Quality of life comparison

compared to

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

Health

live 2.4 years less

In Costa Rica, the average life expectancy is 80 years (77 years for men, 82 years for women) as of 2022. In Croatia, that number is 77 years (74 years for men, 81 years for women) as of 2022.

Economy

make 60.1% more money

Costa Rica has a GDP per capita of $25,800 as of 2023, while in Croatia, the GDP per capita is $41,300 as of 2023.

be 27.0% less likely to be unemployed

In Costa Rica, 8.3% of adults are unemployed as of 2023. In Croatia, that number is 6.1% as of 2023.

be 29.4% less likely to live below the poverty line

In Costa Rica, 25.5% live below the poverty line as of 2022. In Croatia, however, that number is 18.0% as of 2021.

pay a 3.1 times higher top tax rate

Costa Rica has a top tax rate of 15.0% as of 2016. In Croatia, the top tax rate is 47.2% as of 2016.

Life

be 77.3% less likely to die during childbirth

In Costa Rica, approximately 22.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2020. In Croatia, 5.0 women do as of 2020.

have 21.3% fewer children

In Costa Rica, there are approximately 10.8 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Croatia, there are 8.5 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

Expenditures

spend 17.9% less on education

Costa Rica spends 6.7% of its total GDP on education as of 2020. Croatia spends 5.5% of total GDP on education as of 2020.

Geography

see 4.5 times more coastline

Costa Rica has a total of 1,290 km of coastline. In Croatia, that number is 5,835 km.

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

Croatia: At a glance

Croatia is a sovereign country in Europe, with a total land area of approximately 55,974 sq km. The lands that today comprise Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the close of World War I. In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal independent communist state under the strong hand of Marshal TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared from Croatian lands, along with a majority of Croatia's ethnic Serb population. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998. The country joined NATO in April 2009 and the EU in July 2013.
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How big is Croatia compared to Costa Rica? See an in-depth size comparison.

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