Costa Rica: people live longer than in the US
life expectancy, 2023
Life expectancy is 80.8 years, against 78.4 in the US, though GDP per person is $28,400 against $76,900. It overtook the US in 1984.
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Life expectancy at birth: how long a newborn would live at the mortality of the year. For contrast, GDP per person at purchasing-power parity.
Blue is the country of the headline, orange the one it is compared with; one scale. The ring marks where the lines crossed; the gap after it is shaded. The large numbers are the latest year both share.
- Costa Rica: Life expectancy at birth years
63.5 (1960) → 80.8 (2023)
- United States: Life expectancy at birth years
69.8 (1960) → 78.4 (2023)
- Costa Rica: GDP per capita, PPP constant 2021 international $
28,443 (2025)
- United States: GDP per capita, PPP constant 2021 international $
76,931 (2025)
Well-known countries against every country of sufficient size. An overtaking counts if the country was well behind at the start, ahead in no more than a fifth of the years before it, and it lasts to the latest shared year (at least two or three years in a row). A short dip of up to two years does not end a lead and is named. At most three overtakings per well-known country, and each country in at most one card of a kind.
World Bank, from UN and national estimates; for countries without complete death registration this is the UN model and the country’s own statistics may differ, so the lead must be at least two years. GDP per person in 2021 PPP dollars. Income is not the only thing life expectancy depends on.
A question for this picture
What buys years of life more cheaply than money: diet, habits, doctors or safety?