Selected sociodemographic aspects of Costa Rican residents from the United States, Canada, and Europe according to the 2000 census

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that in recent decades, within the context of a second wave of globalization (Solinamo 2004), international migration has not only increased its pace, but also diversified in its forms, the categories of immigrants, and their destinations. The increase in human mobility parallels contemporary globalization processes which intensify economic opportunity, mobilization of capital, and unprecedented development of technology and information systems. Because of that, the present globalization cycle is nuanced, among other aspects, by new technologies in transportation and telecommunications which have attenuated the cost of mobilization and which form a complex system of transnational social networks that maintain close ties between immigrants and the residents of their communities of origin (Pellegrino 2003).