Costa Rica

Latin America & Caribbean · Upper middle income· 5.11M inhabitants

Last updated: May 27, 2025

Futures readiness profile

Key insights: Costa Rica

Key areas of strength for Costa Rica: Human Capital (66, 92nd percentile). This reflects substantial capacity for education futures readiness and may serve as models for broader policy learning or international benchmarking.

Critical gaps holding back overall readiness: School Access and Gender Parity (18, 32nd percentile). Addressing weak points should be prioritized, as futures readiness demands robust performance across all GEFRI dimensions, not only in select areas.

Areas of untapped potential: Infrastructure (71, 67th percentile) and Innovation (45, 58th percentile). While these scores are at or near the global average, substantial progress and greater ambition are needed to drive transformation and strengthen the country’s future in education.

Composite GEFRI Score

53.00

51st percentile

Higher scores indicate greater education futures readiness

Component scores

School Access and Gender Parity18.25

Below global avg. · 32nd %-tile

Governance64.91

Above global avg. · 79th %-tile

Captures the effectiveness and quality of policies, regulations, and governance that shape the educational environment.

Infrastructure71.07

Above global avg. · 67th %-tile

Measures the availability and quality of basic digital and electrical infrastructure that supports education.

Human Capital66.13

Above global avg. · 92nd %-tile

Assesses the educational attainment and capacity of a country’s population, focusing on access and completion at secondary and tertiary levels as well as literacy.

Innovation44.62

Near the global average · 58th %-tile

Reflects a country’s capacity to foster, produce, and apply new knowledge and technology in society and education.

Regional peers: Latin America & Caribbean

Global rank	Regional rank	Country	Score
34	1	Chile	70.69
39	2	Uruguay	65.36
42	3	Argentina	64.34
—	—	St. Vincent and the Grenadines(microstate)	60.07
—	—	Antigua and Barbuda(microstate)	59.84
—	—	Barbados(microstate)	59.30
64	4	Peru	58.45
—	—	Aruba(microstate)	57.21
—	—	Cayman Islands(microstate)	55.79
—	—	St. Kitts and Nevis(microstate)	55.69
77	5	Colombia	55.60
—	—	Turks and Caicos Islands(microstate)	55.11
—	—	Curacao(microstate)	55.07
79	6	Mexico	54.81
—	—	British Virgin Islands(microstate)	54.50
—	—	St. Martin (French part)(microstate)	54.20
—	—	Virgin Islands (U.S.)(microstate)	54.17
82	7	Brazil	54.00
83	8	Puerto Rico	53.98
84	9	Cuba	53.76
88	10	Costa Rica	53.00
—	—	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)(microstate)	52.03
—	—	St. Lucia(microstate)	51.19
95	11	Ecuador	50.88
99	12	Bolivia	50.03
100	13	Jamaica	49.46
101	14	Panama	49.40
—	—	Grenada(microstate)	49.18
108	15	Dominican Republic	47.03
—	—	Dominica(microstate)	46.62
111	16	Bahamas, The	44.52
112	17	Trinidad and Tobago	44.42
113	18	Paraguay	44.32
116	19	Guyana	42.30
117	20	El Salvador	42.10
120	21	Belize	41.06
121	22	Venezuela, RB	40.88
125	23	Suriname	37.33
130	24	Honduras	33.83
137	25	Guatemala	31.85
138	26	Nicaragua	31.15
159	27	Haiti	23.29