Costa Rica: Government spending, percent of GDP

The latest value from 2025 is 14.01 percent, a decline from 14.09 percent in 2024. In comparison, the world average is 16.56 percent, based on data from 131 countries. Historically, the average for Costa Rica from 1960 to 2025 is 14.58 percent. The minimum value, 10.35 percent, was reached in 1960 while the maximum of 18.22 percent was recorded in 1980. See the global rankings for that indicator or use the country comparator to compare trends over time.

The government size of Costa Rica and other countries is calculated as the total government spending as percent of GDP.

Definition: Final consumption expenditure is expenditure on goods and services by resident institutional units for the direct satisfaction of human needs or wants, whether individual or collective. General government FCE includes all government current expenditures for purchases of goods and services (including compensation of employees), and most expenditures on national defense and security, but excludes government military expenditures that are part of government capital formation. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.