All Entries in the "Costa Rica Ranking" Category

7,000 U.S. Marines Landing on the Beaches of Costa Rica

A flotilla of 46 United States Navy warships capable of carrying 200 helicopters, along with 10 Harrier vertical take-off and landing fighter jets, and 7,000 combat ready marines is on its way to this Central American country with no standing army.

On July 1, 2010 the Costa Rica Legislative Assembly voted 31-8 to grant the U.S. military full in-country access through the end of 2010 to help fight drug trafficking.

43% of Costa Ricans Don’t Drink Alcohol, but 10% Drink Excessively

Although 57 percent of Costa Ricans drink alcoholic beverages, most do so in moderation.

However, a new study shows a small segment of the population drinks most of the total liquor consumed in this country. Just 10 percent of all Costa Rica drinkers ingest a staggering 80 percent of all alcohol sold.

Is Costa Rica a Third World, Second World or Developed Country?

There is a multi-million-dollar mega-mall in Escazú, west of San José, which sports outlets of some of the world’s most exclusive stores. But, according to the State of the Nation report in November, at least 16,000 Costa Rican homes are “without basic services,” such as electricity and running water.

A constant feature of this disparity in the makeup of Costa Rica is that, while certain areas of the country are surging ahead, there are many areas in which the country is not keeping up or is, indeed, falling behind.

Costa Rica’s “La Gloria” Guanacaste Wind Farm Now Online

Costa Rica in its quest to be the first carbon neutral country on Earth has reached new heights toward its goal with the completion of the Proyecto Eólico Guanacaste or “La Gloria” electric generating wind farm. 55 wind turbines located at a spectacular site near the Miravalle Volcano (Volcán Miravalle) in Cordillera de Guanacaste, in [...]

The Agenda and Challenges of Costa Rica’s New President

Costa Rica’s first woman head of state, president-elect Laura Chinchilla, must now get to work. For decades Costa Rica has been an oasis of stability in the troubled Central American isthmus. It is the only Latin American country to figure on a list of the world’s 22 “older democracies” compiled by Robert Dahl, an eminent [...]

Costa Rica Remains an Environmental Index Leader as U.S. Falls

A new ranking of the world’s nations by environmental performance puts some of the globe’s largest economies far down the list, with the United States sinking to 61st and China to 121st. In the 2008 version of the Environmental Performance Index, compiled every two years by a consortium between Yale University and Columbia University researchers; [...]

A Tale of Three Different Caribbean Countries

One of the happiest countries on the planet shows that protecting biodiversity has a lot to do with wellbeing HAPPINESS IS a state of mind, but if it were a place, it might well be the central American republic of Costa Rica. Located just a few hundred miles west of the benighted Haiti, Costa Rica [...]

The Costa Rica Health Care System, Medical Vacations and What The U.S. Can Learn

Statistics from the World Health Organization place Costa Rica third in life expectancy, sandwiched neatly behind Japan and France and ahead of Great Britain and the United States; and with a per capita income about one tenth of the other four. Some will state longevity in Costa Rica is attributable to a culturally laid back [...]

2010 Social and Political Unrest for Latin America – The Failure of Lula?

This map lifted from The Economist will do fine to introduce a Latin American forecast of 2010 because it explains a lot. If you observe well, All of Hispanic America is In Trouble, besides Costa Rica, Uruguay and Cuba (then again, how could trouble start in totalitarian Cuba?). Flanking this zone of probable social unrest [...]

Why is Costa Rica Smiling?

This Central American country tops the Happy Planet Index. A child growing up in the Costa Rican countryside is surrounded by some of the most beautiful and biodiverse landscapes in the world. The government of this tiny Central American country aims to keep it that way. But preserving this land of tropical rainforests isn’t Costa [...]

Costa Rica has 2 of Top 20 Latin American Hospitals for Medical Tourists

Airport lounges in the United States, Canada and other countries are filling-up with a new type of traveler: the medical tourist. Increasingly more people with and without health insurance or socialized medicine are grabbing their bags and traveling to other countries for medical treatment that better fits their budgets.  Many travel thousands of miles to  [...]

Beautiful Life is Every Day in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has become one of the most popular destinations for those seeking freedom. And there are many good reasons for it. A stable government since 1948 is one good reason. A climate that rarely sees temperatures lower than 65 or higher than 85 is another, and the smiling, happy, friendly people are more good [...]

Boston Scientific Adding Even More Jobs to Costa Rica from U.S.

Boston Scientific, a Forbes 500 company and the 3rd largest worldwide manufacturer of medical health care devices, is opening a third manufacturing site in Costa Rica as it moves even more jobs from the United States to Central America. As reported by the Miami Herald, Boston Scientific will close its 14 acre campus in Doral, [...]

Costa Rica Tops the 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index in Latin America

Costa Rica tops the 2009 Prosperity Index in Latin America … only to be out scored by Canada and the United States in all the Americas. The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index points out the most prosperous nations in the world are not necessarily those that have only a high GDP, “but are those that also [...]