Costa Rica holds a 56–44 advantage over Panama on the Relative Advantage Index.
The margin is driven by economic size (GDP) (52% of the combined total, $95.4bn) and logistics & power projection (62% of the combined total, 21).
3 factors — military spending, active personnel, nuclear warheads — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side. Those factors are excluded and the remaining weights renormalised, never substituted.
| Factor | Costa Rica | Share | Panama | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $95.4bn | 52%48% | $86.5bn | 57% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 21 | 62%38% | 13 | 43% |
Shares are each side's portion of the combined total for that factor. Weights are renormalised across the factors both sides publish — see the methodology. Data read 2026-08-04.
Every combination inside the top 30 of the Composite Power Index.
Bordering states — the comparisons people actually search for.