Uruguay (2001) | World (2002) | |
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Administrative divisions | 19 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Artigas, Canelones, Cerro Largo, Colonia, Durazno, Flores, Florida, Lavalleja, Maldonado, Montevideo, Paysandu, Rio Negro, Rivera, Rocha, Salto, San Jose, Soriano, Tacuarembo, Treinta y Tres | 268 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
24.39% (male 419,932; female 399,605) 15-64 years: 62.61% (male 1,038,785; female 1,064,891) 65 years and over: 13% (male 180,130; female 256,762) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years: 29.2% (male 932,581,592; female 885,688,851)
15-64 years: 63.7% (male 2,009,997,089; female 1,964,938,201) 65 years and over: 7.1% (male 193,549,180; female 247,067,032) (2002 est.) |
Agriculture - products | wheat, rice, barley, corn, sorghum; livestock; fish | - |
Airports | 64 (2000 est.) | - |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
15 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 8 under 914 m: 1 (2000 est.) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
49 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 16 under 914 m: 31 (2000 est.) |
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Area | total:
176,220 sq km land: 173,620 sq km water: 2,600 sq km |
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than the state of Washington | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
Background | A violent Marxist urban guerrilla movement, the Tupamaros, launched in the late 1960s, led Uruguay's president to agree to military control of his administration in 1973. By the end of the year the rebels had been crushed, but the military continued to expand its hold throughout the government. Civilian rule was not restored until 1985. Uruguay's political and labor conditions are among the freest on the continent. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 17.36 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 21.16 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$4 billion expenditures: $4.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $500 million (2000 est.) |
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Capital | Montevideo | - |
Climate | warm temperate; freezing temperatures almost unknown | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
Coastline | 660 km | 356,000 km |
Constitution | 27 November 1966, effective February 1967, suspended 27 June 1973, new constitution rejected by referendum 30 November 1980; two constitutional reforms approved by plebiscite 26 November 1989 and 7 January 1997 | - |
Country name | conventional long form:
Oriental Republic of Uruguay conventional short form: Uruguay local long form: Republica Oriental del Uruguay local short form: Uruguay former: Banda Oriental, Cisplatine Province |
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Currency | Uruguayan peso (UYU) | - |
Death rate | 9.03 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Debt - external | $8 billion (2000 est.) | $2 trillion for less developed countries (2001 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Christopher C. ASHBY embassy: Lauro Muller 1776, Montevideo 11100 mailing address: APO AA 34035 telephone: [598] (2) 408-777, 203-6061 FAX: [598] (2) 48 86 11 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Hugo FERNANDEZ Faingold chancery: 2715 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 331-1313 through 1316 FAX: [1] (202) 331-8142 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York |
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Disputes - international | none | - |
Economic aid - recipient | $NA | official development assistance (ODA) $50 billion (2001 est.) |
Economy - overview | Uruguay's economy is characterized by an export-oriented agricultural sector, a well-educated workforce, relatively even income distribution, and high levels of social spending. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-98, in 1999-2000 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for about half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained more stable than those of its neighbors, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating - one of only two in Latin America. Challenges for the government of President Jorge BATLLE include expanding Uruguay's trade ties beyond its MERCOSUR trade partners and reducing the costs of public services. GDP fell by 1.1% in 2000 and will grow by perhaps 1.5% in 2001. | Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) fell from 4.8% in 2000 to 2.2% in 2001. The causes: slowdowns in the US economy (21% of GWP) and in the 15 EU economies (20% of GWP); continued stagnation in the Japanese economy (7.3% of GWP); and spillover effects in the less developed regions of the world. China, the second largest economy in the world (12% of GWP), proved an exception, continuing its rapid annual growth, officially announced as 7.3% but estimated by many observers as perhaps two percentage points lower. Russia (2.6% of GWP), with 5.2% growth, continued to make uneven progress, its GDP per capita still only one-third that of the leading industrial nations. The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations were strong performers, in the 5% range of growth. The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that eat up gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Indonesia, and in Canada. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2001, see the individual country entries.) |
Electricity - consumption | 5.89 billion kWh (1999) | - |
Electricity - exports | 215 million kWh (1999) | - |
Electricity - imports | 800 million kWh (1999) | - |
Electricity - production | 5.704 billion kWh (1999) | - |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
3.86% hydro: 95.44% nuclear: 0% other: 0.7% (1999) |
fossil fuel: NA%
hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Cerro Catedral 514 m |
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
Environment - current issues | water pollution from meat packing/tannery industry; inadequate solid/hazardous waste disposal | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion |
Environment - international agreements | party to:
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban |
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Ethnic groups | white 88%, mestizo 8%, black 4%, Amerindian, practically nonexistent | - |
Exchange rates | Uruguayan pesos per US dollar - 12.5610 (January 2001), 12.0996 (2000), 11.3393 (1999), 10.4719 (1998), 9.4418 (1997), 7.9718 (1996) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state:
President Jorge BATLLE (since 1 March 2000) and Vice President Luis HIERRO (since 1 March 2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Jorge BATLLE (since 1 March 2000) and Vice President Luis HIERRO (since 1 March 2000); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president with parliamentary approval elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 31 October 1999 with run-off election on 28 November 1999 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: Jorge BATLLE elected president; percent of vote - Jorge BATLLE 52% in a runoff against Tabare VAZQUEZ 44% |
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Exports | $2.6 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | $6.3 trillion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Exports - commodities | meat, rice, leather products, vehicles, dairy products, wool, electricity | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | MERCOSUR partners 45%, EU 20%, US 7% (1999 est.) | in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | nine equal horizontal stripes of white (top and bottom) alternating with blue; there is a white square in the upper hoist-side corner with a yellow sun bearing a human face known as the Sun of May and 16 rays alternately triangular and wavy | - |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $31 billion (2000 est.) | GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $47 trillion (2001 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
10% industry: 28% services: 62% (1999) |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32% services: 64% (2001 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $9,300 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $7,600 (2001 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | -1.1% (2000 est.) | 2.2% (2001 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 33 00 S, 56 00 W | - |
Geography - note | - | the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe |
Highways | total:
8,983 km paved: 8,085 km unpaved: 898 km (1999) |
total: NA km
paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
Imports | $3.4 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | $6.3 trillion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Imports - commodities | road vehicles, electrical machinery, metal manufactures, heavy industrial machinery, crude petroleum | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | MERCOSUR partners 43%, EU 20%, US 11% (1999 est.) | in value, about 75% of imports into the developed countries |
Independence | 25 August 1825 (from Brazil) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | -2.1% (2000 est.) | 6% (2000 est.) |
Industries | food processing, electrical machinery, transportation equipment, petroleum products, textiles, chemicals, beverages | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | 14.7 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | 51.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 4.8% (2000 est.) | developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (2001 est.); national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries |
International organization participation | CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-11, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM (observer), OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMEE, UNMOGIP, UNMOT, UNOMIG, UNTAET, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 7 (2000) | 10,350 (2000 est.) |
Irrigated land | 7,700 sq km (1997 est.) | 2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court (judges are nominated by the president and elected for 10-year terms by the General Assembly) | - |
Labor force | 1.5 million (1999 est.) | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% | agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | total:
1,564 km border countries: Argentina 579 km, Brazil 985 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared boundaries twice) |
Land use | arable land:
7% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 77% forests and woodland: 6% other: 10% (1997 est.) |
arable land: 10.58%
permanent crops: 1% other: 88.42% (1998 est.) |
Languages | Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier) | Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
Legal system | based on Spanish civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
Legislative branch | bicameral General Assembly or Asamblea General consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (30 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and Chamber of Representatives or Camara de Representantes (99 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: Chamber of Senators - last held 31 October 1999 (next to be held NA 2004); Chamber of Representatives - last held 31 October 1999 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - Encuentro Progresista 12, Colorado Party 10, Blanco 7, New Sector/Space Coalition 1; Chamber of Representatives - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - Encuentro Progresista 40, Colorado Party 33, Blanco 22, New Sector/Space Coalition 4 |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population:
75.44 years male: 72.11 years female: 78.96 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 63.94 years
male: 62.28 years female: 65.67 years (2002 est.) |
Literacy | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97.3% male: 96.9% female: 97.7% (1995 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77% male: 83% female: 71% (1995 est.) |
Location | Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Argentina and Brazil | - |
Map references | South America | Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World |
Maritime claims | contiguous zone:
24 NM continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM |
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims: contiguous zone - 24 NM; continental shelf - 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation, or 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin; exclusive fishing zone - 200 NM; exclusive economic zone - 200 NM; territorial sea - 12 NM; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked |
Merchant marine | total:
2 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,752 GRT/5,228 DWT ships by type: petroleum tanker 1, roll on/roll off 1 (2000 est.) |
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Military branches | Army, Navy (includes Naval Air Arm, Coast Guard, Marines), Air Force, Police (Coracero Guard, Grenadier Guard) | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $172 million (FY98) | aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 0.9% (FY98) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
817,535 (2001 est.) |
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Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
661,777 (2001 est.) |
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National holiday | Independence Day, 25 August (1825) | - |
Nationality | noun:
Uruguayan(s) adjective: Uruguayan |
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Natural hazards | seasonally high winds (the pampero is a chilly and occasional violent wind which blows north from the Argentine pampas), droughts, floods; because of the absence of mountains, which act as weather barriers, all locations are particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in weather fronts | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | arable land, hydropower, minor minerals, fisheries | the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | -0.51 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Colorado Party [Jorge BATLLE]; National Party or Blanco [Alberto VOLONTE]; New Sector/Space Coalition or Nuevo Espacio [Rafael MICHELINI]; Progressive Encounter in the Broad Front or Encuentro Progresista [Tabare VAZQUEZ] | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | - |
Population | 3,360,105 (July 2001 est.) | 6,233,821,945 (July 2002 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | - |
Population growth rate | 0.78% (2001 est.) | 1.23% (2002 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Fray Bentos, Montevideo, Nueva Palmira, Paysandu, Punta del Este, Colonia, Piriapolis | Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 94, FM 115, shortwave 14 (seven are inactive) (1998) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Radios | 1.97 million (1997) | NA |
Railways | total:
2,073 km standard gauge: 2,073 km 1.435-m gauge (2000) |
total: 1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line
broad gauge: 251,153 km standard gauge: 710,754 km narrow gauge: 239,430 km |
Religions | Roman Catholic 66% (less than one-half of the adult population attends church regularly), Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, nonprofessing or other 31% | Christians 32.88% (of which Roman Catholics 17.39%, Protestants 5.62%, Orthodox 3.54%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.54%, Hindus 13.34%, Buddhists 5.92%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.24%, other religions 12.6%, non-religious 12.63%, atheists 2.47% (2000 est.) |
Sex ratio | at birth:
1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal and compulsory | - |
Telephone system | general assessment:
some modern facilities domestic: most modern facilities concentrated in Montevideo; new nationwide microwave radio relay network international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 850,000 (2000) | NA |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 300,000 (2000) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 26 (plus ten low-power repeaters for the Montevideo station) (1997) | NA |
Terrain | mostly rolling plains and low hills; fertile coastal lowland | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 2.36 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 2.7 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 14% (2000 est.) | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2001 est.) |
Waterways | 1,600 km ( used by coastal and shallow-draft river craft) | - |