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Quality of Life
 Costa Rica's weather is enjoyable year round. The average temperature range in San Jose goes from 57º-75ºF in December, and 63º - 81ºF in May. The Caribbean coast averages 70°F at night and over 86°F during the day. The Pacific coast is hotter than the Caribbean, but is less humid. The combination of leisure and adventure activities (such as playing golf, fishing, surfing, rafting, etc) make this country an ideal place to stay.
After Costa Rica decided to eliminate its army in 1949, resources that were used for military purposes were redirected towards education and health care. This has allowed the country to achieve the best levels of health care in Latin America, comparable only to those of developed countries. Besides the public health system, the country has a strong private health network that counts on many hospitals and clinics with great prestige and reputation. In 2005, Costa Rica registers an infant death rate almost as low as the one for the United States (9.75 deaths for every 1,000 born alive in Costa Rica, against the 6.5 rate in the US). This is particularly relevant when considering that the United States has a per-capita income 8.7 times larger than that of Costa Rica.
According to the World Bank, Costa Rica has the highest life expectancy at birth within Latin America. With 78.7 years of life expectancy at birth, Costa Rica’s rate equals that of Canada and beats the US’s life expectancy by one year. 95% of Costa Rica’s population has adequate potable water access (at least 20 liters/person/day). In addition, 93% of all Costa Rican have access to improved sanitary facilities.
Cost of Living: According to The Economist Intelligence Unit, Costa Rica ranks as one of the best combinations of high quality of life and cost of living.
The Worldwide Cost of Living Survey compares the cost of a representative basket of goods and services in dollar terms from over 130 cities worldwide, in order to provide guidance for the calculation of executive allowances. Using New York as a base index of 100, Costa Rica’s cost of living is 54, ranking 117th among 133 countries, which implies that the cost of buying the same goods basket in Costa Rica is almost the half the cost it has in New York.
Business Climate
During the two last decades, Costa Rica’s trade policy has shifted from being one with a high level of protection into one that promotes openness and active trade negotiations internationally.
By 1985, the US government granted trade concessions to several countries in Latin America coming out of debt crisis, the Caribbean Basin Initiative, a independent mechanism through which Costa Rica exports duty-free products to the US to this date, was created.
Later, in 1990 Costa Rica joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and since then they have actively participated in multilateral negotiations concerning the elimination of tariffs, and at the same time, in numerous bilateral trade agreements with its most important trade partners. In 1994, the first Free Trade Agreement as such was negotiated and ratified with Mexico, and since then, Costa Rica started an aggressive venture in international markets with significant governmental support.
The government has long placed a high priority in investing in public education, which includes the university system as well as the technical and vocational training scheme. Since the elimination of the armed forces in 1949 many resources have been invested mostly in free education and health services for the population. While a generous education expenditure ratio of more than 5% over GDP is currently maintained by law.
These efforts are reflected in Costa Rica by being one of the highest Human Development Indexes among developing nations (0.834), and one of the highest literacy rates of the Americas (95.6%).
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