According to the report Perception of the Costa Rican population on religious values and practices 2024, conducted by the Ecumenical School of Religious Sciences and the Institute of Social Studies in Population (Idespo) of the National University (UNA), almost all Costa Ricans (96%) say they believe in God or in some deity or primary force.

The survey confirms that the number of evangelical Christians in the country comes closer to the number of Roman Catholics, although there is still a difference of around one million people.

The statistics also show that 73% of the respondents said that they were raised Catholic, followed by 23% who were evangelicals (further back Jehovah's Witnesses, 1.9%), which means that as they grow up, the percentage of Catholics decreases and the percentage of evangelicals increases.

“50% of the Costa Rican population (2.5 million) say they practise the Catholic religion, while 33% (1.65 million) identify as evangelical. Around 16% (800,000) affirm to be “believers without a religion”, the UNA data shows.

Church attendance and education

Regarding age, the majority of Catholics are 55 or older, while the highest percentage of evangelicals are between 18 and 24 years old. The largest number of non-religious believers is found among young people aged between 25 and 34.

According to the study, 1 out of 3 Catholics attend mass every week, while almost half of evangelicals attend church weekly. Furthermore, 70% of the religious population say they donate or tithe to their church.

On the other hand, 56% believe that Costa Rica should be lay, and 79% say that religious education should be offered to children and teenagers.

Abortion, suicide and prostitution

The study showed a rejection of abortion, suicide and prostitution, while respondents were more supportive of divorce and a woman's decision not to become a mother.

On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is “never acceptable” and 5 is “always acceptable”, 70 % reject abortion. Those who think the complete opposite represented 11% of respondents.

Eight in ten recejct the right to suicide and 61% ara against prostitution, although one in ten people said that prostitution is “always acceptable”.

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