faces at the same time using information from 10 indicators, which are grouped into three equally weighted dimensions: health, education, and living standards. The global MPI methodology is detailed in Alkire, Kanagaratnam & Suppa (2023).

10,6 (%) in 2019. Poverty headcount ratio at $5.50 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $5.50 a day at 2011 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

Among the OECD countries, Costa Rica had the highest share of children living in poverty, reaching 28.5 percent in 2022. Türkiye followed with a share of 22 percent of children living in poverty, while 20.5 percent of children in Spain, Chile, and the United States did the same. On the other hand, only three percent of children in Finland were living in poverty.

3,3 (%) in 2019. Poverty gap at $5.50 a day (2011 PPP) is the mean shortfall in income or consumption from the poverty line $5.50 a day (counting the nonpoor as having zero shortfall), expressed as a percentage of the poverty line. This measure reflects the depth of poverty as well as its incidence.

Costa Rica CR: Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.10: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: USD data was reported at 0.004 USD in 2012. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.002 USD for 2004. Costa Rica CR: Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.10: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: USD data is updated yearly, averaging 0.003 USD from Dec 1992 (Median) to 2012, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.004 USD in 2012 and a record low of 0.002 USD in 2004. Costa Rica CR: Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.10: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: USD data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Costa Rica – Table CR.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Increase in poverty gap at $3.10 ($ 2011 PPP) poverty line due to out-of-pocket health care expenditure, expressed in US dollars (2011 PPP); ; Wagstaff et al. Progress on Impoverishing Health Spending: Results for 122 Countries. A Retrospective Observational Study, Lancet Global Health 2017.; Weighted average;

Costa Rica CR: Number of People Pushed Below the $3.10: Poverty Line by Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP data was reported at 20,000.000 Person in 2012. This records an increase from the previous number of 9,000.000 Person for 2004. Costa Rica CR: Number of People Pushed Below the $3.10: Poverty Line by Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP data is updated yearly, averaging 14,000.000 Person from Dec 1992 (Median) to 2012, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 20,000.000 Person in 2012 and a record low of 9,000.000 Person in 2004. Costa Rica CR: Number of People Pushed Below the $3.10: Poverty Line by Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Costa Rica – Table CR.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Number of people pushed below the $3.10 ($ 2011 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure; ; Wagstaff et al. Progress on Impoverishing Health Spending: Results for 122 Countries. A Retrospective Observational Study, Lancet Global Health 2017.; Sum;