This year poverty in Costa Rica increased to 26.2%, the highest in 28 years, with over 420,000 households who do not meet their basic needs.
The economic crisis generated by the pandemic response, and and ongoing fiscal uncertainty, has resulted in 84,000 more households to enter into poverty levels. As of July 2020, there are almost 420,000 households that do not cover their basic needs, 26.2% of the country's total.
This means there are approximately 1,500,000 individuals who are going through economic hardship.
These households receive less than ¢ 112,266 per month, per person, in the urban area, and ¢ 86,439, in the rural areas of the country.
Statistics were announced October 15 by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC).
"The average income per household is ¢ 891,934 per month, which represents a variation of -12.2% compared to the previous year when it stood at ¢ 1,016,358," INEC stated in their press release.
Households that do not have sufficient income even for basic food, rose from 5.8% to 8.5% of all households.
Economic aid from the government is credited for preventing the numbers being worse, however that aid may be coming to an end should the government run out of sufficient funds.
Leaders in the administration are currently negotiating how best to move forward. They need to do so quickly for the benefit of all Costa Ricans, before things get worse.
