Costa Rica

Source: CIA World Factbook

Source: Wikipedia Commons

The Republic of Costa Rica (Spanish: República de Costa Rica) is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east. Costa Rica's total area is 51,100 km² (19,652 square miles) and had an estimated population in 2009 of 4,586,353.

In 2011 the following ethnic groups were reported in Costa Rica: 65.8% White / Castizo; 13.65% Mestizo (people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry); 9.03% Immigrants; 6.72% Mulatto; 2.40% Amerindian; 1.03% Black; 0.21% Asian; and 0.88% other. The majority of whites are primarily of Spaniard ancestry.

Roman Catholicism is the official state religion in Costa Rica. 70.5% of Costa Ricans are Roman Catholics, 44.9% of the population are practicing Catholics, 13.8% are Evangelical Protestants (many of them Pentecostal), 11.3% report that they do not have a religion, and 4.3% belonged to another.

In August 1961 the Conservative Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (Rosedale Mennonite Missions) sent two missionary couples to establish a Mennonite witness in Costa Rica, eventually establishing the Convención Evangélica Menonita de Costa Rica. A group of Beachy Amish led by minister Sanford Yoder and several families pioneered a settlement in Costa Rica in 1968.

In 2012 the following Anabaptist groups were active in Costa Rica:

Denominations	Membership in 2009	Congregations in 2009	Membership in 2012	Congregations in 2012
Amish Mennonites			81	3
Asociación Convención de Iglesias Menonitas de Costa Rica / Asociación Iglesias Cristianas Menonitas de Costa Rica	1,470	20	1,595	23
Beachy Amish Church	264	11	257	10
Conservative (Plain) Mennonites			45	1
Independent and Unaffiliated	50	2
Total	1,784	33	1,978	37

Bibliography

Anderson, Cory and Jennifer Anderson. "The 'Evangelization by colonization' movement and the Amish-Mennonite migration to Costa Rica." Mennonite Quarterly Review 94, no. 2 (April 2020): 149-194.

Mennonite World Conference. "Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Churches Worldwide, 2009: Latin America & The Caribbean." 2010. Web. 28 October 2010. http://www.mwc-cmm.org/en15/files/Members 2009/Latin America & the Caribbean Summary.doc.

Mennonite World Conference. World Directory = Directorio mundial = Répertoire mondial 2012: Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Related Churches = Iglesias Menonitas, de los Hermanos en Cristo y afines = Églises Mennonites, Frères en Christ et Apparentées.Kitchener, ON: Mennonite World Conference, 2012: 20.

Wikipedia. "Costa Rica." 2010. Web. 5 June 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica.

Author(s)	Richard D Thiessen
Date Published	June 2013

Cite This Article

MLA style

Thiessen, Richard D. "Costa Rica." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. June 2013. Web. 23 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Costa_Rica&oldid=168380.

APA style

Thiessen, Richard D. (June 2013). Costa Rica. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Costa_Rica&oldid=168380.

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