Demographics of Uruguay

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Uruguayans share a Spanish linguistic and cultural background, even though almost a half of the population is of Italian origin, and other ethnic origins (Germans, French, British, Dutch and Portuguese) are found in Uruguay. Most are nominally Roman Catholic, while others are Protestant or Jewish although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion. Church and state are officially separated. Uruguay is distinguished by its high literacy rate, large urban middle class, and relatively even income distribution. The average Uruguayan standard of living compares favorably with that of most other Latin Americans. Metropolitan Montevideo, with about 1.9 million inhabitants, is the only large city. The rest of the urban population lives in about 20 towns. During the past two decades, an estimated 500,000 Uruguayans have emigrated, principally to Brazil, Argentina and Europe (Spain is the main destination for Uruguaians, but also drawn to Italy, France and Germany). There are 500,000 Uruguayans in Brazil, the largest community of this group and many came there to escape political persecution in the 1970s. Emigration to the United States also rose recently, but remains a small part of the US Latino population. As a result of the low birth rate, high life expectancy, and relatively high rate of emigration of younger people, Uruguay's population is quite mature with a lower percentage of young people than most of Latin America (except for Chile and Argentina). The most homogeneous population of the western hemisphere, Uruguay has very few Africans (it's widely said are vanishing), Amerindians (nearly extinct) and east Asians (mainly of Japanese descent).

Demographics of Uruguay, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

Population: 3,431,932 (July 2006 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 24% (male 417,288; female 397,125)
15-64 years: 63% (male 1,030,201; female 1,057,968)
65 years and over: 13% (male 178,393; female 253,099) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.51% (2004 est.)

Birth rate: 14.44 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate: 9.07 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.63 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 15.14 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 75.24 years
male: 71.9 years
female: 78.75 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.96 children born/woman (2004 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Uruguayan(s)
adjective: Uruguayan

Ethnic groups: white 88% (European and Middle Eastern), mestizo 8% (mixed white-Amerindian or white-African), black 4% (Afro-Uruguayan, but are assimilating into the "white" culture), Amerindian, practically nonexistent, but an estimate of 10-15% of Uruguayans may have an Amerindian ancestor, and under 1% Asian (mostly of Japanese descent).

Religions: Roman Catholic 66% (less than one-half of the adult population attends church regularly), Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, nonprofessing or other 30%.

Languages: Spanish

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97.3%
male: 96.9%
female: 97.7% (1995 est.)