However, despite reassuring social development figures, increased investment in the high-tech industries, the ecotourism boom and impressive environmental record, this little piece of paradise is not without its troubles and has not entirely avoided the social, economic and political crisis experienced by its isthmus neighbors.
It seems that while the country has gone a long way to meet the Millennium Development Goals in education, health care, gender equality and environmental conservation, this is mostly the result of policies implemented before the 1980s, while under the current strategies of development social indices are actually falling and efforts to meet key targets in poverty reduction and income distribution equality have been at best ‘insufficient’. 11
The 2004/5 State of the Nation Report – an annual independent report on sustainable human development in Costa Rica - describes a ‘debilitated’ nation, characterized by a ‘significant deterioration of core aspects of national life’, 12 and reveals some very uncomfortable truths. It highlights a sharp rise in poverty and decline in real income for the population, to the extent that the current minimum wage has fallen to a level similar to that of 1997 despite considerable economic growth during this period. This has been accompanied by a simultaneous decline in the social income provided by the state due to a lack of growth in tax revenue and a pressure to reduce fiscal deficit.
Current figures show that 23.5% of Costa Ricans are living in poverty with 7.1% in extreme poverty; in terms of total poverty there are more poor households today than at any time in the past fifteen years and over the past twenty five years income poverty in Costa Rica has not been reduced at all; since 1980 it has remained at around 20%. 13
Much of this rise in poverty is concentrated in urban areas, with urban poverty surpassing rural poverty for the first time in 2004. This situation is reflected in the growth of shanty towns in the greater metropolitan area of San Jose, which more than doubled in size between 1987 and 2005 and in the increasing ‘contamination of urban centers’ 14in terms of overcrowding, waste and air pollution, rising crime, prostitution, drug addiction, social and sexual violence.
Costa Rica’s public safety record is no longer the envy of Central American countries and privately employed armed guards are now a common site, patrolling banks and businesses, shopping malls, hotels, offices and upscale neighborhoods, somewhat undermining the country’s image as a safe, peace-loving nation.
In addition the report describes a seriously deteriorated transport and public infrastructure system; an inflation rate of 13%, the highest in eight years (partly a result of huge rises in oil prices); the growth of a ‘voracious’ consumer culture and its attendant problems; and a country once renowned for its relatively equitable income distribution, quickly becoming a nation of inequality and extremes.
In fact, although a ranking of 47th on the Human Development Index is fairly impressive for a small, developing country, figures from the World Bank reveal that between 1990 and 2005 Costa Rica actually fell from 28th to 47th place.
The 2004/5 State of the Nation Report – an annual independent report on sustainable human development in Costa Rica - describes a ‘debilitated’ nation, characterized by a ‘significant deterioration of core aspects of national life’, 12 and reveals some very uncomfortable truths. It highlights a sharp rise in poverty and decline in real income for the population, to the extent that the current minimum wage has fallen to a level similar to that of 1997 despite considerable economic growth during this period. This has been accompanied by a simultaneous decline in the social income provided by the state due to a lack of growth in tax revenue and a pressure to reduce fiscal deficit.
Current figures show that 23.5% of Costa Ricans are living in poverty with 7.1% in extreme poverty; in terms of total poverty there are more poor households today than at any time in the past fifteen years and over the past twenty five years income poverty in Costa Rica has not been reduced at all; since 1980 it has remained at around 20%. 13
Much of this rise in poverty is concentrated in urban areas, with urban poverty surpassing rural poverty for the first time in 2004. This situation is reflected in the growth of shanty towns in the greater metropolitan area of San Jose, which more than doubled in size between 1987 and 2005 and in the increasing ‘contamination of urban centers’ 14in terms of overcrowding, waste and air pollution, rising crime, prostitution, drug addiction, social and sexual violence.
Costa Rica’s public safety record is no longer the envy of Central American countries and privately employed armed guards are now a common site, patrolling banks and businesses, shopping malls, hotels, offices and upscale neighborhoods, somewhat undermining the country’s image as a safe, peace-loving nation.
In addition the report describes a seriously deteriorated transport and public infrastructure system; an inflation rate of 13%, the highest in eight years (partly a result of huge rises in oil prices); the growth of a ‘voracious’ consumer culture and its attendant problems; and a country once renowned for its relatively equitable income distribution, quickly becoming a nation of inequality and extremes.
In fact, although a ranking of 47th on the Human Development Index is fairly impressive for a small, developing country, figures from the World Bank reveal that between 1990 and 2005 Costa Rica actually fell from 28th to 47th place.
