Costa Rica leads in innovation

Ranked 45th in the world, Costa Rica is Central America’s most innovative country, according to the 2016 Global Innovation Index.

In Latin America, only Chile in 44th position out-performed Costa Rica, which did especially well – 9th place globally – in the area of knowledge distribution.

Costa Rica moved up six positions, compared to last year’s ranking.

Nicaragua in 116th place finished last in the isthmus.

Globally, the most innovative country is Suiza, while Yemen is the worst.

The index ranks innovation in 128 countries, based on 82 indicators, including education, institutional strength, and business sophistication (numbers in brackets indicate the global position of each country).
 

1            Costa Rica (45)

2            Panama (68)

3            Guatemala (97)

4            Honduras (101)

5            El Salvador (104)

6            Nicaragua (116)