Race, Ethnicity, Immigration, and Living Conditions in Costa Rica

Using information from the 2011 census, we analyze the differential in living standards by race, ethnicity, and country of birth in Costa Rica. We identify the main factors explaining such inequalities along the distribution of a composite index of wellbeing, with counterfactual analysis based on the Blinder–Oaxaca type of decomposition. Our results show that mulattoes, indigenous people, and immigrants from Nicaragua and Panama are generally worse off than the majority of the population, although the reasons differ. While lower education levels and lower paying occupations explain much of the differential in all cases, location is particularly important for indigenous people and immigrants from Panama who live in the least developed areas of the country. We also investigate the distributive pattern of these inequalities and the remarkably distinctive situation of Costa Rican blacks.