 The number of migrants declined in later years but in 2015, there were some 420,000 immigrants in Costa Rica and the number of asylum seekers (mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) rose to more than 110,000, a fivefold increase from 2012.In 2016, the country was called a "magnet" for migrants from South and Central America and other countries who were hoping to reach the U.S.

Christianity is Costa Rica's predominant religion, with Roman Catholicism being the official state religion according to the 1949 Constitution, which at the same time guarantees freedom of religion.It is the only state in the Americas which established Roman Catholicism as its state religion; other such countries are microstates in Europe