The record in plain text — overall score, categories, strengths and risks, momentum, resilience, strategic position, and diagnostics.
Strongest on Quality of Life (81/100) — sharpest risk, innovation weakness.
| Category | Score | Key driver |
|---|---|---|
| Economy | 58/100 | Financial Account Ownership |
| Governance | 56/100 | Judicial Independence |
| Quality of Life | 81/100 | Electricity Access |
| Innovation | 51/100 | Internet Penetration |
| Stability | 66/100 | Political Continuity & Legitimacy |
Derived — composites of sourced indicators. Full audit trail in Data Provenance below.
| Signal | Value | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| National Momentum | +1 | now 65, versus 64 three years ago, across 5 categories |
| Resilience | 45/100 | Pandemic 67 · Banking Crisis 45 · War / Conflict 38 · Natural Disaster 30 |
| Strategic Position | 52/100 | Demographics 69 · Resources 17 · Stability 66 · Education 70 · Technology 51 · Geopolitics 40 |
Costa Rica scores 62 (moderate) overall on NationsHelm's index. Momentum: up 1 point versus three years ago (now 65). Its strongest area is Quality of Life (81/100). The risk drawing attention: Innovation weakness.
All 192 tracked indicators — 110 sourced, 82 derived — each with its exact source, series code, and refresh cadence. The complete source-by-source catalog is on the methodology page.
Full catalog →Per-indicator sources are always public on the methodology page — Analyst assembles the complete ledger in context.
Costa Rica scores 62 out of 100 overall on NationsHelm's index (moderate) — the unweighted mean of its sourced category scores. Its strongest area is Quality of Life (81/100) and its weakest is Innovation (51/100).
Costa Rica's Stability score is 66 out of 100 (moderate), blended from World Bank governance indicators, V-Dem and UCDP conflict data.
Costa Rica's Economy score is 58 out of 100 (moderate), derived from World Bank, IMF and ILO indicators.
Costa Rica's Quality of Life score is 81 out of 100 (strong), covering safety, healthcare, education, basic living conditions, environment and living conditions context from sourced indicators.
Costa Rica's Governance score is 56 out of 100 (moderate), from World Bank governance indicators and V-Dem democracy data.
Costa Rica's Innovation score is 51 out of 100 (weak), from World Bank connectivity and business indicators, WIPO patent data and the Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index.
On NationsHelm's momentum read, Costa Rica is up 1 point versus three years ago — 65 now, from 64 — across the 5 categories with time-series coverage.
Costa Rica's defining asset is political continuity & legitimacy, while its sharpest risk is innovation weakness — patent Applications 2.92 per million — the category's weakest input (0/100).
Costa Rica's Strategic Position score is 52 out of 100 (weak), weighing demographics, resources, stability, education, technology and geopolitics — each component sourced or derived, with unsourced components dropped rather than counted as zero.
On NationsHelm's Opportunity Index, Costa Rica scores 58 out of 100 for Invest In — one of its three vectors, alongside Start a Business and Emigrate To, with a Resilience score of 45/100. Every input is sourced, so treat it as a starting map, not advice.