Interesting Facts About Uruguay - Fun Facts About Uruguay

Uruguay is a small country, located in South America. The country is known for its scenic vistas and is a must-visit for beach lovers. The long coastline of Uruguay ensures that it has a steady stretch of fine beaches, providing some of the most exquisite scenes to visitors. The country shares its borders with Argentina and Brazil. The capital of Uruguay is Montevideo and is an important trading and commercial center. People here love finer aspects of life and often indulge in theatre, ballet and symphonic concerts. In the following lines, we have provided some really interesting and fun facts about Uruguay.

Image: U.S. Embassy Montevideo@flickr

Interesting & Fun Facts About Uruguay

The full name of Uruguay is Republica Oriental del Uruguay, which means Oriental Republic of Uruguay. The name of the country has been derived from a Guarani word, which when translated means “river of painted birds”.
The official language of Uruguay is Spanish.
Uruguay is a multiparty presidential representative democratic republic, under which the President of Uruguay is both the head of state and the head of government.
According to folklore, Uruguay was so named due to the fact that it is located to the west of the Uruguay River and this was the reason why it was named República Oriental del Uruguay.
A staggering 88% of the Uruguayans are European descendants, which is very high as compared to quite a number of other Latin-American countries. This is due to the fact that Uruguay received a number of European immigrants from Spain and Italy during the 19th and 20th century.
Uruguay has a coastline of about 500 kilometers, which offers some of the most beautiful and scenic beaches. Most of the good beaches are located towards the north of the coast, on the Atlantic Ocean.
The capital of Uruguay is Montevideo, which is the most populated area of this country. It is also a natural port and is an important business and commercial center.
The people of Uruguay life a healthy lifestyle. The infant mortality rate is around 13.9/1000, which is very low and life expectancy at birth is 75.2 years. This is the highest in South America.
The climatic conditions of Uruguay are temperate i.e. it does not face any extremes of temperature and precipitation.
Uruguay also has one of the highest grades of literacy in Latin America. The official figures state that the rate of literacy in the country is around 97%.
As per Transparency International, Uruguay is rated as the least corrupt country in Latin America, along with Chile.
The political and labor conditions of the country are among the freest on the continent.
Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America and the third smallest territory.
Christianity is the main religion practice in the country. Almost more than half the populace comprises of Roman Catholics. The rest are Protestants and still others follow the Jewish religion.
Uruguay is largely dependent on agriculture and services for its economy. Agriculture accounts to over two-thirds of the total exports in the country.
The main industries in Uruguay include food processing, electrical machinery, transportation equipment, petroleum products, textiles, chemicals and beverages.

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