Income per Person (GDP per capita, PPP) in Costa Rica: 1800 to Today (and Tomorrow)

To understand the economic life of a nation, MYRIAD examines average yearly economic output per person, adjusted for purchasing power using 2017 international dollars. Every value recorded here tells a statistical story about the actual lives lived across generations. These figures translate macroeconomic data into the material reality of households, reflecting the resources available for daily survival, labor, and community building through centuries of change.

The historical arc for Costa Rica reveals a steady, long-term upward trajectory from the dawn of the nineteenth century into the distant future. In the 1800s estimate, the recorded figure stood at 1,000 intl-$. This measure advanced gradually decade by decade, reaching 1,700 intl-$ in 1900s estimate. By the 2020s, income per person (gdp per capita, ppp) in Costa Rica stands at 14,500 intl-$ — ranking #90 of 157 countries. Projections extend this growth outward toward the 2100s projection, mapping a multi-century expansion.

For someone born in Costa Rica across these different eras, the economic baseline shifted dramatically. An ancestor navigating the 1800s estimate experienced a vastly different material world than a citizen encountering the 2020s figure of 14,500 intl-$. As the decades progress through projected markers like the 2030s projection and beyond, future generations will inhabit economies operating on entirely different numerical scales. Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born? →