Homicides in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Homicides was 906 homicides in 2023. ▲ Rising
Homicides in Costa Rica, 1990–2023
Source: UN, World Population Prospects (2024); United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in homicides.
Analysis
In 2023, homicides in Costa Rica stood at 906 homicides. That is the highest value across all 34 years on record.
That represents a change of up 38.1% on the previous year and up 120.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, homicides in Costa Rica peaked at 906 homicides in 2023 and was at its lowest, 132 homicides, in 1991.
Costa Rica ranks 36th of 179 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 34 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 182.5 homicides | 132 homicides | 245 homicides | 10 |
| 2000s | 343.6 homicides | 249 homicides | 525 homicides | 10 |
| 2010s | 518.2 homicides | 407 homicides | 603 homicides | 10 |
| 2020s | 680 homicides | 570 homicides | 906 homicides | 4 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
More social development data for Costa Rica
- Political Rights Rating 1 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 36,395 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 367 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Key features of democracy 0.862 (2025)
- Freedom of Expression Index 0.915 (2025)
- Freedom of Association Index 0.922 (2025)
- Electoral Democracy Index 0.862 (2025)
- Participatory Democracy Index 0.606 (2025)
- Liberal Democracy Index 0.809 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is homicides in Costa Rica?
- Homicides in Costa Rica was 906 homicides in 2023, according to UN, World Population Prospects (2024); United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest homicides recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 906 homicides in 2023.
- What is the lowest homicides recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 132 homicides in 1991.
- How does Costa Rica rank for homicides?
- Costa Rica ranks 36th out of 179 countries with data for 2023.
- Is homicides rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 120.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from UN, World Population Prospects (2024); United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Homicides. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 34 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Number of intentional homicides.