Child Mortality (under 5) in Costa Rica: 1800 to Today (and Tomorrow)

Behind every data point on MYRIAD is the quiet weight of human lives lived and lost. For Costa Rica, the central statistic asks how many children out of every 1,000 born failed to reach their fifth birthday. This measure shapes families, communities, and generations, reflecting the fragile boundary between infancy and growing up across three centuries of recorded history.

The historical arc reveals a profound transformation over time. In the 1800s estimate, child mortality stood at 420 per 1,000 births, ticking down slowly through the decades to reach 350 per 1,000 births in the 1900s estimate. From there, the decline accelerated steadily through the mid-century decades, dropping to 180 in the 1950s, 80 in the 1980s, and 32 in the 2000s. In the 2020s, child mortality in Costa Rica stands at 16 per 1,000 births, ranking #79 of 157 countries, with future projections continuing downward toward 2.68 in the 2100s projection.

If you were born in Costa Rica across these shifting eras, your survival odds changed dramatically depending on the decade. An infant entering the world in the 1840s estimate faced a grim 392 per 1,000 births mortality rate, whereas a child born today navigates a vastly different landscape defined by the modern rate of 16 per 1,000 births. Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born?