Costa Rica

6 Pages 1564 Words

Geographical Analysis of Costa Rica

1. The political capital of Costa Rica is San Jose. It is a country that was colonized by the Spanish then continued to be neutral during the surrounding countries political battles. Costa Rica is a Latin American success story. It rests in the heart of Central America. It has two coastal plains divided by many volcanoes and rugged mountains. Its tropical environment provides a number of resources. It relies heavily on hydropower for electricity. They are involved in the coffee, banana and sugar markets. It has highly agricultural economy with a booming tourism and technology industries. It is still a heavily Christian culture which results in male dominance.

2. Table 1 presents Costa Rica’s population profile in terms of urbanization rate, estimated population, total fertility rate, annual growth rate, birth and death rates, life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate and dependency ratio. By analyzing this table and relating this data to the data of neighboring counties there is a perspective put into the level of development of Costa Rica. Costa Rica has the highest GDP in Central America. In relation to the rest of Latin America, it is a fairly stable country. The total fertility rate is just around the replacement level keeping their population growth rate down. This contrasts with Guatemala’s 4.8 TFR. Having a low TFR reflects on what stage of the demographic transition Costa Rica is in.

Table 1:
Urbanization Rate Est. Population (millions) Annual Growth Rate TFR Birth Rate (births/1000 population) Death Rate (births/1000 population) Life Expectancy at Birth (male/female) Infant Mortality Rate (deaths/1000 live births) Dependency Ratio
Costa Rica 3.70% 3.89 1.56% 2.38 19.4 4.31 74/79 10.65 35/64

Looking at the data in Table 1, one can determine the stage of the demographic transition of Costa Rica. My analysis leads me to conclude that Costa Rica is at the end of stage...