Costa Rica - People and Society

Costa Rica Population Etnies

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In the central part of the country, most people are of European descent. The pure indigenous population today numbers about 29,000, less than one percent of the population. In Guanacaste, most of the population descends from a mix of the Chorotega Indians, Bantu Africans and Spaniards. Descendants of black 19th-century Jamaican immigrant workers constitute an English-speaking minority and at three percent of the population number about 96,000. Costa Ricans of mestizo and European descent account for a combined 94 percent. Another one percent is ethnically Chinese.

Today there is a growing number of Amerindians who migrate for seasonal work opportunities as agricultural workers mainly in the south-eastern border region with Panama. The most important group of immigrants in Costa Rica are Nicaraguans, who represent ten percent of the population. Most of them were originally refugees from civil war during the late 1970s and 1980s, but after the Esquipulas Peace Agreement an increasing number of Nicaraguans continue to migrate into Costa Rica due to economic reasons. There is also a growing number of Colombian, Panamanian and Peruvian immigrants.

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Item Title

Hits

Visitor to Stay

1224

Saddling up in Guanacaste

1324

Guanacaste’s cowboys keep tradition alive

3895

Population Facts

2061

Class and Race

1930

Costa Rican Ethnicity

10421

Black People

2334

Other Ethnic Groups

3263