INEC Costa Rica

What INEC Costa Rica does

INEC Costa Rica (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos) is the autonomous national statistical agency of Costa Rica, legally mandated by Law N°9694 (2019) as the sole technical governing body of the National Statistics System (SEN). The institution traces its origins to the 1861 Central Statistics Office and was formally constituted under its current name via Law N°7839 in October 1998. Its core function is the production and certification of official statistics covering population and housing censuses, household surveys (ENAHO, ECE, ENIGH, ENADEL, ENFIHO, ENAMEH), economic indicators (IPC, IPCONS, CBA), foreign trade statistics, vital statistics, and geospatial data.

INEC operates a multi-channel statistical infrastructure built on REDATAM for online microdata query and processing across census and survey datasets (1973-2022 census series; ENAHO 2010-2025; ECE continuous series), Power BI for interactive data dashboards (ENADEL, social indicators, housing), the Geoportal for geo-statistical visualization, and ANDA (Archivo Nacional de Datos) for documented dataset dissemination under international quality standards. Foreign trade statistics are delivered via SICCEWEB, integrated with Hacienda customs data. Distribution is primarily digital and free of charge through the inec.cr portal, open data portal, REDATAM query systems, and Information Center, with paid offerings limited to custom cartographic products and specialized data requests.

The institution is governed by a Consejo Directivo and led by Gerente Marta Elena Esquivel Villalobos and Subgerente David Araya Amador. Its customer base spans four segments: government institutions (primary), academic and research organizations, private sector businesses, and the general public. Revenue is structurally non-commercial, derived from state budget allocations rather than market pricing. No public API is offered; access is via web-based interactive portals. Recent modernization signals include the June 2026 IPC methodology rebasing, Power BI dashboard deployment, and expansion of SDG indicator coverage to 232 indicators.

Name

INEC Costa Rica

Legal name

Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos

Website

https://inec.cr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

INEC Costa Rica (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos) is the autonomous national statistical agency mandated by Law N°9694 to produce official statistics for Costa Rica, conducting censuses, household surveys, and economic indicators for government, academia, private sector, and citizens.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Statistical Services

NAICS

Public Administration (92), Administration of General Economic Programs (92611), Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support (921)

akta.pro primary industry

National Statistics & Census Administration (BPAIAAAF)

Keywords

• Official statistics
• Population census
• Household surveys
• Consumer price index
• Geospatial data

Headquarters

HQ city

Barrio Escalante, San José

HQ country

Costa Rica

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

INEC Costa Rica (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos) is the autonomous government statistical agency of Costa Rica. It produces and disseminates official national statistics covering population and housing censuses, household surveys (ENAHO, ECE), economic indicators (Consumer Price Index, construction price indices, foreign trade), agricultural censuses, vital statistics, and geospatial data. Outputs are delivered through online query systems, the Geoportal, the National Data Archive (ANDA), data dashboards, yearbooks, and a public library service.

Product overview

INEC Costa Rica operates as a decentralized government statistical agency offering a comprehensive portfolio of statistical products and services organized around census operations, household surveys, economic indicators, and geospatial data. The core product portfolio includes national population and housing censuses (with the 2022 census results available), the Encuesta Nacional de Hogares (ENAHO) for poverty and welfare measurement, the Encuesta Continua de Empleo (ECE) for quarterly labor market data, and specialized surveys including ENAMEH (microenterprises), ENADEL (labor demand), ENFIHO (financial), and ENIGH (income and expenditure). Economic statistics encompass the Consumer Price Index (IPC), Construction Price Indices (IPCONS), Basic Food Basket (CBA), and foreign trade statistics. These are supported by vital statistics (births, deaths, marriages), geospatial products through the Geoportal and cartographic services, and the REDATAM-based online query system for microdata access. The institution also provides data dashboards powered by Power BI, the Archivo Nacional de Datos (ANDA) for documented datasets, statistical yearbooks, and the SDG indicators monitoring system. The offering functions as a multi-product portfolio of official statistics rather than a unified software platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Censos Nacionales de Población y Vivienda (National Population and Housing Census) National population and housing censuses providing comprehensive demographic data on Costa Rica's inhabitants, households, and housing characteristics at national and subnational levels.
• Censo Agropecuario (CENAGRO) Agricultural census producing statistics on agricultural activities, livestock, land use, and farm characteristics across Costa Rica.
• Encuesta Nacional de Hogares (ENAHO) Annual household survey measuring welfare, poverty (income-based and multidimensional), employment, income distribution, education, housing conditions, and social indicators.
• Encuesta Continua de Empleo (ECE) Continuous employment survey providing quarterly labor market data including employment, unemployment, underemployment, and income from work.
• Encuesta Nacional de Ingresos y Gastos de los Hogares (ENIGH) Quinquennial survey collecting detailed household income and expenditure data for understanding consumption patterns and living standards.
• Encuesta Nacional de Microempresas de los Hogares (ENAMEH) Survey of household microenterprises measuring entrepreneurship, business characteristics, formality levels, and ICT usage in microbusinesses.
• Encuesta Nacional de Demanda Labor (ENADEL) National labor demand survey providing statistics on job requirements, skills demanded, and characteristics of positions offered by private establishments.
• Encuesta Financiera a Hogares (ENFIHO) Financial survey measuring household financial balance, asset ownership, liabilities, savings, and indebtedness including formal and informal sources.
• Índice de Precios al Consumidor (IPC) Consumer Price Index measuring inflation through monthly price variations of a representative basket of goods and services consumed by Costa Rican households.
• Índices de Precios de la Construcción (IPCONS) Construction price indices measuring cost variations for building construction and social interest housing projects.
• Canasta Básica Alimentaria (CBA) Basic Food Basket defining minimum food requirements and costs used for poverty measurement through the income method.
• Estadísticas de Comercio Exterior Foreign trade statistics derived from customs records, providing data on imports (CIF value) and exports (FOB value) by product category, country, and economic zone.
• Geoportal INEC Interactive web portal for accessing geo-statistical data, census maps, and geographic reference layers including Minimum Geostatistical Units (UGM) and administrative boundaries.
• Estadísticas Vitales Vital statistics including births, deaths (general and infant), marriages, and cause-of-death data compiled from civil registry records.
• Sistema de Consulta REDATAM Online data processing system (REDATAM-based) enabling users to query and generate custom tables from census and survey microdata while respecting confidentiality.
• Archivo Nacional de Datos (ANDA) National Data Archive providing access to documented methodology, codebooks, and datasets from INEC statistical operations following international quality standards.
• Tableros de Datos (Data Dashboards) Interactive data dashboards (Power BI-based) for easy exploration of statistical results in areas including labor demand, social indicators, and housing.
• Indicadores de Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) Sustainable Development Goals monitoring system providing 232 SDG indicators for Costa Rica's progress tracking against the 2030 Agenda.
• Biblioteca y Servicios de Información (Library and Information Services) Physical and digital library services offering access to statistical publications, historical documents, methodological guides, and subscription-based document delivery.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature4 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• U.S. Census Bureau: U.S. federal statistical agency for population and economic censuses; comparable in mandate, census operations, and economic indicator programs, though at much larger scale.
• INDEC (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos): Argentina's national statistics and census institute; comparable product set including IPC, EPH labor survey, and censuses, operating under a similar institutional model in Latin America.
• INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía): Mexico's official statistics and geography agency; produces censuses, economic indicators, and geospatial data comparable to INEC Costa Rica, with a broader scope across Mexico's larger economy.
• INE España (Instituto Nacional de Estadística): Spain's national statistics institute; produces censuses, labour force surveys, price indices, and economic indicators with a comparable mandate and product architecture to INEC.
• IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística): Brazil's official statistics agency responsible for censuses, household surveys (PNAD), price indices, and geospatial data—directly comparable to INEC across the same product categories.
• Statistics Canada (StatCan): Canada's national statistical agency; runs censuses, labour force surveys, and price indices with a similar institutional mission and product lineup to INEC.
• ONS UK (Office for National Statistics): United Kingdom's national statistics office; produces CPI, labour market statistics, and population estimates—closely comparable in mandate and product depth to INEC.
• INE Chile (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas): Chile's national statistics institute; offers censuses, household surveys, price indices, and regional statistics with a closely aligned mission and Latin American regional context to INEC.
• DANE (Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística): Colombia's national statistics department; produces censuses, labor surveys, price indices, and economic statistics with a similar mandate and product portfolio to INEC Costa Rica.

Broad incumbents

• Eurostat: European Union's statistical office; aggregates and standardizes statistics from member-state agencies—comparable to INEC in function but at a supranational scale, often harmonizing methodologies used by national agencies including INEC.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/inec-costa-rica

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about INEC Costa Rica