Costa Rica is situated in the Central American isthmus and borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the southwest. It has extensive coastlines on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Costa Rica, the third smallest country in Central America, has a landmass of approximately 51,000 square kilometers (19,714 square miles), which makes it slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia, yet it has a population of almost 4 million. The population is largely mestizo (mix of Indian and European ancestry); other ethnic groups include West Indians and Chinese. A very small indigenous population also exists. Over 90 percent of the population is Catholic, which is the state religion (although the constitution does guarantee freedom of religion), but membership in Protestant evangelical churches continues to grow.

The country has a tropical climate that varies from rain and cloud forests to arid regions. Approximately 73 percent of its total...