What is the difference in physicians between Canada and Costa Rica?

0.13 per 1,000 people, with Canada ahead.

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

28 years are reported by both, from 1965 to 2022.

Where does this data come from?

Global Health Workforce Statistics, World Health Organization (WHO), published as Physicians (per 1,000 people). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Canada vs Costa Rica: Physicians

Canada

2.82 per 1,000 people

in 2023

Costa Rica

2.69 per 1,000 people

in 2022

Canada rank

68th

Costa Rica rank

71st

Physicians over time

Canada
Costa Rica

How they compare

Canada currently reports 2.82 per 1,000 people against 2.69 per 1,000 people in Costa Rica, a difference of 0.13 per 1,000 people.

The two have swapped places 4 times across 28 shared years of data; in 1965 it was Canada ahead.

Canada ranks 68th and Costa Rica ranks 71st of 194 countries.

Across the 7 decades both report, Canada averaged higher in 5 and Costa Rica in 2.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Canada	Costa Rica	Difference	Ahead
1960s	1.3 per 1,000 people	0.517 per 1,000 people	0.783 per 1,000 people	Canada
1970s	1.6 per 1,000 people	0.6465 per 1,000 people	0.9535 per 1,000 people	Canada
1980s	2.03 per 1,000 people	0.9463 per 1,000 people	1.09 per 1,000 people	Canada
1990s	2.08 per 1,000 people	1.02 per 1,000 people	1.06 per 1,000 people	Canada
2000s	1.93 per 1,000 people	2.11 per 1,000 people	0.1772 per 1,000 people	Costa Rica
2010s	2.41 per 1,000 people	2.28 per 1,000 people	0.1307 per 1,000 people	Canada
2020s	2.56 per 1,000 people	2.58 per 1,000 people	0.024 per 1,000 people	Costa Rica

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher physicians, Canada or Costa Rica?: Canada, at 2.82 per 1,000 people against 2.69 per 1,000 people in Costa Rica as of 2023.
What is the difference in physicians between Canada and Costa Rica?: 0.13 per 1,000 people, with Canada ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Canada and Costa Rica?: 28 years are reported by both, from 1965 to 2022.
How do Canada and Costa Rica rank globally for physicians?: Canada ranks 68th and Costa Rica ranks 71st of 194 countries.
Where does this data come from?: Global Health Workforce Statistics, World Health Organization (WHO), published as Physicians (per 1,000 people). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Canada vs Costa Rica: Physicians. Statizoid, drawing on Global Health Workforce Statistics, World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved 31 August 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/compare/physicians-per-1-000-people/canada/costa-rica/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://health.statizoid.com/compare/physicians-per-1-000-people/canada/costa-rica/">Canada vs Costa Rica: Physicians</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Physicians (per 1,000 people)
Unit: per 1,000 people
Source: Global Health Workforce Statistics, World Health Organization (WHO)
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 194 places, 5,326 data points, 1960–2023
Last refreshed: 20 August 2026

Physicians include generalist and specialist medical practitioners.