France and Costa Rica Comparison - Examine Similarities and Differences

Country
France	Costa Rica
Leader
President: Francois Hollande Prime minister: Jean-Marc Ayrault	President: Laura Chinchilla
Population
65,630,692	4,636,348
Life Expectancy
81.460 years	77.890 years
Capital City
Paris	San Jose
Largest city
Paris (population: 2,138,550)	San Jose (population: 335,007)
Human Development Index
0.955	0.847
GDP per capita
$35,600 US	$12,100 US
Literacy Rate
99%	94.9%
Corruption Perception Index
6.9	5.1
Percentage of Women in Parliament
19.6%	36.8%
Wealthiest Citizens
Bernard Arnault ($16.5bn US)	NA
Unemployment Rate
9.300%	6.500%
Death Penalty
Abolished	Abolished

Political System
republic	democratic republic
Independence date
486 (Frankish tribes unified); 843 (Western Francia established from the division of the Carolingian Empire)	15 September 1821 (from Spain)
Religions
Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4% overseas departments: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, pagan	Roman Catholic 76.3%, Evangelical 13.7%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.3%, other Protestant 0.7%, other 4.8%, none 3.2%
Languages
French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) overseas departments: French, Creole patois	Spanish (official), English
Exports
machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages	bananas, pineapples, coffee, melons, ornamental plants, sugar; seafood; electronic components, medical equipment
External Debt
$5,633,000,000,000 $	$10,050,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6799 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)	Costa Rican colones (CRC) per US dollar - 529.62 (2008 est.), 519.53 (2007), 511.3 (2006), 477.79 (2005), 437.91 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.600%	0.600%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
40	0
Location
Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain	Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Nicaragua and Panama
Area
643,801 km sq	51,100 km sq
Coastline
0 km	1,290 km
Climate
	tropical and subtropical; dry season (December to April); rainy season (May to November); cooler in highlands

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France vs Costa Rica