Population by Province

Population by Province

Population by Province

Population by Province
Population by Province and City in Costa Rica
Costa Rica is divided into 7 provinces, which were subdivided into 81 counties (cantones), which in turn were subdivided into 459 distritos (districts). (2000 census date)
Population by City
Provinces of Costa Rica
Primary subdivisions:

Costa Rica is divided into 7 provinces (provincias ).

Province - HASC - ISO - FIPS - Code - Population - Area(km.²) - Area(mi.²) - Capital
Alajuela - CR.AL - A - CS01 - 20000 - 716, 286 - 9, 754 - 3, 766 - Alajuela
Cartago - CR.CA - C - CS02 - 30000 - 432, 395 - 3, 125 - 1, 206 - Cartago
Guanacaste - CR.GU - G - CS03 - 50000 - 264, 238 - 10, 141 - 3, 915 - Liberia
Heredia - CR.HE - H - CS04 - 40000 - 354, 732 - 2, 657 - 1, 026 - Heredia
Limón - CR.LI - L - CS06 - 70000 - 339, 295 - 9, 189 - 3, 548 - Puerto Limón
Puntarenas - CR.PU - P - CS07 - 60000 - 357, 483 - 11, 266 - 4, 350 - Puntarenas
San José - CR.SJ - SJ - CS08 - 10000 - 1, 345, 750 - 4, 960 - 1, 915 - San José
7 provinces - 3, 810, 179 - 51, 090 - 19, 726 -
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision code.
ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2.
FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4.
Code: INEC province code.
Population: 2000-06-26 census.
Cantons: Number of cantons in province.

The National Institute of Statistics and Census (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos) has defined a hierarchical code for the administrative divisions of Costa Rica. Each municipality has a distinct five-digit code. The first digit represents a province (note: not region), and the province code is that digit followed by four zeros. Likewise, the first three digits of the municipality code represent a canton, and the canton code ends in two zeros.

Postal Codes

Postal codes:

Costa Rica uses four-digit postal codes. They don't correlate well with the provinces.

Further subdivisions:

The provinces are subdivided into cantons, which in turn are subdivided into districts.

Regions Costa Rica
Costa Rica is also divided into six regions. I haven't been able to find a direct explanation for the coexistence of regions and provinces. It appears that the provinces are the primary units of local government. The regions seem to be used for certain statistical reports, such as public health. Some region names derive from precolumbian ethnic groups. The regional division listed below comes from the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce. According to the MEIC page, this regionalization of Costa Rica was created by Decree No. 16068, Plan of February 15, 1985. Other sources have slightly different lists of regions. Central is sometimes subdivided into Central Norte, Central Occidental, Central Oriental, and Central Sur.

Region - Population - Area(km.²) - Area(mi.²) - Provinces
Brunca - 320, 863 - 9, 528 - 3, 679 - parts of P and SJ
Central - 2, 064, 068 - 10, 669 - 4, 119 - C and parts of A, H, and SJ
Chorotega - 251, 241 - 10, 141 - 3, 915 - G and part of A
Huetar Atlántica - 294, 380 - 9, 189 - 3, 548 - L and part of H
Huetar Norte - 164, 092 - 7, 663 - 2, 959 - parts of A and H
Pacífico Central - 176, 056 - 3, 911 - 1, 510 - part of P
Total - 3, 270, 700 - 51, 101 - 19, 730 -
Population: July, 1997 estimates.
Provinces: Provinces corresponding to the region's territory,
denoted by their ISO codes.
Territorial extent:
Costa Rica owns Isla del Coco in the Pacific Ocean.
Puntarenas includes the southeastern part of Península de Nicoya; Isla Chira and other islands in the Gulf of Nicoya; and Isla del Caño.
Change history:

~1990: Name of the capital of Limón changed from Limón to Puerto Limón

Other names of subdivisions:

Brunca: Pacífico Sur (variant)

* Province populations from the 2000 census of Costa Rica.

Costa Rica Population Province 2024
Afro-Costa Ricans in Costa Rica Minority Rights Group
Snapshot: Costa Rica's fixed internet coverage BNamericas English
Indigenous peoples in Costa Rica Minority Rights Group
Costa Rica country profile BBC.com