Costa Rica vs Nicaragua: Share of government consumption in GDP vs. GDP per capita
Costa Rica
20.1%
in 2023
Nicaragua
20.2%
in 2023
Costa Rica rank
89th
Nicaragua rank
87th
Share of government consumption in GDP vs. GDP per capita over time
- Costa Rica
- Nicaragua
How they compare
Nicaragua currently reports 20.2% against 20.1% in Costa Rica, a difference of 0.1%.
The two have swapped places 9 times across 74 shared years of data; in 1950 it was Costa Rica ahead.
Costa Rica ranks 89th and Nicaragua ranks 87th of 184 countries.
Across the 8 decades both report, Costa Rica averaged higher in 3 and Nicaragua in 5.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Costa Rica | Nicaragua | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 10.4% | 5.2% | 5.2% | Costa Rica |
| 1960s | 14.6% | 4.4% | 10.1% | Costa Rica |
| 1970s | 18.1% | 6.0% | 12.1% | Costa Rica |
| 1980s | 18.1% | 22.6% | 4.5% | Nicaragua |
| 1990s | 14.2% | 15.0% | 0.7% | Nicaragua |
| 2000s | 14.7% | 14.9% | 0.2% | Nicaragua |
| 2010s | 19.0% | 19.6% | 0.6% | Nicaragua |
| 2020s | 20.8% | 22.8% | 2.0% | Nicaragua |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher share of government consumption in gdp vs. gdp per capita, Costa Rica or Nicaragua?
- Nicaragua, at 20.2% against 20.1% in Costa Rica as of 2023.
- What is the difference in share of government consumption in gdp vs. gdp per capita between Costa Rica and Nicaragua?
- 0.1%, with Nicaragua ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Costa Rica and Nicaragua?
- 74 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2023.
- How do Costa Rica and Nicaragua rank globally for share of government consumption in gdp vs. gdp per capita?
- Costa Rica ranks 89th and Nicaragua ranks 87th of 184 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Feenstra et al. - Penn World Table (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Share of government consumption in GDP vs. GDP per capita. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Government consumption divided by gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.