Father's Day in Costa Rica: history, law and figures

In Costa Rica, Father's Day is marked on the third Sunday of June by custom: no law sets it, and the bills that tried were shelved. Here is where the date comes from, how the 2001 law changed paternity and what the official figures say.

Where Father's Day comes from

The idea was born in the United States, and Costa Rica marks it on the same Sunday. According to the US Census Bureau, these were the steps:

1. 1
   1909, the idea. Sonora Dodd, of Spokane (Washington), thinks of a day for fathers after hearing a Mother's Day sermon. She wanted to honour her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who raised six children on a farm.
2. 2
   1910, the first celebration. On 19 June, proclaimed by the mayor of Spokane. June was chosen because it was William Smart's birth month.
3. 3
   1966, the third Sunday. President Lyndon Johnson signs the first presidential proclamation and sets the third Sunday of June.
4. 4
   1972, for good. President Richard Nixon signs the law that makes it a permanent annual observance.
5. 5
   2001, in Costa Rica. The Responsible Paternity Law, no. 8101 of 16 April 2001, is passed, changing how children born outside marriage are registered.

Timeline

Paternity in Costa Rica, in figures

Under the Responsible Paternity Law, the mother can give the name of the presumed father when registering the baby, even if he is not there. If he denies it, the mother, the baby and he get a free appointment at the CCSS laboratories for a DNA test. If he does not answer within ten working days, or does not turn up for the test while the mother and baby do, he is declared the father administratively.

In 2025, the Civil Registry handled 2,751 DNA tests and 2,353 confirmed paternity: 85 %, the highest share in five years.

The figures were not always measured the same way: since 2002 INEC has classified births with the law's criteria, and in 2024 32.7 % of records lacked the father's data. So they read as a trend, not an exact series. The Civil Registry, which counts births with no registered father, put it at 10 % to 14 % from 1997 to 2005.

Curious facts

• June was chosen in 1910 because it was the birth month of William Smart, Sonora Dodd's father.
• According to INEC, cited by CRHoy in June 2025, about 794,051 fathers in Costa Rica live with their children, with an average age of 51.3.
• Before the 2001 law, the Judiciary's paternity investigations confirmed the link in 98 % of cases, according to INAMU.
• About 98 % of births take place in hospitals, where the Civil Registry has staff to register babies within hours of birth (TSE journal, 2007).

Frequently asked questions

Is Father's Day a public holiday in Costa Rica?

No. It is not among the public holidays of article 148 of the Labour Code, so it carries no special pay. Bills 19.985 (2016) and 22.014 (2020) proposed making 17 June a public holiday with mandatory pay, and both were shelved.

When is Father's Day in 2027?

Sunday 20 June 2027, the third Sunday of the month. In 2026 it was 21 June.

What is the Responsible Paternity Law?

It is Law no. 8101 of 16 April 2001, published in La Gaceta no. 81 of 27 April 2001. It amended the Civil Registry law and the Family Code so that the paternity of children born outside marriage can be declared with a free DNA test at the CCSS or, if the presumed father does not appear, administratively.

Sources

• US Census Bureau: “Facts for Features: Father's Day” (2017).
• Supreme Electoral Tribunal: Responsible Paternity Law, no. 8101 of 16 April 2001 (La Gaceta no. 81, 27 April 2001).
• TSE Revista de Derecho Electoral no. 4 (2007): “Ley de Paternidad Responsable y Registro Civil”, by Irene Montanaro Lacayo and Luis Antonio Bolaños Bolaños.
• Proceedings of the conference “Responsible Paternity Law: progress and challenges 10 years on” (TSE, May 2011), INAMU presentation.
• El Observador: “Lawmakers shelve bill to make Father's Day a paid public holiday” (1 June 2020).
• Delfino.cr: bill 22.014, “Declaration of Father's Day and amendment to the first paragraph of article 148” (filed 2 June 2020).
• El Observador: “8 out of 10 paternity tests in Costa Rica come back positive” (21 June 2026), with Civil Registry data.
• CRHoy: “Profile of dads in Costa Rica: more than 790,000 live with their children” (15 June 2025), with INEC data.