Rule of Law - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Rule of Law - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) was 0.6028 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Rule of Law - Governance estimate in Costa Rica, 1996–2025
Source: The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG). Measured in approx. -2.5 to +2.5.
Analysis
In 2025, rule of law - governance estimate in Costa Rica stood at 0.6028 approx. -2.5 to +2.5.
That represents a change of up 3.1% on the previous year and up 14.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rule of law - governance estimate in Costa Rica peaked at 0.6673 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 in 2010 and was at its lowest, 0.4375 approx. -2.5 to +2.5, in 1998.
Costa Rica ranks 58th of 208 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 27 years of available data.
Rule of Law - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 0.5141 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | — |
| 1998 | 0.4375 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -14.9% |
| 2000 | 0.4964 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +13.5% |
| 2002 | 0.6182 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +24.5% |
| 2003 | 0.5826 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -5.7% |
| 2004 | 0.5713 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -1.9% |
| 2005 | 0.6413 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +12.3% |
| 2006 | 0.5447 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -15.1% |
| 2007 | 0.5426 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -0.4% |
| 2008 | 0.5676 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +4.6% |
| 2009 | 0.6523 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +14.9% |
| 2010 | 0.6673 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +2.3% |
| 2011 | 0.4741 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -29.0% |
| 2012 | 0.4603 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -2.9% |
| 2013 | 0.47 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +2.1% |
| 2014 | 0.5379 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +14.5% |
| 2015 | 0.5251 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -2.4% |
| 2016 | 0.5216 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -0.7% |
| 2017 | 0.5331 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +2.2% |
| 2018 | 0.5052 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -5.2% |
| 2019 | 0.5799 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +14.8% |
| 2020 | 0.6134 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +5.8% |
| 2021 | 0.5849 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -4.7% |
| 2022 | 0.6411 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +9.6% |
| 2023 | 0.6037 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -5.8% |
| 2024 | 0.5845 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | -3.2% |
| 2025 | 0.6028 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | +3.1% |
Costa Rica compared with similar countries
- Costa Rica's 0.6028 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 is below the median for high income countries, which is 0.9506 approx. -2.5 to +2.5, 63% of the median. (75 countries reporting)
- Costa Rica's 0.6028 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is -0.2514 approx. -2.5 to +2.5. (37 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.4758 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.4375 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.5141 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 2 |
| 2000s | 0.5797 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.4964 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.6523 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 9 |
| 2010s | 0.5275 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.4603 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.6673 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.6051 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.5845 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 0.6411 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 | 6 |
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 rule of law - governance estimate in Costa Rica?
- Rule of law - governance estimate in Costa Rica was 0.6028 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 in 2025, according to The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG).
- What is the highest rule of law - governance estimate recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 0.6673 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 in 2010.
- What is the lowest rule of law - governance estimate recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.4375 approx. -2.5 to +2.5 in 1998.
- How does Costa Rica rank for rule of law - governance estimate?
- Costa Rica ranks 58th out of 208 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rule of law - governance estimate rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 14.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG), published as part of Rule of Law - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 27 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Rule of Law (RL) captures perceptions of the extent to which agents respect and follow the rules of society, including contract enforcement, property rights, the police, courts, and the likelihood of crime and violence. Governance estimate from the aggregation model, in units of a standard normal distribution, i.e. ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5. Larger values correspond to better governance. The (country-series-time) metadata include the (a) number of sources, and (b) standard error. The number of sources indicates the number of underlying data sources on which the governance estimate is based. The standard error indicates the precision of the governance estimate. Larger values indicate less precise estimates. A 90% confidence interval for the governance estimate is given by the estimate +/- 1.64 times the standard error.