Costa Rica National Survey 2010 – Includes average income

The National Survey of Homes (Encuesta Nacional de Hogares – ENAHO) is an important survey which shows official data on poverty, unemployment and income among others.

The survey is done by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de Costa Rica (INEC) and was carried out with a sample of 13,500 households across the Costa Rican territory.

According to the National Survey, the average monthly income for the homes in Costa Rica in the top 20% was c2,027,385 (*US$4,049) which is over ten times as much as the c190,804 (*US$381) average monthly income in the homes of the bottom 20%. (* Based on today’s Banco Central de Costa Rica exchange rate of CRC500.70:US$1)

The 20% of homes with the least income have on average 4.8 individuals whereas the 20% of homes with the highest income only have 2.88 individuals. The lowest incomes homes also have a lower number of people working than the highest income homes.

Amongst other findings in the survey:

• It is estimated that poverty affected 21.3% of households in the country, of whom 6.0% were in extreme poverty.
• The Central Valley region has the lowest percentage of households in poverty, the highesy employment and the highest average income.
• The Brunca regions (34.9%) and Chorotega (32.6%) have the highest incidence of extreme poverty.
• Rural areas have higher unemployment, lower incomes and more poverty than the urban areas.

If you are a fluent Spanish reader and a registered VIP Member, you can download the six part ENAHO documents in the Download Library here.

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Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1. Costa Rica Real Estate Scams & How To Avoid Them, 2. How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, and 3. Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

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.