Demographics of Costa Rica

Demographics of Costa Rica
Costa Rica population pyramid in 2020
Population	5,153,957[1][2]
Birth rate	10.2 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate	5.6 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Fertility rate	1.29 children per woman (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	18.71%
15–64 years	68.44%
65 and over	12.85%
Nationality
Nationality	Costa Rican
Major ethnic	White (65.8%)[3] Spanish (N/D) Italian (N/D) Others (N/D)
Minor ethnic	Multiracial (24.5%)[4] Mestizo (17.8%) Mulatto (6.7%) Indigenous (2.4%)[5] African (1.1%)[6] East Asian (0.2%)[7] Chinese (N/D) Others (N/D) Others (6.0%)
Language
Official	Spanish
Spoken	Spanish, English, Mekatelyu, BriBri, Patois

This is a demographic article about Costa Rica's population, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.

According to the United Nations, Costa Rica had an estimated population of 5,153,957 people as of 2021. White and Mestizos make up 83.4% of the population, 7% are black people (including mixed race), 2.4% Amerindians, 0.2% Chinese and 7% other/none.^[8]

In 2010, just under 3% of the population was of African descent. These are called Afro-Costa Ricans or West Indians and are English-speaking descendants of 19th-century black Jamaican immigrant workers. Another 1% is composed of those of Chinese origin, and less than 1% are West Asian, mainly of Lebanese descent but also Palestinians. The 2011 Census provided the following data: whites and mestizos make up 83.4% of the population, 7% are black people (including mixed race), 2.4% Amerindians, 0.2% Chinese, and 7% other/none.^[8]

There is also a community of North American retirees from the United States and Canada, followed by fairly large numbers of European Union expatriates (chiefly Scandinavians and from Germany) come to retire as well, and Australians.^[9] Immigration to Costa Rica made up 9% of the population in 2012. This included permanent settlers as well as migrants who were hoping to reach the U.S.^[10] In 2015, there were some 420,000 immigrants in Costa Rica^[11] and the number of asylum seekers (mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) rose to more than 110,000.^[12] An estimated 10% of the Costa Rican population in 2014 was made up of Nicaraguans.^[13]

The indigenous population today numbers about 60,000 (just over 1% of the population), with some Miskito and Garifuna (a population of mixed African and Carib Amerindian descent) living in the coastal regions.

Costa Rica's emigration is the smallest in the Caribbean Basin and is among the smallest in the Americas. By 2015 about just 133,185 (2.77%) of the country's people live in another country as immigrants. The main destination countries are the United States (85,924), Nicaragua (10,772), Panama (7,760), Canada (5,039), Spain (3,339), Mexico (2,464), Germany (1,891), Italy (1,508), Guatemala (1,162) and Venezuela (1,127).^[14]