Costa Rica Area Code

+506 is the dialing code for Costa Rica.

Costa Rica stands out as a peaceful and relatively prosperous oasis in the otherwise unstable Central America. The army was abolished in 1949 and democracy has since been unharmed at the same time as a welfare state has emerged. For a long time the country was an agricultural economy with coffee and bananas as the most important crops. Nowadays, electronic goods dominate exports. Costa Rica has a well-developed system of national parks and attracts many eco-tourists.

  • Abbreviationfinder: Brief profiles of Costa Rica, including geography, history, politics, economics as well as common acronyms about this country.

Geography and climate

Costa Rica Area Code

Costa Rica is part of the Central American headland connecting North with South America. The country has long coastlines to both the Caribbean and Pacific. The distance between the coasts is only between 12 and 30 kilometers, but the road goes over high mountain ranges that run through the country from the northwest to the southeast.

The highest mountain peaks reach higher than 3,500 meters above sea level. Many of them are volcanoes and several are visibly active. Earthquakes are common, the last major earthquake occurred in 2012.

In the middle of the country is a fertile high plateau, Meseta Central, surrounded by mountains. Here, the capital of San José is at an altitude of 1,200 meters. Close by are the three following largest cities, all of which are also provincial capitals: Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia. Together, they form a relatively densely populated region with a total of over two million residents, or half the country’s population.

Country Facts

Geography

Cultivated land 37.1 %
Land area 51100 km 2

Population and health

Population development 1.22 m
Urban population (Urbanization) 76.8 %
Death rate 4.55 per 1000 residents
Life expectancy: Women 81.19 years
Life expectancy: Men 75.75 years
Birth rate 15.91 births per 1000 residents
HDI index 0.766
Population 4814144
Infant mortality 8.46 deaths / 1000 births

Population Graph Source: Countryaah.com

Energy

Electricity, production 10050 million kWh
Energy consumption per resident 1015.7 kg. oil per resident
Natural gas, production million cubic meters
Crude oil, production million tons

Infrastructure

Internet users 50.9 per 100 residents
Mobile subscriptions 149 per 100 residents
Passenger cars 177 per 1000 residents

Business and economics

Unemployment 8.7% of the workforce
GDP 15500 per resident
Primary occupations 14 %
Secondary profession 22 %
Tertiary professions 64 %

In the north and along the east coast, lowland is spreading.

Much of the forest was previously demolished to give way to agriculture and livestock management, but deforestation has slowed down and the trend has reversed. In the early 1980s, only a quarter of the country was forested, but today half of the country is wooded. There are both tropical rainforest, tropical dry forest and cloud forest. One quarter of the country is in some form nature protected. In Costa Rica there is an enormous biodiversity – about five percent of the world’s species are found in the country which is slightly larger than Denmark.

The whole of Costa Rica is in the tropical zone but the weather and climate vary greatly depending on the elevation above the sea. At the coasts it is hot and humid. On the high plateau it can be hot during the day but sometimes cool during the rainy season and in the evenings. High up in the mountains it can get pretty cold.

The rainy season lasts from May to November, and the dry season from December to April. On the Caribbean coast it is always humid, where it rains about 300 days a year and most of all in December.

FACTS – GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

Surface

51 100 km2 (2018)

Time

Swedish –7 hours

Adjacent country (s)

Nicaragua, Panama

Capital with number of residents

San José 335,000

Other major cities

Alajuela 255,000, Cartago 148,000, Heredia 124,000, Puntarenas 115,000, Limón 94,000 (Census 2011)

Highest mountain

Cerro Chirripó (3,820 m asl)

Largest lake

Arenal (artificial)

Average Precipitation / month

San José 5 mm (Feb), 300 mm (Sept)

Average / day

27 °C (lowland), 22 °C (high plateau)