MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay's population aging and shrinking were it not for immigrants

Without immigrants, “we would have to be announcing a population drop,” Aboal said

Uruguay's National Institute of Statistics (INE) announced Monday in Montevideo that there were 3,444,263 people living in the South American country, a meager 1% growth from 2011 figures. Were it not for immigration, the Uruguayan population would have contracted, it was explained.

 The study also showed that 52% of the population were women and 48% were men. Only 4% of Uruguayans live in the countryside, while 96% live in the city, with 92% of them having access to drinking water and 99% to electricity. In 2004, the average age was 29 years, in 2011 it was 34, while in 2023 it is 38 years.

Uruguayan households have around 2,134,520 pets, of which 1.4 million are dogs and there are more than 689,000 cats.

INE Director Diego Aboal highlighted the role of immigration, whereas a decrease in population was already on the radar, albeit for later in the 21st century.

Between 2011 and 2023 the Uruguayan population grew only by 1% due mainly to the drop in the birth rate and the “natural” increase in deaths, which brought forward the 2013 projections that estimated a drop in Uruguay's population by 2047.

Without immigrants, “we would have to be announcing a population drop,” Aboal said. Some 61,800 foreigners have a residence permit. In 2011 they accounted for 2% of the population against 3% by 2023.

Uruguay's population is also growing old. In 1963, 28% of Uruguayans were aged up to 14 while they are only 18% of the total now. There was also “a very important growth” in the group of people over 65 years old, while the number of people over 100 years old “doubled in the last 20 years,” it was explained.

The average age of Uruguayans in 2004 was 29 and today it is 38. “We are fewer and fewer people of working age, that will imply challenges for social security”, everyone “is going to have to produce more”, Aboal said.