What is the difference in population between Costa Rica and Kuwait?

266,750 people, with Costa Rica ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Costa Rica and Kuwait?

241 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Population. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Costa Rica vs Kuwait: Population

Costa Rica

5.11 million people

in 2023

Kuwait

4.84 million people

in 2023

Costa Rica rank

125th

Kuwait rank

128th

Population over time

Costa Rica
Kuwait

How they compare

Costa Rica currently reports 5.11 million people against 4.84 million people in Kuwait, a difference of 266,750 people.

That makes Costa Rica's figure about 1.1 times Kuwait's.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 241 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Costa Rica ahead.

Costa Rica ranks 125th and Kuwait ranks 128th of 238 countries.

Across the 40 decades both report, Costa Rica averaged higher in 26 and Kuwait in 14.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Costa Rica	Kuwait	Difference	Ahead
1000s	291,252 people	69,000 people	222,252 people	Costa Rica
1100s	317,730 people	69,000 people	248,730 people	Costa Rica
1200s	346,614 people	69,000 people	277,614 people	Costa Rica
1300s	378,125 people	69,000 people	309,125 people	Costa Rica
1400s	412,500 people	69,000 people	343,500 people	Costa Rica
1500s	450,000 people	69,000 people	381,000 people	Costa Rica
1600s	8,000 people	135,000 people	127,000 people	Kuwait
1700s	22,742 people	117,000 people	94,258 people	Kuwait
1710s	24,606 people	120,284 people	95,678 people	Kuwait
1720s	26,623 people	121,499 people	94,876 people	Kuwait
1730s	28,805 people	122,726 people	93,921 people	Kuwait
1740s	31,166 people	123,966 people	92,800 people	Kuwait
1750s	33,720 people	125,218 people	91,498 people	Kuwait
1760s	36,484 people	126,483 people	89,999 people	Kuwait
1770s	39,475 people	127,760 people	88,285 people	Kuwait
1780s	42,711 people	129,051 people	86,340 people	Kuwait
1790s	46,212 people	130,354 people	84,142 people	Kuwait
1800s	55,119 people	81,280 people	26,161 people	Kuwait
1810s	60,115 people	81,280 people	21,165 people	Kuwait
1820s	69,576 people	81,280 people	11,704 people	Kuwait
1830s	84,945 people	81,280 people	3,665 people	Costa Rica
1840s	97,049 people	81,280 people	15,769 people	Costa Rica
1850s	110,070 people	81,397 people	28,673 people	Costa Rica
1860s	130,016 people	81,666 people	48,350 people	Costa Rica
1870s	161,729 people	84,204 people	77,525 people	Costa Rica
1880s	217,929 people	89,631 people	128,299 people	Costa Rica
1890s	282,467 people	95,450 people	187,016 people	Costa Rica
1900s	349,820 people	101,652 people	248,168 people	Costa Rica
1910s	421,711 people	109,491 people	312,220 people	Costa Rica
1920s	496,435 people	119,232 people	377,204 people	Costa Rica
1930s	602,584 people	129,753 people	472,832 people	Costa Rica
1940s	791,640 people	141,393 people	650,247 people	Costa Rica
1950s	1.09 million people	196,711 people	894,470 people	Costa Rica
1960s	1.56 million people	510,192 people	1.05 million people	Costa Rica
1970s	2.07 million people	1.09 million people	981,427 people	Costa Rica
1980s	2.71 million people	1.86 million people	851,093 people	Costa Rica
1990s	3.49 million people	1.70 million people	1.80 million people	Costa Rica
2000s	4.23 million people	2.28 million people	1.94 million people	Costa Rica
2010s	4.79 million people	3.73 million people	1.05 million people	Costa Rica
2020s	5.07 million people	4.55 million people	523,102 people	Costa Rica

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher population, Costa Rica or Kuwait?: Costa Rica, at 5.11 million people against 4.84 million people in Kuwait as of 2023.
What is the difference in population between Costa Rica and Kuwait?: 266,750 people, with Costa Rica ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Costa Rica and Kuwait?: 241 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2023.
How do Costa Rica and Kuwait rank globally for population?: Costa Rica ranks 125th and Kuwait ranks 128th of 238 countries.
Where does this data come from?: HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Population. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Population
Unit: people
Source: HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 239 places, 51,002 data points, 1000–2023
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Population by country, available from 10,000 BCE to 2023, based on data and estimates from different sources.