www.CostaRicaTicas.com

There is a saying that perception is reality but that is not always true. The latest figures refute the perception that crime in Costa Rica is increasing. That is not to say that crime is not a problem as it is a problem almost everywhere in the world but is does indicate that it is far less a problem then some posters here would have you believe.

All Costa Rica Crime Figures Lower in 2010
Scott Oliver - 22nd January 2011

It was a little foolish of me to actually think that the English language news sources would ever dream of publishing good news about crime in Costa Rica but here it is...

The OIJ (Costa Rica's FBI) revealed yesterday that the numbers of assaults, car thefts, rapes and murders fell between 2009 and 2010.

"There are significant downward trends. It is important that citizens know this even though there is a widespread belief that crime is rising," said the Director of the OIJ, Jorge Rojas.

The only criminal activity that showed an increase was theft, which rose from 4,191 cases in 2009 to 4,488 in 2010. But even that has an explanation because petty theft where the value of the property is less than US$500 avoided prosecution and was not counted in the past but now those thefts are being included in the crime figures.

In 2010 there was a total of 486 homicides in Costa Rica. According to the CIA Country Report for Costa Rica the population of Costa Rica is 4,516,220 making Costa Rica's overall homicide rate 10.65 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The bad news is that the 576Km2 province of Limón with only 47,558 inhabitants remains the region with the highest homicide rate of 35 per 100,000 inhabitants but the good news according to the OIJ is that overall 70% of the 2010 homicides are resolved.

The numbers do vary a little depending on the source but no matter what statistics you look at, Costa Rica remains the safest country in all of Central America.

1. El Salvador has a homicide rate in 2009 of 76 per 100,000 inhabitants
2. Honduras has a homicide rate in 2009 of 66.8 per 100,000
3. Guatemala has a homicide rate in 2009 of 48 per 100,000
4. Panama has a homicide rate in 2009 of 24 per 100,000
5. Nicaragua has a homicide rate in 2009 of 13 per 100,000
6. Costa Rica had a total of 494 homicides for a homicide rate in 2009 of 11 per 100,000 and only 10.65 in 2010

Don't take my word for it though, there are many different sources where you can find this information so please take a look for yourself.

When you do, you'll see that the homicide rate for San Jose, Costa Rica (13) is lower than the homicide rate for a few major US cities you might recognize like Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Columbus, Memphis, Baltimore, Nashville, Washington DC, Atlanta, Tucson, Kansas City, Cleveland, Miami, Oakland, Tulsa, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, New Orkleans, Newark, Buffalo and Mobile.

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Alex Levine

Very interesting article.

While it's not that hard for cities and even countries to fudge crime statistics, murder seems like it would be more difficult.

"Yes, we found the body here and the head across the street, so it's probably another death from natural causes."

Seriously though, is there a concrete reason why Costa Rica, Nicaragua and to some extent Panama have lower murder rates? Or maybe the better question is why do Honduras, Guatemala and especially El Salvador have such high murder rates?

Is it the drug trade because the three northernmost countries are where the South American drugs get started on their land journey to the U.S.? If so, Mexico could have a really high homicide rate too if it's not masked by the much bigger overall population there.

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