Country context
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Costa Rica is one of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean which stands out in relation to socio-economic indicators since it benefits from levels of equity and social cohesion which are above the regional average. In fact, Costa Rica has one of the highest levels of human development in Latin America and in 2009 it was ranked 54th in the UN Human Development Index. The total population of the country, according to data from the Central American Projections Centre (CPP) of the Costa Rica University (UCR) is of 4,570,224 inhabitants, with a rate of population growth of 1.412 per cent. Life expectancy is of 79 years on average for both sexes: 76.6 years of age for men and 81.6 years of age for women. A statistic of particular relevance is the child mortality rate which has been maintained at levels under 10 per one thousand live births. The literacy rate in the country stood at 96 per cent in 2008 and poverty has been gradually decreasing over the last decade, from 20.3 per cent of the population living in poverty in 2002, to 16.4 per cent in 2008; extreme poverty or indigence has declined from 8.2 per cent to 5.5 per cent over the same period. Nevertheless, this situation does not mean that Costa Rica is spared from a variety of social, economic, environmental, cultural and political problems.
Safety has become a very relevant issue for the country, and is stated to be the main problem at national level according to public opinion. A measurement carried out by the Latin American Public Opinion Project (Lapop) found that people's perception was that there was a significant increase in insecurity.
Furthermore, with respect to social violence, the rate of violent deaths (homicides, suicides, and all types of accidents) has shown significant increases in recent years. Programmes offering assistance in circumstances of domestic violence assistance which include health services have been growing steadily in recent years.