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Sustainable Development Goals for Costa Rica

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Child well-being Child-related indicators Population overview

Child well-being

UNICEF’S commitment to data for children is guided by the fact that the SDGs impact every aspect of a child’s well-being. Our work is structured around 5 overarching areas of well-being for every child which are grounded in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This human rights-based approach pursues a vision of realizing the rights of every child, especially the most disadvantaged and responds to the call to “leave no child behind”, so that the rights of every child, everywhere, will be fulfilled.

Share of countries assessed on progress towards global SDG targets, averaged across indicators grouped into five dimensions of children’s rights

Survive+thrive Survive+thrive

Learning Learning

Protection Protection

Environment Environment

Fair chance Fair chance

  • No data
  • Insufficient trend data
  • Acceleration needed
  • On track
  • Target met

Child-related SDG indicators

The 2030 Agenda includes 17 Global Goals addressing the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Attached to the Goals are 169 concrete targets measured by 232 specific indicators.

Provided below is a stocktaking of the country’s performance against the 44 child-related SDG indicators, grouping the results into five areas of child wellbeing to provide an overall assessment of child welfare. The countries are assessed using the global targets. They offer a powerful tool for quantifying the scale of the challenge posed by the SDG targets and identifying areas where the most effort is required to reach targets or improve monitoring.

Value
Latest year with data
Progress towards global target
Survive+thrive Survive+thrive
3.2.1 Under-five mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births)
7
2020
Target met
3.2.2 Neonatal mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births)
5
2020
Target met
3.3.1 (HIV Incidence) – New HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population [Children <5]
0
2020
Acceleration needed
3.3.1 (HIV Incidence) – New HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population [Adolescent GIRLS 15-19]
0
2020
Acceleration needed
3.3.1 (HIV Incidence) – New HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population [Adolescent BOYS 15-19]
0
2020
Acceleration needed
3.1.1 Maternal mortality ratio (deaths per 100,000 live births)
27
2017
Target met
3.1.2 Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel (%)
99
2019
Target met
3.7.2 Adolescent birth rate per 1,000 women
40
2019
On track
3.8.1 Coverage of essential health services (index)
78
2019
On track
2.2.1 Prevalence of stunting among children under 5 (%)
8
2020
Acceleration needed
2.2.2a Prevalence of wasting among children under 5 (%)
1
2018
Target met
2.2.2a Prevalence of overweight among children under 5 (%)
8
2020
Acceleration needed
3.b.1 Proportion of surviving infants receiving measles-containing-vaccine first-dose (MCV1) (%)
95
2020
Target met
3.b.1 Proportion of surviving infants receiving 3 doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) (%)
95
2020
Target met
Learning Learning
4.2.1 Proportion of children aged 36-59 months who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex (%)
85
2018
Acceleration needed
4.1.1 Proportion of children and young people at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading (%)
58
2018
Acceleration needed
4.1.1 Proportion of children and young people at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in mathematics (%)
40
2018
Acceleration needed
4.2.2 Participation rate in organized learning (one year before the official primary entry age) (%)
98
2020
Target met
4.a.1 Proportion of schools with access to WASH (%)
74
2019
Insufficient trend data
Protection Protection
8.7.1 Proportion of children aged 5-17 years engaged in child labour (%)
3
2018
Insufficient trend data
5.2.1 Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner (%)
–
–
No data
5.2.2 Proportion of women and girls aged 15-19 years subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner (%)
–
–
No data
5.3.1 Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 18 (%)
17
2018
Acceleration needed
5.3.2 Proportion of girls and women aged 15-49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation (%)
–
–
No data
16.2.1 Proportion of children 1-14 years who experienced any physical punishment and/or psychological aggression by caregivers in the past month (%)
49
2018
Insufficient trend data
16.2.3 Proportion of young women aged 18-29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18 (%)
–
–
No data
16.2.3 Proportion of young men aged 18-29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18 (%)
–
–
No data
16.9.1 Proportion of children under 5 years of age whose births have been registered with a civil authority (%)
100
2013
Target met
Environment Environment
6.1.1 Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services (%)
80
2020
Acceleration needed
6.2.1.a Proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services (%)
30
2020
Acceleration needed
1.4.1.a Proportion of the population using basic drinking water services (%)
99
2020
Target met
6.2.1.b Proportion of population with a basic handwashing facility with soap and water available on premises (%)
85
2020
Insufficient trend data
6.2.1.c Proportion of population practising open defecation (%)
0
2020
Target met
Fair chance Fair chance
1.1.1 Children living in households in extreme poverty (%)
–
–
Insufficient trend data
1.2.1 Children living below the national poverty line (%)
–
–
No data
1.2.2 Children living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions (%)
–
–
Insufficient trend data
1.3.1 Proportion of child population covered by social protection floors/systems (%)
18
2016
Insufficient trend data
  • No data
  • Insufficient trend data
  • Acceleration needed
  • On track
  • Target met

Note: This dashboard uses internationally comparable data from the global databases held on behalf of the international community by UNICEF and other United Nations agencies. While UNICEF is committed to the localization of SDG targets, global rather than national targets are used to gauge progress on the SDG indicators.  To read more about how the trajectories towards the global targets are assessed please read the methodology note.

Population overview

Understanding of a country’s population levels, trends and projections constitutes an essential ingredient in strategic planning, policy development and program implementation for addressing global challenges and emerging issues.

Total population: 5,212,173 (2021 projections)

Age (yrs)
Male
Female
0-4
5-9
10-14
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-74
75-79
80-84
85-89
90-94
95-99
100+
159,178
152,635
179,180
171,710
188,290
180,287
188,017
180,296
197,722
189,590
208,807
201,468
216,675
209,261
214,383
208,381
191,909
189,029
165,695
166,481
149,934
154,246
146,141
151,814
130,096
136,995
99,314
108,119
72,571
81,973
50,645
58,385
29,487
37,437
12,997
20,054
3,598
7,179
559
1,466
39
136
10
7.5
5
2.5
0
2.5
5
7.5
10
Share of total population (%)

Source: United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects 2019

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United Nations Secretariat for the SDGs (UN-DESA)

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