Costa Rica is famous for having the largest %age of Spanish population in Central America. The Meseta Central, with more than half the nation's population, is the most predominantly Spanish region in both its manner of living and its ancestry. Spanish is spoken with typical national accents and usages. In Central America, a Costa Rican is called a Tico, for Costa Ricans replace the diminutive ending -tito with -tico, a practice known elsewhere but uncommon in Central America.

People of African ancestry live mostly in the Caribbean lowland provincia of Limón, which contains overall about 7 % of Costa Rica's population. They are the descendants of workers brought from the West Indies to build railroads and raise bananas, and most of them speak both Spanish and a Jamaican style of English, the majority being descended from people who came from that island. There are also a substantial number of Chinese, many of whom are also the descendants of imported labourers.