The population of Costa Rica has grown from 3,484,445 persons in 1995 (CCP) to
4,615,518 persons in 2011 (INEC 2012) which implies that the pool of people to be
insured, has grown substantially. The annual population growth rate however, decreased
between 2000 and 2011 from 1.69 to 1.31 (Index Mundi 2012). This is due, among other things, to a declining fertility rate; between 1970 and 2010, it went down from 4.8 to 1.8
births per woman (CCP 2012a). Trends in the age structure over time are presented in
Figure 1.