What is life expectancy in Costa Rica?

Life expectancy in Costa Rica was 80.8 years in 2023, according to Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.

What is the highest life expectancy recorded in Costa Rica?

The highest recorded value was 80.8 years in 2023.

What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in Costa Rica?

The lowest recorded value was 30.21 years in 1875.

How does Costa Rica rank for life expectancy?

Costa Rica ranks 51st out of 236 countries with data for 2023.

Is life expectancy rising or falling in Costa Rica?

Over the last ten years it is up 0.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.

Where does this Costa Rica data come from?

The figures come from Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Life expectancy in Costa Rica

Name: Life expectancy in Costa Rica
Creator: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
License: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)

Costa Rica: Life expectancy was 80.8 years in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)

80.8 years

Change on year

up 1.9%

World rank

51st

of 236 countries

All-time high

80.8 years

in 2023

All-time low

30.21 years

in 1875

Years of data

1875–2023

Life expectancy in Costa Rica, 1875–2023

Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.

Analysis

Costa Rica recorded 80.8 years for life expectancy in 2023. That is the highest value across all 80 years on record.

The figure is up 1.9% on the previous year and up 0.8% over ten years.

Over the whole period, life expectancy in Costa Rica peaked at 80.8 years in 2023 and was at its lowest, 30.21 years, in 1875.

Costa Rica ranks 51st of 236 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 80 years of available data.

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
1870s	30.21 years	30.21 years	30.21 years	1
1900s	32 years	32 years	32 years	1
1910s	33 years	33 years	33 years	1
1920s	37 years	37 years	37 years	1
1930s	42 years	42 years	42 years	1
1940s	49 years	49 years	49 years	1
1950s	60.07 years	57.46 years	62.91 years	10
1960s	64.79 years	63.46 years	66.36 years	10
1970s	69.77 years	66.79 years	72.54 years	10
1980s	74.55 years	73.03 years	75.85 years	10
1990s	76.48 years	76.09 years	77.06 years	10
2000s	78.52 years	77.32 years	79.37 years	10
2010s	80.01 years	79.35 years	80.41 years	10
2020s	79.47 years	78.05 years	80.8 years	4

Countries ranked near Costa Rica

48 Chile 81.17 years compare
49 Maldives 81.04 years compare
50 Isle of Man 81 years compare
52 Taiwan 80.56 years compare
53 Kuwait 80.4 years compare
54 Cayman Islands 80.36 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More health data for Costa Rica

Age population, age 09, male, interpolated 35,438 (2025)
Age population, age 13, female, interpolated 35,098 (2025)
Age population, age 12, male, interpolated 35,884 (2025)
Age population, age 12, female, interpolated 34,389 (2025)
Age population, age 11, male, interpolated 35,574 (2025)
Age population, age 11, female, interpolated 34,070 (2025)
Age population, age 10, male, interpolated 35,887 (2025)
Population, male 2.55 million (2025)
Age population, age 08, male, interpolated 34,687 (2025)
Population, female 50.6% (2025)

All data for Costa Rica →

Frequently asked questions

What is life expectancy in Costa Rica?: Life expectancy in Costa Rica was 80.8 years in 2023, according to Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest life expectancy recorded in Costa Rica?: The highest recorded value was 80.8 years in 2023.
What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in Costa Rica?: The lowest recorded value was 30.21 years in 1875.
How does Costa Rica rank for life expectancy?: Costa Rica ranks 51st out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is life expectancy rising or falling in Costa Rica?: Over the last ten years it is up 0.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Costa Rica data come from?: The figures come from Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 80 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator: Life expectancy
Unit: years
Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 236 places, 19,452 data points, 1543–2023
Last refreshed: 06 August 2026

Period life expectancy is the number of years the average person born in a certain year would live if they experienced the same chances of dying at each age as people did that year.