Blue November in Costa Rica: origin, history and figures

Every November, in Costa Rica and many other countries, the month is devoted to men's health and especially to prostate cancer. Here is where the idea comes from, how it grew and what the country's official figures say.

Where Blue November comes from

The month devoted to men's health has a well-documented forerunner: Movember, a campaign born in Australia. Its name joins “Mo”, Australian slang for a moustache, with “November”. The idea was simple: grow a moustache during November and raise money with it.

1. 1
   2003, the bet. At the Gypsy Bar in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Travis Garone and Luke Slattery persuade 30 men to grow a moustache, at 10 dollars each.
2. 2
   2004, the first cause. 450 participants raise 54,000 Australian dollars for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
3. 3
   2006, the foundation. The co-founders register the Movember Foundation as a charity in Australia.
4. 4
   2007, it goes global. Across Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Spain, 134,171 participants raise 21.5 million Australian dollars.
5. 5
   Today, in Costa Rica. The Ministry of Health devotes its November messages to preventing prostate cancer; in 2025 it spoke of the National Day against Prostate Cancer.

Timeline

Prostate cancer in Costa Rica, in figures

Deaths rose from 420 in 2019 to 485 in 2023, and in 2024 there were 480, 1 % fewer than the year before. In 2020 prostate cancer was the second cause of cancer death in men, after stomach cancer; in 2021 it moved to first place. In 2024, 65 % of those deaths were of men aged 75 or over.

Diagnoses and deaths do not always match by province: San José had the highest rate of new cases in 2022, while in 2024 the highest death rate was Puntarenas, with 20 deaths per 100,000 men, followed by Guanacaste (19) and Cartago (18). Nationwide, the 2022 rate was 33.52 new cases per 100,000 men.

Curious facts

• According to the international CONCORD III study, cited by the Ministry of Health, five-year survival for prostate cancer is 93.2 %, the best among the cancer types the study covered.
• Movember began as a bet between friends in a bar: 10 dollars to grow a moustache.
• In 2022, Limón had the country's lowest rate of new cases: 7.03 per 100,000 men, against 44.55 in San José.
• There is no single fixed day: the Ministry of Health's prostate cancer messages came out on 17 November in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and on 29 November in 2025.

Frequently asked questions

Is Blue November a public holiday in Costa Rica?

No. It is not among the public holidays of article 148 of the Labour Code, according to the Ministry of Labour's official 2026 calendar. It is a health campaign.

Why the moustache?

Because that is how Movember began in 2003: participants grew a moustache during November and paid 10 dollars to do it, to raise money.

What does the Ministry of Health recommend?

In its November messages, the Ministry of Health asks men for a yearly check-up from age 40, with the prostate-specific antigen test and a physical exam. For any question about your own case, see a doctor.

Sources

• Movember: “Our story”, the movement's history from 2003 to 2007.
• Ministry of Health: prostate cancer press releases of 17 November 2021, 2022 and 2023 and of 29 November 2025, with INEC data.
• Ministry of Health: 2024 Epidemiological Profile, cancer incidence by province (SIRNAT, table 34).
• Ministry of Labour and Social Security: 2026 holiday calendar (4 December 2025).