Costa Rica

Costa Rica: Strong Governance Scores, No Recorded Military Spending

Costa Rica's gross domestic product reached $95.4 billion in 2024, per World Bank World Development Indicators (WDI), with per-capita output of $18,587.15 across a population of roughly 5.1 million the same year. Government debt is projected at 61.1% of GDP in 2026, per IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) data, and foreign exchange reserves stood at $17.09 billion in 2025, per IMF International Financial Statistics (IFS).

SIPRI's Military Expenditure Database lists Costa Rica's 2025 military spending and milex/GDP share both at zero. The Correlates of War National Material Capabilities (COW NMC) dataset likewise counts zero active personnel as of 2022, while still assigning Costa Rica a Composite Index of National Capability (CINC) score of 0.00026933773 for that year.

V-Dem's 2025 data describe strong formal democratic institutions: an electoral democracy index of 0.862, a liberal democracy index of 0.809, and a state capacity score of 0.935 — the highest of the three governance measures recorded for Costa Rica in this dataset.

Even with zero recorded military spending, Costa Rica's CINC score of 0.00026933773 reflects COW NMC's composite of population and industrial indicators alongside the zero-valued military components, folded into a single measure of relative material capability.

Energy figures from Our World in Data show primary energy use of 0.1655 exajoules in 2023 and electricity generation of 12.81 terawatt-hours in 2025, the latter the most recent electricity reading in this bundle.

Data gaps

Both oil and gas production are listed at zero for 2016 in Our World in Data's series, a reading now roughly a decade old. The zero figures for military expenditure and personnel are reported here exactly as they appear in SIPRI and COW NMC data; this briefing does not assert a cause for them beyond what the source datasets record. The 61.1% debt-to-GDP figure is an IMF projection for 2026 rather than a confirmed outturn.

Sources: World Bank World Development Indicators; IMF World Economic Outlook; IMF International Financial Statistics; SIPRI Military Expenditure Database; Correlates of War National Material Capabilities; V-Dem v15; Our World in Data (Energy).