About Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a country located in Central America south of Nicaragua and North from Panama. It borders with the Atlantic Ocean on the east and with the Pacific Ocean on the West. The climate is tropical, modified by the countries topography. There are two main seasons: rainy (sunny mornings, some rain on most afternoons; may trough November) and dry (occasional rain; December through april).

Costa Rica is a democratic and peaceful country, and it has not had an army since the year 1949. The money the country saves by not expending in military issues is invested in improving the Costa Ricans' standard of living, which has fostered a culture of social peace that makes it such a pleasant place to visit. The political system is represented by three powers: the Executive Power, the Legislative Power and the Judicial Power. The Elections Supreme Court is considered the fourth power of the Republic. Every four years national elections are carried out. Among other positions of popular representation, the President of the Republic is elected through direct representation by secret ballot.

Around five million people live in its extension of 19,730sq miles. Costa Rica is divided into seven provinces, these are: San José, Alajuela, Heredia, Cartago, Puntarenas, Guanacaste, and Limon. Each province is subdivided into regions and these are subdivided into districts. Although the country is small and it covers only 0.03 % of the surface of the globe, it proudly shelters a 6% of the existing biodiversity in the entire world. 25.6% of the country is composed of conservation and natural protected territory.

Costa Rica is also an attractive country for investment and it offers great potential for the establishment of important multinational companies, thanks to the outstanding academic level of its population, as well as the high standard of modern services and social and political stability.

The official language is Spanish, and the second language for a large portion of the population is English. The official religion is catholic, however, freedom of religious choice is respected.

History

In 1502, Christopher Columbus, on his fourth and last voyage, arrived at the Caribbean shores of Costa Rica, landing on today’s city of Puerto Limon. He was received by indigenous people treating them with riches and gold. However, soon they would notice there wasn’t that much gold as much gold as expected available and this land was mostly left untouched until the early 1560’s, when Spaniards founded the first lasting settlement in the country. By 1821 independence from Spain was declared from Guatemala for all Central America. However, it didn’t affect much Costa Ricans, since they were long accustomed to ruling themselves, being basically ignored by their distant motherland.

Since independence, Costa Rica began its history of a democratic state, with a few stumbles on the way, until late 1940’s, when José María Figueres Ferrer introduced a new constitution that set out to redistribute power away from the elites and to remove institutional corruption. Its landmark reforms included suffrage for women an full citizenship for Blacks. Probably his greatest accomplishment was the abolition of the army in 1949.

A steady growth of social and economic progress through the years was accompanied by a peaceful exchange of power every four years, passing back and forth between the two major parties, the social democrat PLN and the centrist PUSC. The economy has slowly changed over the years from being totally based on agriculture to today`s mixture of tourism, component production for the high-tech industry, high-tech support call centers, exports such as flowers and ornamental plants, and the traditional cultivation of bananas and coffee.

Medical Services

Despite its size and being developing country, Costa Rica has positioned itself among the countries with the highest public healthcare development in Latin America. The Costa Rican Social Security Service (CCSS) is a public service institution that has accomplished important goals regarding health issues, including pensions and social security. This institution offers coverage and integrated health services through two types of insurance:

• General coverage insurance, with a service that covers 100% of the country
• Contribution coverage insurance, with an 86.80% of the population.

Costa Rica is the country in Latin America with the highest life expectancy rate at 77.8 years old; it is also one of the countries with the lowest infant mortality rate: 10.8%. It is also far advanced in issues regarding prenatal prevention and control.

Education

Costa Rica is praised because of its efforts for investment in public education that different governments have accomplished throughout the years. There are close to 6,147 elementary, middle, and high schools and more than 50 universities in the country. The first higher education institution to be established was the University of Costa Rica, which was the only higher educational institution until the year 1971, when the Technological Institute of Costa Rica was founded.

In 1973, the National University of Heredia (UNA) was founded, also the Distance Education University (UNED) was established in 1977, and in the year 1979, the first private institution known as the Autonomous University of Central America (UACA) was created which set the example in 1986 for a large number of other private universities to open their doors in Costa Rica.

National Symbols

Guarianthe skinneri (Bateman, 1838). It was decreed as the national flower by Agreement number 24 on June 15, 1939. Enterolobium cyclocarpum. It was declared as the national tree of Costa Rica, on August 31, 1959. Enacted since May 5, 1998. urdus grayi. It was decreed as the national bird on January 3, 1977. National Symbol of Labor. It was decreed as the National Symbol, on March 22, 1988.