Health and Education

Medical Services

Despite its size and being an under developed country, Costa Rica has positioned itself among the countries with the highest public healthcare development in Latin America.

The Costa Rican Social Security Service (CCSS) is a public service institution that has accomplished important goals regarding health issues, including pensions and social security. This institution offers coverage and integrated health services through two types of insurance:

General coverage insurance, with a service that covers 100% of the country.
Contribution coverage insurance, with an 86.8% of the population.

Costa Rica is the country in Latin America with the highest life expectancy rate at 77.8 years old; it is also one of the countries with the lowest infant mortality rate: 9.6 per 1,000 live births. It is also far advanced in issues regarding prenatal prevention and control.

Dental and Cosmetic Health Care

Cosmetic surgery, cosmetic dentistry, and gastric bypass surgery, are Costa Rica's hidden treasure, but not a well-kept secret.   Often, foreign patients travel to Costa Rica for the low costs of dental work and plastic surgery.  Each year thousands of men and women take advantage of the low-cost, high-quality care provided by Costa Rica's cosmetic surgeons and dentists.

According to a NCPA report, Roughly 150,000 foreigners sought care in Costa Rica in 2006.

Education

The first higher education institution to be established was the University of Costa Rica, which was the only higher educational center up until the year 1971, when the Technological Institute of Costa Rica was founded.

In 1973, the National University of Heredia (UNA) was founded, also the Distance Education University (UNED) was established in 1977, and in the year 1979, the Autonomous University of Central America (UACA) was created in 1986,  which set the example for a large number of other private universities to open their doors in Costa Rica.