🇨🇷 Costa Rica Politics - Governance, Freedom & Democracy

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🇨🇷 Costa Rica CR / CRI #126

Nomad Score 60.0

Cities 31

Region Central American Integration System, Latin America, Hispanophone, Digital Nomad Hubs, Remote Work Friendly Countries, Coworking Hotspots, Nomad Visa Countries, Affordable Nomad Destinations, Nomad Retreats, North America, Americas, Central America, Developing Countries

Currency CRC

📊 GOVERNANCE AT A GLANCE

Government Unitary presidential republic

UN Member Yes

Independent Yes

CPI Score (2026) 56/100

Press Freedom (2025) 73.1/100 #36

Electoral Democracy (2025) 0.862

HDI 0.833

Regional Blocs CAIS

🏛 WORLD GOVERNANCE INDICATORS

Political Stability (2023) 84th pct

Rule of Law (2023) 60th pct

Corruption Control (2023) 73th pct

Govt Effectiveness (2023) 61th pct

Regulatory Quality (2023) 70th pct

Voice & Accountability (2023) 81th pct

Source: World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). Percentile rank among all countries (0=lowest, 100=highest).

🛡 SAFETY & SECURITY

Homicide Rate (2023) 17.8/100k

Traffic Deaths (2019) 14.8/100k

🏛 GOVERNMENT & LEADERS

Government Type Unitary presidential republic

Title	Name
President of Costa Rica	Rodrigo Chaves Robles
Vice President of Costa Rica	Mary Munive

💰 CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX

CPI Score (2026) 56 / 100

Interpretation Moderate corruption

Source: Transparency International / Corruption Insights API. Higher scores = less corruption.

📰 PRESS FREEDOM INDEX

Overall Score (2025) 73.1 / 100

Global Rank #36 / 180

Rank Change -10 vs previous year

RSF Zone Amériques

Political #76 50.0

Economic #28 61.7

Legal #10 85.0

Social #37 76.7

Safety #24 92.1

Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Higher scores = better press freedom.

📊 PRESS FREEDOM DIMENSIONS

Five dimensions of press freedom tracked over time. Higher = better.

🗳 DEMOCRACY INDEX

Electoral (2025) 0.862

Liberal 0.809

Participatory 0.606

Deliberative 0.787

Egalitarian 0.762

Source: V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy), CC-BY-SA. Scale: 0 (least democratic) to 1 (most democratic).

📋 PRESS FREEDOM HISTORICAL DATA

Year	Score	Rank	Political	Economic	Legal	Social	Safety
2025	73.1	36	50.0	61.7	85.0	76.7	92.1
2024	76.1	26	57.4	63.9	84.0	82.8	92.6
2023	80.2	23	65.9	70.6	85.9	88.0	90.6
2022	85.9	8	81.6	73.0	87.7	92.5	94.8
2021	91.2	5	-	-	-	-	89.0
2020	89.5	7	-	-	-	-	100.0
2019	87.8	10	-	-	-	-	41.0
2018	86.0	10	-	-	-	-	100.0
2017	88.1	6	-	-	-	-	100.0
2016	88.9	6	-	-	-	-	100.0
2015	87.7	16	-	-	-	-	100.0
2014	87.8	21	-	-	-	-	-
2013	87.9	18	-	-	-	-	-
2012	-2.3	19	-	-	-	-	-
2010	8.1	29	-	-	-	-	-
2009	8.0	30	-	-	-	-	-
2008	5.1	22	-	-	-	-	-
2007	6.5	21	-	-	-	-	-
2006	6.7	29	-	-	-	-	-
2005	8.5	41	-	-	-	-	-

Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index