Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services was 99.6% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Costa Rica, 2000–2024
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Costa Rica recorded 99.6% for share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in 2024. That is the highest value across all 25 years on record.
That represents a change of up 3.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Costa Rica peaked at 99.6% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 88.1%, in 2000.
That places Costa Rica 44th out of 178 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 25 years of available data.
Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 88.1% | — |
| 2001 | 88.7% | +0.7% |
| 2002 | 89.3% | +0.7% |
| 2003 | 89.9% | +0.7% |
| 2004 | 90.6% | +0.7% |
| 2005 | 91.2% | +0.7% |
| 2006 | 91.8% | +0.7% |
| 2007 | 92.4% | +0.7% |
| 2008 | 93.0% | +0.7% |
| 2009 | 93.6% | +0.7% |
| 2010 | 94.2% | +0.7% |
| 2011 | 94.8% | +0.7% |
| 2012 | 95.5% | +0.7% |
| 2013 | 96.1% | +0.6% |
| 2014 | 96.7% | +0.6% |
| 2015 | 97.3% | +0.6% |
| 2016 | 97.9% | +0.6% |
| 2017 | 98.6% | +0.6% |
| 2018 | 99.2% | +0.6% |
| 2019 | 99.6% | +0.5% |
| 2020 | 99.6% | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 99.6% | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 99.6% | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 99.6% | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 99.6% | +0.0% |
Costa Rica compared with similar countries
- Costa Rica's 99.6% is below the median for high income countries, which is 100.0%, 100% of the median. (50 countries reporting)
- Costa Rica's 99.6% is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 93.3%, 1.1× the median. (28 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 90.9% | 88.1% | 93.6% | 10 |
| 2010s | 97.0% | 94.2% | 99.6% | 10 |
| 2020s | 99.6% | 99.6% | 99.6% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
More environment data for Costa Rica
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 2.9 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 2.71 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.257 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.61 °C (2025)
- Wood-based panels — Production, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual 2.09 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per unit 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), annual growth rate -0.3048 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Costa Rica?
- Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Costa Rica was 99.6% in 2024, according to WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 99.6% in 2020.
- What is the lowest share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 88.1% in 2000.
- How does Costa Rica rank for share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services?
- Costa Rica ranks 44th out of 178 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 3.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services. 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
Proportion of people who use an improved drinking water source, which is either located on their premises, or at a collection point, which takes no more than 30 minutes for a roundtrip.