HEALTHCARE
    
The Costa Rican socialized healthcare system comprises a network of hospitals, clinics, and complete medical services in all major cities. Considered to be among the best low-cost medical systems in the world with preventive and curative care, healthcare in Costa Rica is accessible, affordable and comprehensive.  Costa Rica is also considered a premier destination for cosmetic and plastic surgery.


EDUCATION

Costa Rica provides free education for its residents and boasts the highest literacy rate in Central America, rivaling even that of many larger and much wealthier industrialized nations. The right to primary education for both sexes was established in 1869 and has been declared obligatory. In addition to free public education, there are several high quality private institutions extending from the primary level up through the university. Although most of these institutions are located in and around San José, the rapid development of the Guanacaste Gold Coast area has begun to attract some of the private, higher quality schools to the region.


EDUCATED WORKF ORCE

Costa Rica has built on its legacy of supporting an educated population by continuing to build the educational system and emphasize the presence of IT in the curriculum. A tremendous effort has gone into ensuring that education facilities produce appropriately skilled knowledge workers and professionals to contribute to the development of Costa Rica.
As early as 1974, the Costa Rican government used Inter-American Development Bank financing to expand the Costa Rican Technological Institute (ITCR) into what has become one of Latin America's most advanced computer science and software engineering schools. The government's dedication to an educated population is also exemplified in the redistribution of expenditures from defense funding to education funding. The results of this effort are easily discernible.

In 1999, the illiteracy rate was below 3.5 percent and 18.5 percent of the active population had completed university, technical and advanced university studies.