Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Chile instead of Costa Rica, you would:

Economy

make 14.3% more money

Costa Rica has a GDP per capita of $25,800 as of 2023, while in Chile, the GDP per capita is $29,500 as of 2023.

be 57.6% less likely to live below the poverty line

In Costa Rica, 25.5% live below the poverty line as of 2022. In Chile, however, that number is 10.8% as of 2020.

pay a 2.7 times higher top tax rate

Costa Rica has a top tax rate of 15.0% as of 2016. In Chile, the top tax rate is 40.0% as of 2016.

Life

be 31.8% less likely to die during childbirth

In Costa Rica, approximately 22.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2020. In Chile, 15.0 women do as of 2020.

be 21.9% less likely to die during infancy

In Costa Rica, approximately 8.4 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Chile, on the other hand, 6.5 children do as of 2022.

have 14.8% more children

In Costa Rica, there are approximately 10.8 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Chile, there are 12.4 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

Expenditures

spend 16.4% less on education

Costa Rica spends 6.7% of its total GDP on education as of 2020. Chile spends 5.6% of total GDP on education as of 2019.

spend 24.1% more on healthcare

Costa Rica spends 7.9% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2020. In Chile, that number is 9.8% of GDP as of 2020.

Geography

see 5.0 times more coastline

Costa Rica has a total of 1,290 km of coastline. In Chile, that number is 6,435 km.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: The World Factbook, Chilean Tax Administration, Directorate General of Taxation of Costa Rica.

Chile: At a glance

Chile is a sovereign country in South America, with a total land area of approximately 743,812 sq km. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, the Inca ruled northern Chile while the Mapuche inhabited central and southern Chile. Although Chile declared its independence in 1810, decisive victory over the Spanish was not achieved until 1818. In the War of the Pacific (1879-83), Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia and won its present northern regions. It was not until the 1880s that the Mapuche were brought under central government control. After a series of elected governments, the three-year-old Marxist government of Salvador ALLENDE was overthrown in 1973 by a military coup led by Augusto PINOCHET, who ruled until a freely elected president was inaugurated in 1990. Sound economic policies, maintained consistently since the 1980s, contributed to steady growth, reduced poverty rates by over half, and helped secure the country's commitment to democratic and representative government. Chile has increasingly assumed regional and international leadership roles befitting its status as a stable, democratic nation. In January 2014, Chile assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2014-15 term.
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How big is Chile compared to Costa Rica? See an in-depth size comparison.

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