Share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted was 10.6 percent in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted in Costa Rica, 2000–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in percent.
Analysis
Costa Rica recorded 10.6 percent for share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted in 2024. That is the highest value across all 25 years on record.
That represents a change of up 5.0% on the previous year and up 49.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted in Costa Rica peaked at 10.6 percent in 2024 and was at its lowest, 6.3 percent, in 2007.
That places Costa Rica 89th out of 160 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 25 years of available data.
Share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | percent | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 7.1 percent | — |
| 2001 | 6.9 percent | -2.8% |
| 2002 | 6.8 percent | -1.4% |
| 2003 | 6.7 percent | -1.5% |
| 2004 | 6.5 percent | -3.0% |
| 2005 | 6.4 percent | -1.5% |
| 2006 | 6.4 percent | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 6.3 percent | -1.6% |
| 2008 | 6.3 percent | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 6.4 percent | +1.6% |
| 2010 | 6.4 percent | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 6.5 percent | +1.6% |
| 2012 | 6.7 percent | +3.1% |
| 2013 | 6.9 percent | +3.0% |
| 2014 | 7.1 percent | +2.9% |
| 2015 | 7.4 percent | +4.2% |
| 2016 | 7.7 percent | +4.1% |
| 2017 | 7.9 percent | +2.6% |
| 2018 | 8.1 percent | +2.5% |
| 2019 | 8.4 percent | +3.7% |
| 2020 | 8.6 percent | +2.4% |
| 2021 | 9.1 percent | +5.8% |
| 2022 | 9.7 percent | +6.6% |
| 2023 | 10.1 percent | +4.1% |
| 2024 | 10.6 percent | +5.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 6.58 percent | 6.3 percent | 7.1 percent | 10 |
| 2010s | 7.31 percent | 6.4 percent | 8.4 percent | 10 |
| 2020s | 9.62 percent | 8.6 percent | 10.6 percent | 5 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
More reference data data for Costa Rica
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.2987 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 0.406 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 1.27 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.0167 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 1.27 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 1 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 0.3161 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 2.24 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 5.91 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.0907 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted in Costa Rica?
- Share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted in Costa Rica was 10.6 percent in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 10.6 percent in 2024.
- What is the lowest share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 6.3 percent in 2007.
- How does Costa Rica rank for share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted?
- Costa Rica ranks 89th out of 160 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 49.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of the population undernourished vs. share of children who are stunted. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Childhood stunting is the share of children younger than five years that are stunted, which means they are two standard deviations below the median height-for-age of the WHO's Child Growth Standards. Undernourishment is when a person's daily food intake does not provide enough energy to maintain a normal, active, and healthy life.