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. β–² Rising

Latest (2024)
99.6%
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
44th
of 178 countries
All-time high
99.6%
in 2020
All-time low
88.1%
in 2000
Years of data
25
2000–2024

Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Costa Rica, 2000–2024

0204060801002000201220242000: 88.1 %2001: 88.7 %2002: 89.3 %2003: 89.9 %2004: 90.6 %2005: 91.2 %2006: 91.8 %2007: 92.4 %2008: 93 %2009: 93.6 %2010: 94.2 %2011: 94.8 %2012: 95.5 %2013: 96.1 %2014: 96.7 %2015: 97.3 %2016: 97.9 %2017: 98.6 %2018: 99.2 %2019: 99.6 %2020: 99.6 %2021: 99.6 %2022: 99.6 %2023: 99.6 %2024: 99.6 %

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.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest 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

  1. 41 Ukraine 99.7% compare
  2. 42 Cyprus 99.7% compare
  3. 43 Saudi Arabia 99.6% compare
  4. 45 Sweden 99.6% compare
  5. 46 Montenegro 99.5% compare
  6. 47 Samoa 99.3% compare

See the full ranking of 178 places β†’

More environment data for Costa Rica

All data for Costa Rica β†’

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 Β· JSON β€” 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services
Unit
%
Source
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
178 places, 4,351 data points, 2000–2024
Last refreshed

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.