Uruguay

South AmericaCapital city: MontevideoCapital metro: MontevideoPresident: Yamandú Orsi
2026 population
3.5M
Rank #136 globally
Area
181k km² (70k sq mi)
Metros tracked
9
83% of population in metros
Composite score
11.7
Rank #93 globally

population: Natl annual projection (30 Jun 2025) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 9 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography9 metros

Uruguay metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
9 polygons

Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 9 tracked metros
9 metros
#252Montevideo★ Capital▲ Largest
Montevideo · Canelones · 2.0M · Regional Hub
10.9
Maldonado · 195K · Local Metro
0.6
#2481Rivera
Rivera · 109K · Local Metro
0.3
#2559Melo
Cerro Largo · 90K · Local Metro
0.3
#3420Salto
Salto · 134K · Local Metro
0.0
Colonia · 131K · Local Metro
0.0
Paysandú · 120K · Local Metro
0.0
Tacuarembó · 93K · Local Metro
0.0
Flores · 27K · Local Metro
0.0
🗂️ Departments

19 entries listed under Uruguay. Select any to see its metros and footprint.

19 total
📋 At a glance
Government
Participatory democracy
Legislature
General Assembly of Uruguay
Demonym
Uruguayan
Time zone
UTC−03:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+598
Internet TLD
.uy
ISO 3166
UY
Established
1825
Highest point
Cerro Catedral (514 m (1,686 ft))
National anthem
National Anthem of Uruguay

Facts via Wikidata.

🗣️ Languages of Uruguay

Spanish first; one language carries the country; 1 official.

LanguageShareStatus
Spanish88%Official

Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.

Effective languages
1.3
Official-language gap
12%
Spanish is spoken by 88%

Uruguay on the languages board · Language power

📰 In the news1 story
Every story in the latest digest →
💹 Economy and developmentHigh income
Human Dev. Index
#47 / 191
0.862
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#83 / 193
$85.3B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#52 / 193
$25.2k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#56 / 190
$38.3k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#50 / 192
$24.0k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#51 / 194
78.3 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
35.8 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
★ #9 / 194
96%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
-0.1%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#167 / 193
19/km² (50/mi²)
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#92 / 193
4.7%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#25 / 175
0.94
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#123 / 166
40.0
World Bank · 2024
Internet users
#44 / 193
92%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#136 / 185
4.7%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#88 / 192
2.4 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#12 / 186
98%
Ember · 2025

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations3 full memberships

Political & Economic

Regional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History17 leaders · click to expand

is an editorial flag: associated with atrocities against civilians, systemic subversion of the constitutional order, or a criminal conviction (political persecutions and annulled convictions excluded). It is a curated list, not a measurement, so a name without one has not been cleared of anything. Hover a badge for the reason on file.

Broad Front Era

Yamandú Orsi✦ Current
President · Broad Front (Frente Amplio) · 2025–present
2025–Present
Tabaré Vázquez
President · Broad Front (Frente Amplio) · 2015–2020
2015–2020
José Mujica
President · Broad Front (Frente Amplio) · 2010–2015
2010–2015
Tabaré Vázquez
President · Broad Front (Frente Amplio) · 2005–2010 (first Broad Front govt)
2005–2010

Democratic Era

Luis Lacalle Pou
President · National Party (Blancos) · 2020–2025
2020–2025
Jorge Batlle
President · Colorado Party · 2000–2005
2000–2005
Julio María Sanguinetti
President · Colorado Party · 1995–2000
1995–2000
Luis Alberto Lacalle
President · National Party (Blancos) · 1990–1995
1990–1995

Redemocratization

Julio María Sanguinetti
President · Colorado Party · 1985–1990 (return to democracy)
1985–1990

Oriental Republic of Uruguay

Juan María Bordaberry
President · backbone · 13y 2m 0d
1972–1985
Luis Batlle Berres
President · backbone · 25y 0d
1947–1972
Gabriel Terra
President · backbone · 16y 0d
1931–1947
José Batlle y Ordóñez
President · backbone · 28y 0d
1903–1931
Lorenzo Latorre
President · backbone · 27y 0d
1876–1903
Venancio Flores
President · backbone · 11y 0d
1865–1876
Manuel Oribe
President · backbone · 30y 0d
1835–1865
Fructuoso Rivera
President · backbone · 5y 0d
1830–1835
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#86 · 0.1%
3%5%8%10%190019502000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)

The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Wars and conflicts3 interstate wars · click to expand
Combat deaths: 310,000+
Uruguayan War1864–1865
Combat deaths: —
Platine War1851–1852
Argentine Confederation,Blancos
Combat deaths: 1,300+

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.” Figures marked “COW battle deaths” are Correlates of War battle-death counts, which run lower than total deaths.

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
3.4m
#134 in the world
Since 1800
62×
from 55k
Peak
2020
3.4m
Share of world
0.04%
0.01% in 1800
850k1.7m2.5m3.4m18001850190019502000

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Uruguay: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak
2020
3.4m; already passed
2050
3.3m
95% band 2.9m to 3.6m
2100
2.2m
95% band 1.2m to 3.8m
2100 against 2025
0.66×
median falling from 2024
Deaths outnumber births
from 2024
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
996k2.0m3.0m4.0m1950197520002025205020752100
estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
47k born · 24k died · -2k net migration
TFR 2.69 · life expectancy 65.6 · median age 26.8
1960
55k born · 25k died · +2k net migration
TFR 2.83 · life expectancy 67.7 · median age 28.0
1970
56k born · 27k died · -13k net migration
TFR 2.77 · life expectancy 68.7 · median age 28.9
1980
55k born · 29k died · -14k net migration
TFR 2.59 · life expectancy 70.5 · median age 29.1
1990
56k born · 30k died · -7k net migration
TFR 2.48 · life expectancy 73.0 · median age 29.9
2000
52k born · 31k died · -11k net migration
TFR 2.20 · life expectancy 74.7 · median age 31.0
2010
47k born · 31k died · -8k net migration
TFR 2.01 · life expectancy 76.7 · median age 33.0
2020
35k born · 31k died · -1k net migration
TFR 1.50 · life expectancy 78.4 · median age 35.0

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

💰 Billionaires2 · $2.2B combined · click to expand
Finance & Investments · fintech
$1.1B
Finance & Investments · fintech
$1.1B

Source: Forbes real-time billionaires (via the rtb-api project). Net worth as of the latest monthly snapshot.

🏆 National Teams

Uruguay on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.

National Teams Champions

Every major championship won by Uruguay's national teams, newest first. 17 in total.

2011· 2011-07-24
1995· 1995-07-23
1987· 1987-07-12
1983· 1983-11-04
1950· 1950-07-16
1930· 1930-07-30