Nation Ranks 4th on Human Scale

Costa Rica ranked 48th out of 177 countries on the United Nations’ human development scale, according to a report presented this week in San José. The human development index takes into account length and quality of life, education levels, and gross domestic product per capita.

Costa Rica had the fourth highest human development in Latin America, after Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, based on data from 2005. Next were Cuba, Mexico, Panama and Brazil, in that order.

These eight countries were the only ones in Latin America ranked by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as having “high” human development. Of these eight countries, Costa Rica had the highest life expectancy (78.5 years), and the lowest urbanization, with 61.7 percent of residents living in cities.

Costa Rica had the second lowest literacy rate, and the third lowest GDP per capita.