Social benefits, Ratio of this level of government's expenditure on in Costa Rica

Costa Rica: Social benefits, Ratio of this level of government's expenditure on was 0.5515 in 2020. ▼ Falling

Latest (2020)
0.5515
Change on year
up 7.3%
World rank
27th
of 79 countries
All-time high
0.6943
in 2002
All-time low
0.4272
in 2018
Years of data
19
2002–2020

Social benefits, Ratio of this level of government's expenditure on in Costa Rica, 2002–2020

00.20.40.62002201120202002: 0.6942003: 0.6612004: 0.6592005: 0.6532006: 0.6462007: 0.6182008: 0.6062009: 0.6092010: 0.6222011: 0.592012: 0.5752013: 0.5662014: 0.5622015: 0.5592016: 0.5682017: 0.5432018: 0.4272019: 0.5142020: 0.552

Source: International Monetary Fund.

Analysis

The most recent figure for social benefits, ratio of this level of government's expenditure on in Costa Rica is 0.5515, measured in 2020.

The figure is up 7.3% on the previous year and down 11.4% over ten years.

Over the whole period, social benefits, ratio of this level of government's expenditure on in Costa Rica peaked at 0.6943 in 2002 and was at its lowest, 0.4272, in 2018.

Costa Rica ranks 27th of 79 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 19 years of available data.

Social benefits, Ratio of this level of government's expenditure on in Costa Rica, year by year

Annual values for Social benefits, Ratio of this level of government's expenditure on this item to total general government expenditure on this, Percent (Central government) in Costa Rica, 2002 to 2020.
Year Value Change
2002 0.6943
2003 0.6607 -4.8%
2004 0.6588 -0.3%
2005 0.6527 -0.9%
2006 0.6462 -1.0%
2007 0.6176 -4.4%
2008 0.6055 -2.0%
2009 0.6091 +0.6%
2010 0.6225 +2.2%
2011 0.5899 -5.2%
2012 0.5749 -2.5%
2013 0.5656 -1.6%
2014 0.5618 -0.7%
2015 0.5594 -0.4%
2016 0.5679 +1.5%
2017 0.5432 -4.4%
2018 0.4272 -21.4%
2019 0.5139 +20.3%
2020 0.5515 +7.3%

Costa Rica compared with similar countries

  • Costa Rica's 0.5515 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.2134, 2.6× the median. (42 countries reporting)
  • Costa Rica's 0.5515 is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 0.4561, 1.2× the median. (10 countries reporting)

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 0.6431 0.6055 0.6943 8
2010s 0.5526 0.4272 0.6225 10
2020s 0.5515 0.5515 0.5515 1

Countries ranked near Costa Rica

  1. 24 Kazakhstan 0.6241 compare
  2. 25 South Africa 0.6131 compare
  3. 26 Ireland 0.5951 compare
  4. 28 Cape Verde 0.551 compare
  5. 29 Senegal 0.4719 compare
  6. 30 Mongolia 0.4098 compare

See the full ranking of 79 places →

More public sector data for Costa Rica

All data for Costa Rica →

Frequently asked questions

What is social benefits, ratio of this level of government's expenditure on in Costa Rica?
Social benefits, ratio of this level of government's expenditure on in Costa Rica was 0.5515 in 2020, according to International Monetary Fund.
What is the highest social benefits, ratio of this level of government's expenditure on recorded in Costa Rica?
The highest recorded value was 0.6943 in 2002.
What is the lowest social benefits, ratio of this level of government's expenditure on recorded in Costa Rica?
The lowest recorded value was 0.4272 in 2018.
How does Costa Rica rank for social benefits, ratio of this level of government's expenditure on?
Costa Rica ranks 27th out of 79 countries with data for 2020.
Is social benefits, ratio of this level of government's expenditure on rising or falling in Costa Rica?
Over the last ten years it is down 11.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
The figures come from International Monetary Fund, published as part of Social benefits, Ratio of this level of government's expenditure on this item to total general government expenditure on this, Percent (Central government). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 19 observations, free to reuse under IMF Terms and Conditions (attribution required).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Social benefits, Ratio of this level of government's expenditure on in Costa Rica. Statizoid, drawing on International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 17 September 2026, from https://public-sector.statizoid.com/stat/social-benefits-ratio-of-this-level-of-government-s-expenditure-on-this-item-to-total/costa-rica/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under IMF Terms and Conditions (attribution required); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://public-sector.statizoid.com/stat/social-benefits-ratio-of-this-level-of-government-s-expenditure-on-this-item-to-total/costa-rica/">Social benefits, Ratio of this level of government's expenditure on in Costa Rica</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Social benefits, Ratio of this level of government's expenditure on this item to total general government expenditure on this, Percent (Central government)
Source
International Monetary Fund
Licence
IMF Terms and Conditions (attribution required)
Coverage
79 places, 1,532 data points, 1972–2020
Last refreshed

The Fiscal Decentralization dataset includes fiscal decentralization indicators for a sample of IMF member countries. The following indicators are included in the dataset: Revenue and Expenditure Decentralization Shares; Transfer dependency and Vertical Fiscal Imbalances; Deficit and Debt; Allocation of expenditure (economic classification); Allocation of expenditure (functional classification); Allocation of non-Tax Revenues; and Allocation of Taxes.