Country Profile Uruguay

 

  • Capital: Montevideo
  • Population: 3,494,382 (July 2009 est.)
  • Currency: Uruguayan peso (UYU)                                  
  • Language: Spanish, Portunol or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier)
  • Time zone:  UTC-2
  • Government: Constitutional republic
  • Chief of State: President José Mujica
    • 8.5% (2008 est.)
    • 7.4% (2007 est.) 
    • 7% (2006 est.)
  • Exports:  $6 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

  • Main Export Partners(2007):

  •  GDP real growth rate : 8.5% (2008)
  • National Airline: PLUNA/Lineas Aereas Uruguay
  • Country Dialing Code: +598
  • Emergency numbers: 911
  • Voltage: 220V

Detailed country profile

ECONOMY

GDP real growth rate:

  • 8.5% (2008 est.)
  • 7.4% (2007 est.)
  • 7% (2006 est.)

GDP-Composition by Sector(2008):

  • Agriculture: 9.8%
  • Industry: 32.8%
  • Services: 57.4%

Labor force by occupation(2007):

  • Agriculture: 9%
  • Industry: 15%
  • Services: 76%

Agriculture products:

  • Rice
  • Wheat
  • Soybeans
  • Barley
  • Livestock
  • Beef
  • Fish
  • Forestry

Industries:

  • Food processing
  • Electrical machinery
  • Transportation equipment
  • Petroleum products
  • Textiles
  • Chemicals
  • Beverages

Exports:$6 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Export Commodities

  • Meat
  • Rice
  • Leather products
  • Wool
  • Fish
  • Dairy products

Main Export Partners(2007):

Imports:$7 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Import commodities:

  • Crude petroleum and petroleum products
  • Machinery
  • Chemicals
  • Road vehicles
  • Paper
  • Plastics

Import partners:

Ports and Terminal: Montevideo

Unemployment rate:7.6% (2008 est.)

GOVERNMENT

Government Type:Constitutional republic

Executive Branch:

Chief of state: José Mujica
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 (may not serve consecutive terms); election last held 31 October 2004 (next to be held in October 2009)

Legal system: Based on Spanish civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

GEOGRAPHY

Land Boundaries:total: 1,648 km

Border countries:

Climate:Warm temperate; freezing temperatures almost unknown

Terrain:mostly rolling plains and low hills; fertile coastal lowland

Elevation Extremes:

  • Lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
  • Highest point: Cerro Catedral 514 m

Natural resources:

  • Arable land
  • Hydropower
  • Minor minerals
  • Fisheries

Environment and international agreement:

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
  • Ozone Layer Protection
  • Ship Pollution
  • Tropical Timber 94
  • Wetlands

Signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation

Environment and current issues:

  • Water pollution from meat packing/tannery industry
  • Inadequate solid/hazardous waste disposal

PEOPLE

Ethnic groups:

  • White 88%
  • Mestizo 8%
  • Black 4%
  • Amerindian (practically nonexistent)

Languages:

  • Spanish
  • Portunol or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier)

Religion:

  • Roman Catholic 47.1%
  • Non-Catholic Christians 11.1%
  • Nondenominational 23.2%
  • Jewish 0.3%
  • Atheist or agnostic 17.2%
  • Other 1.1% (2006)

HISTORY

Express History

Montevideo, founded by the Spanish in 1726 as a military stronghold, soon took advantage of its natural harbor to become an important commercial center. Claimed by Argentina but annexed by Brazil in 1821, Uruguay declared its independence four years later and secured its freedom in 1828 after a three-year struggle.

The administrations of President Jose BATLLE in the early 20th century established widespread political, social, and economic reforms that established a statist tradition. A violent Marxist urban guerrilla movement named the Tupamaros, launched in the late 1960s, led Uruguay's president to cede control of the government to the military in 1973. By yearend, the rebels had been crushed, but the military continued to expand its hold over the government.

Civilian rule was not restored until 1985. In 2004, the left-of-center Frente Amplio Coalition won national elections that effectively ended 170 years of political control previously held by the Colorado and Blanco parties. Uruguay's political and labor conditions are among the freest on the continent.

Source: The world factbook www.cia.gov

 

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