Costa Rica is one of the countries with the greatest progress in gender equality in Latin America and the Caribbean, ranking second in the region and 16th in the world in the 2025 Global Gender Gap Index prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The report, published in June of this year, evaluates 148 countries and measures the degree of parity between men and women in four key areas: economic participation and opportunities, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
With an overall score of 0.786 (where 1 represents full parity), Costa Rica ranks below Barbados, which leads the region with the same score but higher performance in some specific indicators, giving it 15th place globally.
Educational attainment
The area in which Costa Rica achieves its best result is in educational attainment, with an index of 0.998, which This ranks Costa Rica 50th globally. This figure indicates that there is near parity between men and women in access, retention, and achievement within the education system.
This is followed by the health and survival indicator, with a score of 0.974, placing the country 45th in the world. This area assesses life expectancy and the birth rate by sex, two indicators in which Costa Rica maintains high levels of equity. In contrast, challenges persist in other areas. In economic participation and opportunities, the country obtained a score of 0.709, placing it 69th globally.
This indicator measures aspects such as the labor force participation rate, wage equality, the proportion of women in technical and professional positions, and their presence in leadership positions. According to the study, in Costa Rica, only 11.3% of companies have majority female participation, and 25.3% have female senior management.
Leadership positions
Furthermore, the promotion of women to leadership positions has a score of 4.9 on a scale of 1 to 7, suggesting there is still significant room for improvement in this area.
The index also considers women’s access to productive resources. In this area, the country presents equal rights in access to financial services, inheritance rights for widows and daughters, and access to other assets. However, in the case of access to land, rights are rated as “almost equal,” revealing certain restrictions that must be addressed to achieve full equity.
One of the critical points highlighted by the report is reproductive autonomy, in which Costa Rica appears to have “restricted rights,” limiting women’s decision-making regarding their health and family planning. The area where Costa Rica obtains its lowest score is in political empowerment, with 0.461, despite ranking 18th globally in this indicator.
This dimension measures the presence of women in parliamentary, ministerial, and head of state positions. Although the country has made notable progress, such as having Although Costa Rica, which had a female president elected in the past, still faces unequal representation in key decision-making bodies.
The World Economic Forum report also reveals that, despite progress, the global gender gap is far from closing. According to projections, it will take 134 years to achieve full parity between men and women on a global scale. In the Latin American context, Costa Rica stands out above countries like Nicaragua, Chile, and Mexico.
