ILOSTAT - Labour force survey — Labour force participation rate by in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: ILOSTAT - Labour force survey — Labour force participation rate by was 21.86 % in 2025. ▼ Falling
ILOSTAT - Labour force survey — Labour force participation rate by in Costa Rica, 2011–2025
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2025, ilostat - labour force survey — labour force participation rate by in Costa Rica stood at 21.86 %. That is the lowest value across all 15 years on record.
That represents a change of down 11.8% on the previous year and down 23.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, ilostat - labour force survey — labour force participation rate by in Costa Rica peaked at 33.17 % in 2019 and was at its lowest, 21.86 %, in 2025.
That places Costa Rica 68th out of 79 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 15 years of available data.
ILOSTAT - Labour force survey — Labour force participation rate by in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 27.48 % | — |
| 2012 | 30.18 % | +9.8% |
| 2013 | 32.19 % | +6.7% |
| 2014 | 31.01 % | -3.7% |
| 2015 | 28.69 % | -7.5% |
| 2016 | 26.57 % | -7.4% |
| 2017 | 26.77 % | +0.8% |
| 2018 | 29.26 % | +9.3% |
| 2019 | 33.17 % | +13.4% |
| 2020 | 28.56 % | -13.9% |
| 2021 | 30.18 % | +5.7% |
| 2022 | 29.68 % | -1.7% |
| 2023 | 26.03 % | -12.3% |
| 2024 | 24.79 % | -4.8% |
| 2025 | 21.86 % | -11.8% |
Costa Rica compared with similar countries
- Costa Rica's 21.86 % is below the median for high income countries, which is 36.15 %, 60% of the median. (37 countries reporting)
- Costa Rica's 21.86 % is below the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 33.05 %, 66% of the median. (11 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 29.48 % | 26.57 % | 33.17 % | 9 |
| 2020s | 26.85 % | 21.86 % | 30.18 % | 6 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
- 65 Philippines 23.46 % compare
- 66 Czechia 23.41 % compare
- 67 Namibia 21.88 % compare
- 69 Bosnia and Herzegovina 21.04 % compare
- 70 South Africa 19.52 % compare
- 71 Bulgaria 19.38 % compare
More economy & growth data for Costa Rica
- Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) Table 04 - Annual real GDP 2.74 Percent per annum (2029)
- Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) Table 02 - Annual real GDP 3.3 Percent per annum (2029)
- Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$), gaps 466.29 million BoP, current US$ (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$), per unit 0.0045 BoP, current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$), per capita 90.49 BoP, current US$ per person (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$), gaps filled 5.59 billion BoP, current US$ (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$), annual 3.39 % change on previous year (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$), per unit 0.0543 BoP, current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$), per capita 1,084 BoP, current US$ per person (2025)
- Total reserves (includes gold, current US$), annual growth rate 20.52 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is ilostat - labour force survey — labour force participation rate by in Costa Rica?
- Ilostat - labour force survey — labour force participation rate by in Costa Rica was 21.86 % in 2025, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest ilostat - labour force survey — labour force participation rate by recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 33.17 % in 2019.
- What is the lowest ilostat - labour force survey — labour force participation rate by recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 21.86 % in 2025.
- How does Costa Rica rank for ilostat - labour force survey — labour force participation rate by?
- Costa Rica ranks 68th out of 79 countries with data for 2025.
- Is ilostat - labour force survey — labour force participation rate by rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is down 23.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of ILOSTAT - Labour force survey — Labour force participation rate by age, 15 to 24, rural areas — Female — Value. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 15 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).
About this data
The FAOSTAT Employment indicators domain focuses on indicators related to employment in agrifood systems and rural areas. The update is performed yearly, using data from the International Labour Organization (ILO) database that contains a rich set of indicators from a wide range of topics related to labour statistics. The indicators published in FAOSTAT are derived from the labour force statistics (LFS) and rural and urban labour markets (RURURB) databases of the ILOSTAT database.