Data or statistical facts on the situation and perspectives of agri-food systems and the impact of policies
More than $85 million in carbon credits have been mobilized in Costa Rica since 2021, highlighting the role of agriculture and bioenergy (Bolsa Nacional de Valores, 2023).
17% to 45% has been the range of participation of high-tech products among Costa Rica's exports in the last two decades, with 13% of the labor force employed by foreign companies from the zona franca regime (Campos et al., 2024).
31,638 arable hectares per worker are available in Costa Rica, being approximately 14% of the world average of 219,281 hectares per worker (Campos et al., 2024).
521,000 immigrants and only 150,000 emigrants were roughly present in Costa Rica in 2020, while Panama had 313,000 and 140,000 respectively, according to data from Expansion (Campos et al., 2024).
37th place is occupied by Costa Rica globally in the Social Progress Index, being the second highest-ranked country in Latin America and the first in the immediate region of Central America and the Caribbean (Campos et al., 2024).
4.2%, 3.2%, and 6.1% were the percentages of Foreign Direct Investment as a proportion of GDP in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Panama respectively in 2021, well above global averages of 1.9% for OECD countries and 2.1% for the world as a whole (Campos et al., 2024).
6% and 5.6% have been the annual output growth rates in the Dominican Republic and Panama respectively since 1960 up to the outset of COVID, faster than in the rest of Latin America, with Costa Rica in fifth place (Campos et al., 2024).
$26,606 is Panama's per capita GDP, the highest in Latin America, with Costa Rica fourth ($19,778) and the Dominican Republic seventh ($16,768), at least double that of other Central American countries (Campos et al., 2024).
The 1.6% annual decline in Costa Rica's Total Factor Productivity (TFP) between 2012 and 2021 contributed to agricultural output growth of only 0.6% per year, driven by increased use of primary factors and, to a lesser extent, variable inputs (OECD, 2024).
