Every 10 years, Costa Rica conducts a census to gain information on households, services, household equipment and numbers of persons living in each household.

Primary school teachers have conducted the census, since the 1950’s. About 35,000 teachers and some University of Costa Rica students canvassed neighborhoods between Monday 30 May and Friday 3 June 2011.

The preliminary results became available in January of 2012. We are often asked questions about the population of Costa Rica and it’s larger cities. People also want to know about the ethnic breakdown of the population.

Preliminarily, Costa Rica has a population of 4,615,518. There are approximately 1,300,000 households and the provinces are broken down as follows:

• San Jose 1,658,075
• Alajuela 885,571
• Cartago 515,385
• Heredia 456,329
• Limon 451,631
• Puntarenas 368,423
• Guanacaste 280,232

Other interesting preliminary data includes:

• Women outnumber men by some 9,000.
• The birth rate is dropping as Costa Ricans are having smaller families.
• Fewer foreigners have moved to Costa Rica in the last ten years, compared to the ’80’s and ’90’s.
• The number of Ticos who have moved abroad has grown.

If you see a sticker like the one below on a house or building, that means the census was completed at that location.

We’ll try to publish more information for you as it becomes available.

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Written by VIP Member Wendy Bishop Strebe who moved with her family to Costa Rica in 2003 from Northern New Mexico. The family built, owned and operated a lodging establishment on the Caribbean side for 7 years. They then moved to the mountains of Heredia, where Wendy, a vegan/vegetarian chef, nutritionist and aromatherapist, provides cooking classes, health coaching and aromatherapy treatments.

Wendy and her family like to spend time in Jaco on the Central pacific coast and also have a lovely weekly and monthly rental in Rohrmoser, San José. In her former life, Wendy worked in environmental issues, watershed restoration, grantwriting and mediation. Wendy has four adult kids and two grandkids.

If you are looking for a comfortable, fully furnished home for rent in an upscale suburb of San Jose, Costa Rica that is available for weekly and monthly rentals, perhaps for a vacation, medical tourism or business then take a look at Wendy’s Costa Rica rental home Casa Orleans here, it’s your perfect home away from home. You can also email Wendy here.

If you are serious about buying a home, apartment or land in Santa Ana or Escazu, then please contact us using the simple form below:

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.