A high-income OECD economy led by medical devices
Two shifts define the modern economy. The first is income: Costa Rica reached high-income status and joined the OECD in 2021. The second is value: it climbed the value chain, replacing agricultural commodities with medical devices and corporate services as its leading exports. Together they describe a country that no longer competes on low cost but on skilled, higher-value production.
What type of economy does Costa Rica have?
Costa Rica runs a services-led, export-oriented economy with an advanced manufacturing core, the result of a deliberate shift begun in the 1980s. Medical devices are now the leading export, corporate and digital services employ more than 100,000 professionals, and tourism and agro-industry remain durable foreign-exchange earners. The structure matters more than any single sector: when one engine slows, another is usually accelerating, so an investor is entering a diversified base rather than a single-industry bet.
Is Costa Rica a developed country?
By the benchmarks that matter to a corporate board, Costa Rica performs at the level of a developed economy, even though the IMF still classifies it as an emerging market. The World Bank classifies it as a high-income economy, it has been an OECD member since 2021, and the UNDP places its Human Development Index at 0.833, in the "very high" band.
Sources: World Bank · OECD · UNDP Human Development Report 2025.
OECD membership is the credential that carries the most weight. Accession required Costa Rica to align dozens of policies, from competition and anti-corruption to corporate governance and statistics, with the standards of the world's advanced economies, and it subjects the country to continuous peer review. For a multinational, that means the regulatory environment has already been audited against the frameworks it knows from home. Costa Rica is the only Central American member of the OECD.
How big is the Costa Rica economy?
Costa Rica's nominal GDP was about US$102.9 billion in 2025, with real growth of 4.6 percent. GDP per capita is roughly US$19,970 in nominal terms and US$33,815 at purchasing power parity, and unemployment stood at 6.7 percent in the third quarter of 2026.
| Indicator | Figure | Period / source |
|---|---|---|
| GDP (nominal) | ~US$102.9 billion | 2025, BCCR & World Bank |
| Real GDP growth | 4.6% | 2025, World Bank |
| GDP per capita (nominal) | ~US$19,970 | 2025, World Bank |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | ~US$33,815 | 2025, IMF |
| Human Development Index | 0.833 (very high) | 2025, UNDP |
| Unemployment | 6.7% | Q3 2026, INEC |
Macro indicators as published; country context compiled by CINDE Research, updated 2026.
Growth of 4.6 percent in 2025 sits well above the Latin American average, and it extends a three-year run above 4 percent. What gives the figure durability is its source: growth built on medtech exports and high-skill services holds through global volatility better than growth built on commodities, because demand for insulin pumps or software engineers is far less cyclical.
What does Costa Rica export?
Costa Rica mainly exports medical devices, corporate and digital services, and specialty agricultural products.
- ~$10.9B medical device exports in 2025
- 48% of all goods exports
- 16% average annual growth since 2010
- 4,200+ products shipped to 164 countries
Source: PROCOMER / COMEX, medical device export statistics, 2025.
Medical devices are the country's number one export, at roughly US$10.9 billion in 2025, growing an average of 16 percent a year since 2010, and account for 48 percent of all goods exports. That single figure captures the transformation: a product category that barely registered two decades ago now accounts for nearly half of what the country ships. Costa Rica is the second-largest exporter of medical devices in Latin America and the Caribbean, selling more than 4,200 products into 164 countries.
The reach rests on an unusually wide trade network. The United States is the largest partner, with duty-free access under CAFTA-DR since 2009, and Costa Rica holds preferential access to markets representing more than 60 percent of world GDP, including the European Union and China. Most of these export operations run inside Costa Rica's free zones.
What are Costa Rica's main industries?
Costa Rica's main industries are life sciences, led by medical devices; corporate and shared services; digital technologies; BPO and contact centers; and advanced manufacturing, alongside tourism and agro-industry. By direct employment, life sciences leads with more than 60,000 jobs, followed by shared services with more than 48,000.
| Sector | Direct jobs (2025) |
|---|---|
| Life sciences | 60,000+ |
| Shared services / back office | 48,000+ |
| Digital technologies | 30,000+ |
| BPO / contact centers | 30,000+ |
| Manufacturing (incl. 11,000+ in advanced manufacturing) | 18,000+ |
Employment figures: CCSS, 2025; compiled by CINDE Research, updated 2026.
The concentration in life sciences and services, rather than extractive industries, links new investment directly to local talent and suppliers. Each new plant or services center deepens the cluster, which makes the next investment easier to staff and supply. The sector-by-sector picture continues on Medical Device Manufacturing in Costa Rica.
What natural resources and energy does Costa Rica offer?
Costa Rica generated 98.6 percent of its electricity from renewable sources in 2025, and has averaged above 95 percent for more than a decade.
- Hydropower ~76%
- Wind ~12%
- Geothermal ~11%
- Solar + biomass <1%
Source: Grupo ICE, renewable electricity generation 2025.
The mix is roughly 76 percent hydropower, 12 percent wind, and 11 percent geothermal, with solar and biomass under 1 percent. That mix rests directly on the country's natural resources: abundant rainfall feeds its rivers and reservoirs, and its volcanic geology supplies geothermal heat. For a manufacturer now reporting Scope 2 emissions to its board and customers, that is not a sustainability footnote but a procurement advantage: the grid is clean by default, not by offset.
What is the cost and quality of talent in Costa Rica?
Costa Rica offers a bilingual, highly skilled workforce at a competitive cost for the region.
- 14,000+STEM professionals graduate per year
- #1in the region on the main international English benchmarks
- 100,000+professionals in corporate and digital services
The country graduates more than 14,000 STEM professionals a year. On English proficiency, Costa Rica ranks first in the region on the main international benchmarks, a precondition for the medtech and services roles the clusters are filling. The country competes on the combination of skill and cost rather than on cost alone, which is why complex, regulated operations choose it. Salaries vary by role, seniority, and industry; a CINDE advisor can provide a salary benchmark for your specific operation.
How stable and predictable is Costa Rica for investors?
Costa Rica is one of the most stable and predictable investment destinations in Latin America, and its record, rather than its forecast, makes the case.
- Since 1948a continuous democracy, with no army
- 27th of 215on the World Bank's political stability indicator (87.03)
- Since 1990the free trade zone regime under the same law
The country has been a continuous democracy since 1948, the year it abolished its army and redirected that spending toward education and institutions. In the nearly eight decades since, power has changed hands through the ballot box without interruption, and no investor operating in Costa Rica has had to price in the political discontinuity seen elsewhere in the region. On the World Bank's governance indicators, Costa Rica scores 87.03 on political stability, ranking 27th of 215 economies, far above its regional peers.
Legal security follows from that continuity. Costa Rica is classified as a full democracy by the Economist Intelligence Unit and ranks among the global top tier on the World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index. For a company signing a multi-decade lease and committing capital to fixed assets, those rankings translate into something concrete: contracts are enforced, courts are independent, and the rules under which an investment is made still apply years later. The free trade zone regime has operated under the same law since 1990, surviving changes of government on both sides of the political spectrum. In 2025 both Moody's and S&P raised Costa Rica's sovereign credit rating, each citing an improved fiscal and debt trajectory, an external endorsement of that institutional discipline.
Sources: World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators · Economist Intelligence Unit, Democracy Index · World Justice Project, Rule of Law Index · Moody's, S&P, 2025.
How does Costa Rica compare to other nearshore economies?
Compared with Mexico and Colombia, Costa Rica stands out on three factors that matter most to regulated, high-value operations: a nearly fully renewable grid, a foreign investment base led by life sciences, and the highest political stability score of the three.
| Metric | Costa Rica | Mexico | Colombia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renewable electricity | ~98.6% | ~21.8% | ~80.0% |
| Top FDI sector | Life sciences | Manufacturing (54% of FDI) | Mining |
| Political stability (WGI) | 87.03 (rank 27/215) | 54.95 (rank 171/215) | 48.91 (rank 188/215) |
2025 data, as published on cinde.org.
For these operations the relevant comparison is fit, not cost alone, and on fit Costa Rica's position is distinct.
The full comparison for services and technology, in our Nearshoring in Costa Rica guide
Why invest in Costa Rica?
The macro case rests on four things that rarely appear together in one emerging market: growth above the regional average on high-value exports, the credential of OECD membership and high-income status, some of the strongest English proficiency in Central America, and a record of democratic and legal continuity that lets a company commit capital for decades. The practical next step is to translate that into an operating plan. The sector pages map where each industry sits, and the free zones page covers the fiscal regime. A CINDE advisor can build the specific case for your project at no cost. Contact invest@cinde.org.