Natural resources:
hydropower
Land use: arable land: 4.41% permanent crops: 5.48% other: 90.11% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land:
1,260 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
occasional earthquakes, hurricanes along Atlantic coast; frequent
flooding of lowlands at onset of rainy season and landslides; active
volcanoes
Environment - current issues:
deforestation and land use change, largely a result of the clearing
of land for cattle ranching and agriculture; soil erosion; coastal
marine pollution; fisheries protection; solid waste management; air
pollution
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the
Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life
Conservation
Geography - note:
four volcanoes, two of them active, rise near the capital of San
Jose in the center of the country; one of the volcanoes, Irazu,
erupted destructively in 1963-65
People Costa Rica
Population:
3,896,092 (July 2003 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 30.1% (male 600,812; female 573,375)
15-64 years: 64.4% (male 1,269,667; female 1,241,097)
65 years and over: 5.4% (male 98,156; female 112,985) (2003 est.)