Matchup file

Costa Rica vs Nicaragua

110 shared metrics.

Costa RicaLeads in 73

vs110 shared

NicaraguaLeads in 37

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Costa Rica leads by 36 metrics. Use the same instinct in a quick real-data brawl.

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Country briefing

What matters for both sides

Short real-world notes so the comparison reads like more than a stat strip.

Costa Rica

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Republic of Costa Rica.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

Costa Rica reached 300 days of 100% renewable electricity generation in 2017.

ICE

Nicaragua

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Republic of Nicaragua.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

Lake Nicaragua is freshwater, but its famous lake sharks are bull sharks linked to the sea by a river.

UNL

Analysis

Costa Rica leads in 73 of 110 shared metrics, while Nicaragua leads in 37.

Costa Rica's Freedom of Expression Index is 49.8x that of Nicaragua (0.92 vs 0.02).

Costa Rica's Liberal Democracy Index is 41.6x that of Nicaragua (0.81 vs 0.02).

Costa Rica's High-Tech Exports (%) is 37.3x that of Nicaragua (22.86% vs 0.60%).

Costa Rica's EV Chargers per 100,000 People is 33.8x that of Nicaragua (2.1 per 100k people vs 0.06 per 100k people).

Costa Rica's Scientific Publications is 16.2x that of Nicaragua (711.36 vs 41.45).

Key Comparisons

Freedom of Expression IndexCosta Rica leads

Costa Rica

0.92

Nicaragua

0.02

Liberal Democracy IndexCosta Rica leads

Costa Rica

0.81

Nicaragua

0.02

High-Tech Exports (%)Costa Rica leads

Costa Rica

22.86%

Nicaragua

0.60%

EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)Costa Rica leads

Costa Rica

2.1 per 100k people

Nicaragua

0.06 per 100k people

Scientific PublicationsCosta Rica leads

Costa Rica

711.36

Nicaragua

41.45

McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)Costa Rica leads

Costa Rica

2.1 per 100k people

Nicaragua

0.06 per 100k people

3383% higher

Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)

Scientific Publications

Costa Rica

711.36

Nicaragua

41.45

1616% higher

McDonald's Outlets per Million People

Costa Rica

Costa Rica

132

Nicaragua

238% higher

Comparison of Costa Rica and Nicaragua across 110 metrics
				Winner
Freedom of Expression Index	0.92	0.02	4983% higher	Costa Rica
Liberal Democracy Index	0.81	0.02	4158% higher	Costa Rica
High-Tech Exports (%)	22.86%	0.60%	3732% higher	Costa Rica
EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	2.1 per 100k people	0.06 per 100k people	3383% higher	Costa Rica
Scientific Publications	711.36	41.45	1616% higher	Costa Rica
McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	16.21 per 1M people	1.3 per 1M people	1114% higher	Costa Rica
Shipping Traffic	1.59M	153.4K	939% higher	Costa Rica
Capital Elevation	1.2K m	143 m	712% higher	Costa Rica
GNI Per Capita	$15,620	$2,510	522% higher	Costa Rica
Electoral Democracy Index	0.86	0.15	471% higher	Costa Rica
GDP (Nominal)	$95,350,423,176.6	$19,693,982,967.59	384% higher	Costa Rica
Health Spending Per Capita	$978.84	$208.48	370% higher	Costa Rica
Broadband Access (%)	23 per 100 people	5.0 per 100 people	360% higher	Costa Rica
Credit Card Ownership	15.79% of adults	3.8% of adults	319% higher	Costa Rica
Corruption Perceptions Index	56 pts	14 pts	300% higher	Costa Rica
Doctors (per 1,000)	2.7 per 1k	0.68 per 1k	296% higher	Costa Rica
Water Stress (%)	3.1%	0.81%	274% higher	Costa Rica
Digital Payments Used	60.46% of adults	16.39% of adults	269% higher	Costa Rica
GDP Per Capita (PPP)	$30,062.85	$8,708.8	245% higher	Costa Rica
Airports	132	39	238% higher	Costa Rica
Electricity Use (Per Capita)	2.2K kWh/person	682.4 kWh/person	223% higher	Costa Rica
Electricity Generation	12.38 TWh	4.4 TWh	183% higher	Costa Rica
ATMs per 100,000 Adults	63.05 per 100k	22.68 per 100k	178% higher	Costa Rica
Seafood Consumption per Person	17.85 kg/person/yr	6.5 kg/person/yr	175% higher	Costa Rica
Water Withdrawal	3.4 B m³	1.3 B m³	171% higher	Costa Rica
Tourist Arrivals	1.15M	474.0K	142% higher	Costa Rica
Forest Coverage (%)	60.4%	25.82%	134% higher	Costa Rica
Elderly Population (%)	12.23%	5.5%	121% higher	Costa Rica
Merchant Fleet Size	11	5.0	120% higher	Costa Rica
Education Spending (% GDP)	6.2% of GDP	2.9% of GDP	118% higher	Costa Rica
Milk Consumption per Person	183.28 kg/person/yr	85.16 kg/person/yr	115% higher	Costa Rica
CO2 Per Capita	1.7 t/person/yr	0.81 t/person/yr	110% higher	Costa Rica
Youth Unemployment Rate	19.95% of youth labor force	9.5% of youth labor force	109% higher	Costa Rica
Electric Generating Capacity	3.75M kW	1.85M kW	103% higher	Costa Rica
UNESCO World Heritage Sites	4.0 sites	2.0 sites	100% higher	Costa Rica
Electricity Carbon Intensity	24.2 gCO2/kWh	300.89 gCO2/kWh	92% lower	Nicaragua
Suicide Rate	8.1 per 100k	4.2 per 100k	90% higher	Costa Rica
Spirits Consumption	0.34 L/person/yr	2.0 L/person/yr	83% lower	Nicaragua
Highest Elevation	3.8K m	2.1K m	83% higher	Costa Rica
Beer Consumption	2.2 L/person/yr	1.2 L/person/yr	80% higher	Costa Rica
Firms Making Informal Payments	2.1% of firms	10.01% of firms	79% lower	Nicaragua
Political Corruption Index	0.21	0.94	78% lower	Nicaragua
Population Density	99.99 /km²	56.7 /km²	76% higher	Costa Rica
Meat Consumption per Person	53.56 kg/person/yr	30.82 kg/person/yr	74% higher	Costa Rica
Teen Birth Rate	26.25 per 1k	93.45 per 1k	72% lower	Nicaragua
Unemployment Rate	7.8%	4.6%	72% higher	Costa Rica
Women's Political Empowerment	0.91	0.53	71% higher	Costa Rica
Energy Use (Per Capita)	1.0K kg oil eq/person	608.25 kg oil eq/person	69% higher	Costa Rica
Land Area	51.1K km²	120.3K km²	58% lower	Nicaragua
Homicide Rate	17.75 per 100k	11.35 per 100k	56% higher	Costa Rica
Informal Employment Share	36.11% of employed people	81.79% of employed people	56% lower	Nicaragua
Irrigated Land	1.0K km²	2.0K km²	49% lower	Nicaragua
Internet Users (%)	85%	58%	47% higher	Costa Rica
Government Debt (% GDP)	48.9% of GDP	33.3% of GDP	47% higher	Costa Rica
Land Border Length	661 km	1.3K km	47% lower	Nicaragua
Total CO2 Emissions	8.4 Mt CO2e	5.7 Mt CO2e	46% higher	Costa Rica
Imports (% GDP)	32.8% of GDP	58.06% of GDP	44% lower	Nicaragua
Coastline Length	1.3K km	910 km	42% higher	Costa Rica
Median Age	34.1 years	25.3 years	35% higher	Costa Rica
Youth Population (%)	18.8%	28.76%	35% lower	Nicaragua
Urban Population (%)	79.31%	59.26%	34% higher	Costa Rica
Insufficient Physical Activity	49.32% of adults	36.91% of adults	34% higher	Costa Rica
Hospital Beds (per 1,000)	1.2 per 1k	0.90 per 1k	33% higher	Costa Rica
Renewable Energy (%)	34.2%	50.4%	32% lower	Nicaragua
Birth Rate	10.86 per 1k	16.07 per 1k	32% lower	Nicaragua
Tax Revenue (% GDP)	13.91% of GDP	19.94% of GDP	30% lower	Nicaragua
Mobile Subscriptions (%)	136 per 100 people	106 per 100 people	28% higher	Costa Rica
Big Mac Price	$6.04	$4.75	27% higher	Costa Rica
Protected Land (%)	26.5%	21.2%	25% higher	Costa Rica
Child Mortality	10.5 per 1k births	13.4 per 1k births	22% lower	Nicaragua
Agricultural Land (%)	33.14%	42.31%	22% lower	Nicaragua
Population	5.30M	6.74M	21% lower	Nicaragua
Fertility Rate	1.4 children/woman	1.8 children/woman	20% lower	Nicaragua
GDP Growth Rate	4.3%	3.6%	20% higher	Costa Rica
Health Spending (% GDP)	7.2% of GDP	9.0% of GDP	20% lower	Nicaragua
FDI Inflows (% GDP)	5.6% of GDP	6.9% of GDP	19% lower	Nicaragua
Human Development Index	0.83	0.71	18% higher	Costa Rica
Average Weekly Work Hours	42.88 hrs/week	36.45 hrs/week	18% higher	Costa Rica
Life Evaluation Score	7.4 pts	6.3 pts	18% higher	Costa Rica
Armed Forces Personnel	10.0K	12.0K	17% lower	Nicaragua
Air Pollution (PM2.5)	14.31 µg/m³	16.81 µg/m³	15% lower	Nicaragua
Dependency Ratio	44.98% of working-age pop.	52.19% of working-age pop.	14% lower	Nicaragua
Firms Asked for Bribes	5.6% of firms	6.5% of firms	14% lower	Nicaragua
Women in Senior Management	46.21% of managers	53.68% of managers	14% lower	Nicaragua
Road Traffic Death Rate	15.5 per 100k	13.6 per 100k	14% higher	Costa Rica
Electricity Access (%)	100%	88.3%	13% higher	Costa Rica
Infant Mortality	9.2 per 1k births	10.3 per 1k births	11% lower	Nicaragua
Minimum Paid Vacation Days	10 days/yr	11 days/yr	9% lower	Nicaragua
Women in Parliament (%)	49.12%	53.85%	9% lower	Nicaragua
Hypertension Prevalence	38.9% of adults	36.1% of adults	8% higher	Costa Rica
Life Expectancy	80.8 years	74.9 years	8% higher	Costa Rica
Alcohol Consumption	3.4 L/adult/yr	3.7 L/adult/yr	7% lower	Nicaragua
Solar Electricity Share	0.70%	0.66%	6% higher	Costa Rica
Firms with Female Top Manager	25.26% of firms	26.99% of firms	6% lower	Nicaragua
Exports (% GDP)	38.53% of GDP	40.46% of GDP	5% lower	Nicaragua
Food Waste per Person	157.86 kg/person/yr	151.27 kg/person/yr	4% higher	Costa Rica
Can Raise Emergency Money	85.71% of adults	88.4% of adults	3% lower	Nicaragua
Firms Hit by Power Outages	51.42% of firms	49.94% of firms	3% higher	Costa Rica
Wind Electricity Share	12.1%	12.39%	2% lower	Nicaragua
Death Rate	5.2 per 1k	5.1 per 1k	2% higher	Costa Rica
Obesity Rate	31.97%	32.42%	1% lower	Nicaragua
Forest Area	30.8K km²	31.1K km²	1% lower	Nicaragua
Time Zones Count	2.0 time zones	2.0 time zones	equal	Costa Rica
Coal Electricity Share	0%	0%	ranked higher	Costa Rica
Inflation Rate	-0.4%	4.6%	ranked lower	Nicaragua
Nobel Laureates Born per Million People	0.19 per 1M people	0 per 1M people	ranked higher	Costa Rica
Lowest Elevation	0 m	0 m	ranked higher	Costa Rica
Official Languages Count	1.0	1.0	equal	Costa Rica
Current Account Balance (% of GDP)	-0.7% of GDP	8.6% of GDP	ranked lower	Nicaragua
Border Neighbors	2.0	2.0	equal	Costa Rica

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Costa Rica Nicaragua

Analysis

Costa Rica leads in 73 of 110 shared metrics, while Nicaragua leads in 37.

Costa Rica's Freedom of Expression Index is 49.8x that of Nicaragua (0.92 vs 0.02).

Costa Rica's Liberal Democracy Index is 41.6x that of Nicaragua (0.81 vs 0.02).

Costa Rica's High-Tech Exports (%) is 37.3x that of Nicaragua (22.86% vs 0.60%).

Costa Rica's EV Chargers per 100,000 People is 33.8x that of Nicaragua (2.1 per 100k people vs 0.06 per 100k people).

Costa Rica's Scientific Publications is 16.2x that of Nicaragua (711.36 vs 41.45).

Key Comparisons

Freedom of Expression IndexCosta Rica leads

Costa Rica

0.92

Nicaragua

0.02

Liberal Democracy IndexCosta Rica leads

Costa Rica

0.81

Nicaragua

0.02

High-Tech Exports (%)Costa Rica leads

Costa Rica

22.86%

Nicaragua

0.60%

Costa Rica

2.1 per 100k people

Nicaragua

0.06 per 100k people

Scientific PublicationsCosta Rica leads

Costa Rica

711.36

Nicaragua

41.45

Costa Rica

16.21 per 1M people

Nicaragua

1.3 per 1M people

Freedom of Expression Index

0.92

0.02

Liberal Democracy Index

0.81

0.02

High-Tech Exports (%)

22.86%

0.60%

2.1 per 100k people

0.06 per 100k people

Scientific Publications

711.36

41.45

16.21 per 1M people

1.3 per 1M people

Shipping Traffic

1.59M

153.4K

Capital Elevation

1.2K m

143 m

GNI Per Capita

$15,620

$2,510

Electoral Democracy Index

0.86

0.15

GDP (Nominal)

$95,350,423,176.6

$19,693,982,967.59

Health Spending Per Capita

$978.84

$208.48

Broadband Access (%)

23 per 100 people

5.0 per 100 people

Credit Card Ownership

15.79% of adults

3.8% of adults

Corruption Perceptions Index

56 pts

14 pts

Doctors (per 1,000)

2.7 per 1k

0.68 per 1k

Water Stress (%)

3.1%

0.81%

Digital Payments Used

60.46% of adults

16.39% of adults

GDP Per Capita (PPP)

$30,062.85

$8,708.8

Airports

132

Costa Rica vs Nicaragua

Think you can spot the next winner?

What matters for both sides

Costa Rica

Nicaragua

Analysis

Key Comparisons

All Metrics

Freedom of Expression Index

Liberal Democracy Index

High-Tech Exports (%)

EV Chargers per 100,000 People

Scientific Publications

McDonald's Outlets per Million People

Shipping Traffic

Capital Elevation

GNI Per Capita

Electoral Democracy Index

GDP (Nominal)

Health Spending Per Capita

Broadband Access (%)

Credit Card Ownership

Corruption Perceptions Index

Doctors (per 1,000)

Water Stress (%)

Digital Payments Used

GDP Per Capita (PPP)

Airports

Electricity Use (Per Capita)

Electricity Generation

ATMs per 100,000 Adults

Seafood Consumption per Person

Water Withdrawal

Tourist Arrivals

Forest Coverage (%)

Elderly Population (%)

Merchant Fleet Size

Education Spending (% GDP)

Milk Consumption per Person

CO2 Per Capita

Youth Unemployment Rate

Electric Generating Capacity

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Electricity Carbon Intensity

Suicide Rate

Spirits Consumption

Highest Elevation

Beer Consumption

Firms Making Informal Payments

Political Corruption Index

Population Density

Meat Consumption per Person

Teen Birth Rate

Unemployment Rate

Women's Political Empowerment

Energy Use (Per Capita)

Land Area

Homicide Rate

Informal Employment Share

Irrigated Land

Internet Users (%)

Government Debt (% GDP)

Land Border Length

Total CO2 Emissions

Imports (% GDP)

Coastline Length

Median Age

Youth Population (%)

Urban Population (%)

Insufficient Physical Activity

Hospital Beds (per 1,000)

Renewable Energy (%)

Birth Rate

Tax Revenue (% GDP)

Mobile Subscriptions (%)

Big Mac Price

Protected Land (%)

Child Mortality

Agricultural Land (%)

Population