Transportation

In Costa Rica the main ways of transportation are bus, taxi, and train. Railroads in Costa Rica operate suburban commuter trains from San José to San Pedro, Universidad Latina (4 km East) and to Pavas (6 km West). Domestic flights are also a very good option if tourists are looking to get around fast and don't mind spending some more money compared to the cheap buses and taxis. In Russia metro, taxi, trams, and trolleybuses are the best ways to get around and what most residents use. According to factsanddetails, "The Moscow Metro is the world's busiest subway system. Opened in 1935, it has 4,143 railcars, 158 stations, 158.9 miles of track and services 8.5 million riders a day or 3.2 billion passenger journey's a year. The 23½-mile-long line on the Moscow Subway between Medvedkovo and Bittsevsky is the world's longest subway tunnel." This shows just how important the metro is to Moscow and how quickly many people would not be able to moved around the area without it. 

There are two kinds of taxis in Russia: official taxis and unofficial "gypsy" taxis. Official taxis are yellow and have a taxi sign on the roof. The gypsy taxis are "cheaper, more convenient, more adventurous and more risky." as stated by factsanddetails. Allowing you to choose either option knowing that one is safer, yet more expensive than the other. Encuentra says, "Fewer Costa Ricans own cars primarily due to steep excise taxes on imported vehicles. The import tax for cars less than three years old is 52.29%, which significantly drives up the costs." This shows just how important the rules and regulations of pollution are in Costa Rica and forces people to find other, more Eco-safe ways to where they need to go. 

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Religion

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Costa Rica and Russia are surprisingly similar when it comes to their religious aspects in government. Most namely is the fact that they are both secular, allowing all religions to be practiced freely in their country, Costa Rica even being considered one of the most secular countries in Latin America by some. Of course, there are differences between the two when to move away from politics i.e. that Costa Rica is predominantly Roman Catholicism and Russia Orthodox Christian. This meaning that Costa Rica claimed religion has the Pope which they know to be infallible, with service held in Latin and that Russia predominantly has the First Bishop or "first among equals" which is not infallible, with the services held in native languages. Costa Rica claimed religion also believes that Mary is free from original sin and their priests cannot marry, while Russia's believes Marry was not free from original sin and priests can marry before being ordinated. Russia also has approximately 32% of their religious associations as Moslem while in Costa Rica Moslem faith falls under the 4.8% of "other faith", being a significantly smaller portion than Russia.

This link helped with finding any information related to this.

Demography

In Costa Rica there are about 5,000,000 people there which is up from 4.58 million from the 2011 census. Worldpopulation states, "This makes Costa Rica the 120th most populous country in the world."With this being said there are also about 2.2 million visitors each year to Costa Rica. Worldpopulation also says, "According to the 2011 census, the ethnic composition of Costa Rica was 66% White/Castizo, 14% Mestizo, 9% immigrants, 7% Mulatto, 2.5% Amerindian, 1% Black, 0.2% Asian and 0.9% other. According to a genome project, the average Costa Rican in the Central Valley is 68% European, 29% Amerindian and 3% African." This shows how there is a diverse ethnic composition in Costa Rica, though over 50% of residents there are white. Russia on the other hand has a population of  roughly 144,000,000. This is a major change from Costa Rica's 5,000,000. Costa Rica is the only democratic Latin American country since 1950. Russian is the official language of the country and almost everyone speaks it. Worldpopulation states, "Although almost 81% of Russian citizens identify themselves as ethnic Russians, there are also other large ethnic groups. 3.9% of Russians are Tartars, 1.4% Ukrainians, 1.2% Bashkirs, 1.1% Chuvashs and 1.0% Chechens. 3.9% of the population did not declare any ethnic origin." This shows that Russia has a less ethnic diversity than Costa Rica but they are both predominately one ethic group with small percentages making up the rest. 

 In Costa Rica there is one birth every 8 minutes, one death every 21 minutes, and one net migrant every 160 minutes. This shows a big difference between Russia and Costa Rica. In Russia there is one brith every 18 seconds, one death every 16 seconds, and one net migrant every 3 minutes. This shows us that Costa Rica is most likely starting to enter stage 4 of the demographic transition. Russia on the other hand does not really seem to fit in any of the demographic transitions as the requirements for each of them Russia just can't quite meet.





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Economic Development

Costa Rica has experienced steady economic expansion for the past 25 years and is still on the rise. According to Worldbank, "The percentage of poor households in Costa Rica went from 20.5  to 20 percent between 2016 and 2017, which is not a significant change; while extreme poverty dropped from 6.3 percent to 5.7 percent." This shows that Costa Rica is on the rise and they are becoming a wealthier country. Worldbank also says, "Costa Rica’s GDP per capita has tripled since 1960 and its growth averaged 4.5 percent between 2000 and 2013, compared to the regional average of 3.8 percent for the same period." This also shows that they are doing better than the regional average of others, proving that they are ahead and prevailing as a functional economy. Russia's economy is currently recovering and they are profiting on high oil prices, enhanced macroeconomic stability, and ongoing momentum in global economic growth. Russia's growth is very small ("Growth is forecast at between 1.5% and 1.8% in the period 2018-20. However, in the short-term, these forecasts may change due to changing oil prices.", as stated by Worldbank.) compared to Costa Rica who is sitting at an expected of 3.6 this year given by Worldbank. This also shows how much Russia is relying on oil alone as to how high or low they growth can be. 

This shows how the debt of russia in total is significantly higher than Costa Rica. Russia is in the 700 billions and Costa Rica is in the 15 billions. This shows just how different the two areas are in comparison.


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Environmental Problems

Both Russia and Costa Rica have problems with deforestation and are both trying to counteract this issue. Russia is trying to create undisturbed forests and national reserves so the extensive logging will stop. In 1996, Costa Rica passed a ban on the razing of mature forests. This helped significantly with the deforestation in Costa Rica and has preserved many places. Both Russia and Costa Rica also have major problems with poachers. "Adequate funding for park rangers and other personnel is lacking, however, and poaching (illegal hunting) of endangered animals such as the Siberian tiger has increased as a result.", as stated by Naturvern about Russia. This shows how the lack of help to create nation reserves are also increasing the ability to poach in Russia. In Costa Rica illegal shark finning occurs and "Many coastal residents also raid the nests of endangered leatherback sea turtles and sell the eggs as a delicacy.", per Azoclean. Costa Rica is considered among the most progressive nation on Earth with respect to climate change. Costa Rica marked a major clean technology milestone in 2015 when it was powered for the first 75 days of that year by renewable energy. Russia has problems with nuclear waste disposal as well.  According to Naturvern, "Nuclear reactors and wastes were dumped into the Barents and Kara seas of the far north, and in far eastern Siberia. Dumping of nuclear wastes in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) continued until 1993." This shows how Russia is struggling to dispose of nuclear waste and it is causing an environmental issue within the area it is being dumped. Air pollution is also a major problem in Russia with corrisiondcotor saying, "In Moscow, for instance, automobiles cause almost 90% of air pollution, and car ownership is on the rise. Additionally, most power plants in Russia are aging and lack modern pollution control equipment, resulting in large amounts of toxic emissions and waste. Several major cities are threatened by these problems, as are delicate ecosystems." This shows how air pollution is a major problem in Russia compared to Costa Rica where it is a minor problem.

 As shown by paxnatura, the deforestation in Costa Rica after the ban on the razing of mature forests increased the forest cover of Costa Rica again and it steadily increasing. The second chart, provided by globalforestwatch, shows how Russia is having major issues with deforestation and needs to find a solution soon or it could be detrimental. 

Climate

In Russia the climate can be described as highly continental influenced climate with warm to hot dry summers and extremely cold winters with temperatures of -30°C and heavy snowfall occasionally. The climate in Costa Rica is Hot all year round in the plains. In the plateau areas of Costa Rica it is more mild and from December to April there is a dry season, and from May to November rainfall is abundant. The summers in Russia tend be very short and warm to hot. As to the climate of Costa Rica as states by ClimatetoTravel, "...the eastern plain and coast the climate is equatorial, with abundant rainfall throughout the year." This shows just how different the two places are and the relationship between how being near the equator and farther away from the equator can affect climate in an area. The Koppen-Geiger classification of  Russia on the Arctic coastal areas have an E climate. This is very different from the Koppen-Geiger classification of Costa Rica as it is an Aw in San Jose, Costa Rica. This is another example of how being near the equator and so far away can have such a big affect on climate. According to FAO, "In 2012 Russia produced 11.2% of world’s barley, 5.9% of wheat, 4% of milk and milk products and 3% of sugar and poultry." This shows Russia is big producer of the worlds barley and is also a major exporter of grains. "The primary agriculture of Costa Rica is well diversified: coffee, bananas, shortcycle crops, cattle for beef and dairy, and forest plantations account for the vast majority of the use of the land."  This shows how climate can also affect what crops are being grow in a certain area. Russia grows grains for the most part and Costa Rica grows more tropical crops. 

 This first chart, from macrometer, shows how agriculture inst a very big influence on the GDP of Russia. The second chart, from macrometer, shows that although 2% bigger agriculture still isn't a very big influence on the GDP of Russia.