According to Article 168 of the Constitution of Costa Rica, the political divisions are officially classified into 3 sub-national entities.
It states: "Para los efectos de la Administración Pública el territorio nacional se divide en provincias, éstas en cantones y los cantones en distritos."
Which loosely translates into English as:
"For Public Administration purposes, the national territory is divided into provinces, these into cantons and cantons into districts."
Costa Rica consists of 7 provinces (provincias), 81 cantons (cantones), and 463 districts (districtos).
*The following information is as of the National Census of 2011
| 1. | Alajuela | (center-north San José) | |
| 2. | Cartago | (east central valley) | |
| 3. | Guanacaste | (North Pacific) | |
| 4. | Heredia | (center-north) | |
| 5. | Limón | (Caribbean coast) | |
| 6. | Puntarenas | (Central and South Pacific) | |
| 7. | San José | (central valley area, capital) |
| Province | Population | % of total | Pop. density (/km²) | Area | % of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San José | 1,404,172 | - | 282.8 | 4965.9 | 9.7% |
| Alajuela | 848,146 | - | 86.9 | 9,757.5 | 19.1% |
| Cartago | 490,903 | - | 157.1 | 3,124.7 | 6.1% |
| Puntarenas | 410,929 | - | 36.5 | 11,265.7 | 22.0% |
| Heredia | 433,677 | - | 163.2 | 2,657.0 | 5.2% |
| Limón | 386,862 | - | 42.1 | 9,188.5 | 18.0% |
| Guanacaste | 326,953 | - | 32.2 | 10,140.7 | 19.8% |
| Costa Rica | 4,301,712 | 84.2 | 51,092 |