Costa Rica

Costa Rica (the Republic of Costa Rica) is a Central American country that borders Nicaragua and Panama, with coasts on the Caribbean and the Pacific. It has around five million people on nearly 51,180 km², and its capital, San José, has about 350,000 residents. It became independent in 1821 and formally declared independence from the Federal Republic of Central America in 1847.

The 2026 edition of the World Happiness Report, published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford with Gallup and the UN SDSN, ranks Costa Rica No. 4, with a life evaluation score of 7.439. In the previous edition it was No. 6 with 7.274.

In the late 19th century Costa Rica introduced a liberal constitution and held Central America's first free and fair national election. After a short civil war in 1948 it adopted its current constitution in 1949, which granted universal suffrage and permanently abolished the army. Wikipedia describes it as a presidential republic with a robust and stable democracy.

Sources of this text: Wikipedia · Wellbeing Research Centre Oxford / Gallup / UN SDSN