Migration trends in Costa Rica
Latin America
608K people from around the world have made Costa Rica their home. That's 11.9% of the country population, arriving from 152 different countries
5.1M
Population
608K
Immigrants
51K
Emigrants
+557K
Inflow
Every 8th person in Costa Rica was born abroad
The #75 largest immigrant destination worldwide
Top corridors
The largest migration routes in Costa Rica
Where people come from
Where people move to
Key moments
How migration has changed since 1990
1990
209.2K immigrants · 22.9K emigrants
2000
- A surge of arrivals — the foreign-born population jumped 47%
2020
- The foreign-born population passed 500K residents
Today
- Panama replaced Nicaragua as the main destination for those leaving
- Without migration, the population would have declined
- Since 1990: 398.8K more foreign-born residents and roughly the same number of citizens living abroad