QCOSTARICA — Costa Rica rises to a global scale in Cushman & Wakefield’s 2024 life science sector update report and updated in March 2025. The country has emerged as the only emerging market in Latin America compared to cities such as Houston, Atlanta and Phoenix in the United States.
Employee growth in the sector, development of infrastructure of innovative operations, presence of global leading companies and positioning as an essential headquarters for the succession of ministers are the main aspects reported in Costa Rica.
The report was carried out periodically by the company and with global data it analyzed 34 locations in total, collected in-depth information and generated behavioral insights in key industries such as life sciences. Precisely, this report included trends in equity capital financing, surrender activity, vacancy rates and the labor market for the sector.
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The results that accompanied the analysis of Costa Rica reaffirmed its position as one of the most competitive locations in the industry in America.
In Costa Rica, it is clear that the growth of the sector has been sustained and has directly impacted the development of infrastructure of high-level operations as in the generation of employees, at the time that multinational companies come to Costa Rica as a key location for their production lines and access to the market.
In terms of employment, the report revealed that, currently, the life sciences industry employs more than 54,500 people, which represents an increase of 216% in the last decade.
According to figures from the Coalición Costarricense de Iniciativas de Desarrollo (CINDE), in 2024, the sector amounted to 2,600 net employees, which in some cases represents the average of the total net employment generated in the strategic sectors of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Like the experts at Cushman & Wakefield, the country has facilitated the hand of qualified work that the industry requires and that in other markets presents shortages. The report indicated that, in the last five years, the growth of the workforce in the global sector has been robust, and it is the emerging markets such as Costa Rica that have shown the highest figures, with 31% surpassing the 26% and 16% growth of the central operations headquarters and secondary markets respectively.
The employee forecasts point to growth at a slightly slower pace for the next five-year period, but still positive. It is expected that in emerging markets such as Costa Rica the growth rate is around 9.6%.
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Significant Footprint
The rapid expansion of the industry has driven significant real estate development, with the creation of specialized spaces such as clean rooms, laboratories, and high-tech manufacturing plants, designed to meet the highest international regulatory standards. These state-of-the-art facilities are not only concentrated in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GMA), but are also expanding to the West, facilitating production and research in new regions of the country.
According to Marianela Urgellés, General Director of CINDE, “of the 21 new multinational companies that decided to open operations in Costa Rica in 2024 with the organization’s support, 19% were life sciences companies, making it the second strategic sector with the most new projects. Furthermore, of the reinvestments reported during the year, CINDE reported that life sciences represented 25% of the total, with 14 expansions and new operating plants from leading companies in Costa Rica.”
For his part, Daniel Álvarez, General Manager of Cushman & Wakefield Costa Rica, highlighted that “the sustained growth of the sector in the country, strategic investments, and the favorable business environment in Costa Rica have resulted in a construction footprint of more than 1 million square meters (m²) of inventory dedicated to this sector, with 160,000 m² under construction and more than 800,000 m² in planning, reflecting its constant expansion.”
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To date, more than 90 multinational medical technology (MedTech) companies operate in Costa Rica, including 13 of the top 20 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide, taking advantage of the benefits of the free trade zone regime and a robust industrial ecosystem.
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