Costa Rica 54 Key Indicators, 2015 th Global Competitiveness Index 2016-2017 edition / 138 Source: International Monetary Fund; World Economic Outlook Database (April 2016) 4.8 Population (millions) 52.9 GDP (US$ billions) 10936.2 GDP per capita (US$) 0.07 GDP (PPP) % world GDP Performance overview Rank / 138 Score (1-7) Trend Distance from best Edition 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 54 4.4 Rank 57 / 144 54 / 148 51 / 144 52 / 140 54 / 138 57 4.7 Score 4.3 4.3 4.4 4.3 4.4 60 4.1 2nd pillar: Infrastructure 67 4.1  3rd pillar: Macroeconomic environment 82 4.4  4th pillar: Health and primary education 35 6.2 52 4.3 Global Competitiveness Index Subindex A: Basic requirements  1st pillar: Institutions Subindex B: Efficiency enhancers  5th pillar: Higher education and training 35 5.1  6th pillar: Goods market efficiency 78 4.2  7th pillar: Labor market efficiency 68 4.3  8th pillar: Financial market development 40 4.4  9th pillar: Technological readiness 45 4.8  10th pillar: Market size 83 3.3 45 3.9 1st pillar: Institutions 12th pillar: Innovation 2nd pillar: Infrastructure 7 6 11th pillar: Business sophistication 5 3rd pillar: Macroeconomic environment 4 3 2 Subindex C: Innovation and sophistication factors  11th pillar: Business sophistication 41 4.3  12th pillar: Innovation 48 3.6 10th pillar: Market size 9th pillar: Technological readiness 8th pillar: Financial market development Costa Rica Most problematic factors for doing business Inefficient government bureaucracy Inadequate supply of infrastructure Tax rates Access to financing Corruption Tax regulations Restrictive labor regulations Insufficient capacity to innovate Poor work ethic in national labor force Policy instability Inadequately educated workforce Foreign currency regulations Inflation Crime and theft Government instability Poor public health 4th pillar: Health and primary education 1 5th pillar: Higher education and training 7th pillar: Labor market efficiency 6th pillar: Goods market efficiency Latin America and the Caribbean Source: World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey 2016 22.9 16.1 13.4 10.3 8.0 7.0 5.6 4.5 2.2 2.0 2.0 1.9 1.6 1.6 0.5 0.3 0 6 12 18 24 Note: From the list of factors, respondents to the World Economic Forum's Executive Opinion Survey were asked to select the five most problematic factors for doing business in their country and to rank them between 1 (most problematic) and 5. The score corresponds to the responses weighted according to their rankings. Costa Rica Costa Rica The Global Competitiveness Index in detail  1st pillar: Institutions 1.01 Property rights 1.02 Intellectual property protection 1.03 Diversion of public funds 1.04 Public trust in politicians 1.05 Irregular payments and bribes 1.06 Judicial independence 1.07 Favoritism in decisions of government officials 1.08 Wastefulness of government spending 1.09 Burden of government regulation 1.10 Efficiency of legal framework in settling disputes 1.11 Efficiency of legal framework in challenging regs 1.12 Transparency of government policymaking 1.13 Business costs of terrorism 1.14 Business costs of crime and violence 1.15 Organized crime 1.16 Reliability of police services 1.17 Ethical behavior of firms 1.18 Strength of auditing and reporting standards 1.19 Efficacy of corporate boards 1.20 Protection of minority shareholders’ interests 1.21 Strength of investor protection 0-10 (best) 2nd pillar: Infrastructure 2.01 Quality of overall infrastructure 2.02 Quality of roads 2.03 Quality of railroad infrastructure 2.04 Quality of port infrastructure 2.05 Quality of air transport infrastructure 2.06 Available airline seat kilometers millions/week 2.07 Quality of electricity supply 2.08 Mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions /100 pop. 2.09 Fixed-telephone lines /100 pop.  3rd pillar: Macroeconomic environment 3.01 Government budget balance % GDP 3.02 Gross national savings % GDP 3.03 Inflation annual % change 3.04 Government debt % GDP 3.05 Country credit rating 0-100 (best)  4th pillar: Health and primary education 4.01 Malaria incidence cases/100,000 pop. 4.02 Business impact of malaria 4.03 Tuberculosis incidence cases/100,000 pop. 4.04 Business impact of tuberculosis 4.05 HIV prevalence % adult pop. 4.06 Business impact of HIV/AIDS 4.07 Infant mortality deaths/1,000 live births 4.08 Life expectancy years 4.09 Quality of primary education 4.10 Primary education enrollment rate net %  5th pillar: Higher education and training 5.01 Secondary education enrollment rate gross % 5.02 Tertiary education enrollment rate gross % 5.03 Quality of the education system 5.04 Quality of math and science education 5.05 Quality of management schools 5.06 Internet access in schools 5.07 Local availability of specialized training services 5.08 Extent of staff training Rank / 138 Value 60 48 43 78 76 62 31 65 113 126 87 43 46 23 85 67 63 57 55 64 66 129 4.1 4.6 4.5 3.3 2.9 4.2 5.2 3.1 2.4 2.6 3.3 3.9 4.5 5.9 4.2 5.0 4.5 4.0 4.9 4.9 4.1 3.5 67 4.1 106 125 97 102 59 74 44 20 63 3.2 2.7 1.8 3.2 4.6 163.5 5.6 150.7 17.2 82 4.4 110 98 1 58 60 -5.8 15.1 0.8 42.4 35 14 4 30 29 60 49 54 32 41 58 6.2 0.2 6.5 11.0 6.4 0.3 6.0 8.5 79.4 4.7 96.1 35 10 53 27 59 28 47 25 39 5.1 120.3 53.0 4.6 4.4 5.2 4.7 5.3 4.4 - Trend  6th pillar: Goods market efficiency 6.01 Intensity of local competition 6.02 Extent of market dominance 6.03 Effectiveness of anti-monopoly policy 6.04 Effect of taxation on incentives to invest 6.05 Total tax rate % profits 6.06 No. of procedures to start a business 6.07 Time to start a business days 6.08 Agricultural policy costs 6.09 Prevalence of non-tariff barriers 6.10 Trade tariffs % duty 6.11 Prevalence of foreign ownership 6.12 Business impact of rules on FDI 6.13 Burden of customs procedures 6.14 Imports % GDP 6.15 Degree of customer orientation 6.16 Buyer sophistication  7th pillar: Labor market efficiency 7.01 Cooperation in labor-employer relations 7.02 Flexibility of wage determination 7.03 Hiring and firing practices 7.04 Redundancy costs weeks of salary 7.05 Effect of taxation on incentives to work 7.06 Pay and productivity 7.07 Reliance on professional management 7.08 Country capacity to retain talent 7.09 Country capacity to attract talent 7.10 Female participation in the labor force ratio to men  8th pillar: Financial market development 8.01 Financial services meeting business needs 8.02 Affordability of financial services 8.03 Financing through local equity market 8.04 Ease of access to loans 8.05 Venture capital availability 8.06 Soundness of banks 8.07 Regulation of securities exchanges 8.08 Legal rights index 0-10 (best)  9th pillar: Technological readiness 9.01 Availability of latest technologies 9.02 Firm-level technology absorption 9.03 FDI and technology transfer 9.04 Internet users % pop. 9.05 Fixed-broadband Internet subscriptions /100 pop. 9.06 Internet bandwidth kb/s/user 9.07 Mobile-broadband subscriptions /100 pop.  10th pillar: Market size 10.01 Domestic market size index 10.02 Foreign market size index 10.03 GDP (PPP) PPP $ billions 10.04 Exports % GDP  11th pillar: Business sophistication 11.01 Local supplier quantity 11.02 Local supplier quality 11.03 State of cluster development 11.04 Nature of competitive advantage 11.05 Value chain breadth 11.06 Control of international distribution 11.07 Production process sophistication 11.08 Extent of marketing 11.09 Willingness to delegate authority  12th pillar: Innovation 12.01 Capacity for innovation 12.02 Quality of scientific research institutions 12.03 Company spending on R&D 12.04 University-industry collaboration in R&D 12.05 Gov't procurement of advanced tech. products 12.06 Availability of scientists and engineers 12.07 PCT patent applications applications/million pop. Rank / 138 Value 78 49 42 65 116 120 108 106 111 115 50 35 44 88 95 45 61 4.2 5.3 4.0 3.7 3.0 58.0 9 24.0 3.2 3.8 3.6 5.1 5.0 3.7 34.3 5.0 3.5 68 24 100 38 79 68 36 45 27 44 109 4.3 5.2 4.5 4.2 18.7 3.9 4.5 4.6 4.5 3.8 0.64 40 72 75 111 99 109 33 42 8 4.4 4.1 3.7 2.8 3.3 2.3 5.7 4.8 10 45 4.8 60 41 16 63 66 57 16 4.9 4.9 5.2 59.8 11.2 61.7 95.5 83 86 85 83 75 3.3 3.1 4.1 74.9 32.7 41 69 50 50 28 37 81 39 57 28 4.3 4.5 4.5 3.9 4.5 4.3 3.4 4.5 4.5 4.4 48 40 37 53 65 124 24 58 3.6 4.5 4.6 3.5 3.5 2.6 4.7 2.4 Trend Note: Values are on a 1-to-7 scale unless indicated otherwise. Trend lines depict evolution in values since the 2012-2013 edition (or earliest edition available). For detailed definitions, sources, and periods, consult the interactive Country/Economy Profiles and Rankings at http://gcr.weforum.org/