According to the latest National Homes Survey carried out by the National Institute of Census and Statistics ( Spanish acronym: INEC), 335,895 Costa Rican households live in poverty conditions in 2019, an increase of 7,047 homes in relation to 2018 when the total homes in poverty conditions reached 328,848.

However, percentage wise the poverty indicator remained almost the same going from 21.1% in 2018 to 21% in 2019 and extreme poverty went from 6.3% to 5.8%, which means the total number of families living in extreme poverty decreased from 99,034 to 93,542 this year.

INEC considers a home with an income under 50,618 colones (approximately $87.34) in the urban area a home in extreme poverty, in the rural areas a home with an income of less than 42,117 colones (approx. $72.67) is considered a home in extreme poverty.

“As long as there is poverty in the country it’s a call to the responsibility of continuing to work to reduce and, as it has been established in the objectives of sustainable development for the year 2030, eradicate extreme poverty”, commented president Carlos Alvarado.

The multidimensional poverty index, which measures in a comprehensive manner the needs of the families registered a percentage of 16.6%, which represents a decrease of 2.5% in comparison to 2018.

President Alvarado also highlighted the situation of the Chorotega region (Guanacaste province and Upala) where an improvement in the income of the population brought down the poverty index by 6 points positioning at 20.3%.

The central valley is the region of the country with less poor homes with 17%, while the Brunca region (Osa, Golfito, Corredores , Coto and Buenos Aires in Puntarenas and Perez Zeledón in San José), and the Central Pacific have the highest percentages with 30.3% and 29.8% respectively.