The Costa Rican Model

Costa Rica is a tiny sovereign nation located in Central America. Surrounded by hostile and war-struck countries, Costa Rica has managed to develop and outgrow its Central American counterparts by a large extent, to become one of the richest and the most developed countries in the Central America and Caribbean region. The government in the early 20th century took some drastic decisions which led to this development.

Firstly, the Costa Rican government decided to disband the army. Since the civil war ended in April 19, 1948, the country did not face an existential threat from other countries, since it had pretty good relations with Nicaragua and Panama, its neighbouring countries. It also has good diplomatic relations with the United States. Hence there was no need of an army. Thus, the government issued a law on 1st December 1948, that disbanded the army and stripped it of its powers.

Secondly, the money used for maintaining the army resources was re-channelled towards educating the Costa Rican youth and improving the healthcare facilities in the country. Back then, Costa Rica was not a very rich country. Gripped with the ongoing civil war, Costa Rica suffered from unemployment and poverty. There were also drug cartels ruling parts of the country, and in such places, the law and order were in shambles. After the civil war, the government recognised the need to educate the youth and improve the Costa Rican industries. Educating the youth meant that unemployment would reduce by a large extent. This also meant social and political stability, and the country never had a military coup or a war after that.

This political stability ensured years of prosperity and peace. While its neighbouring countries were ravaged with war and cartels, Costa Rica enjoyed the highest literacy rate of 98% and the lowest unemployment rate in the Central Americas.

The right way for the development

Today, Costa Rica is taken as a role model for development by other countries. Even though they had a rough and unruly past, right decisions by the government ensured prosperity to the nation. Their emphasis on universal healthcare, happiness and youth education is what led to the overall development in their Human Development Index (HDI). It’s high time every country’s government starts focusing on the overall development of the country infrastructure and its people.

A country’s true potential can be analysed by how happy its citizens are. Bhutan, a country bordering India, measures development through GNH, or Gross National Happiness, which takes into account, the overall happiness of each individual. Other countries can learn a lot from the above examples. Happiness and wellbeing are the true measures for the development of a country and not the number of arms and military ranking of a country. Education and healthcare centric model ensure that everyone in the country receives adequate healthcare and education, which results in lower unemployment rates.  If unemployment is low, automatically, crime rates also tend to go down.

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