The Acevedos

General Information

• Location

  

  República Oriental del Uruguay is a country in the southeastern region of South America. It is bordered by Argentina to its west and Brazil to its north and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to the south and southeast.

• Population

  2017

  2016

  2015

  2014

  Estimation

  3.45 millions
  3.44 millions
  3.43 millions
  3.42 millions

  Uruguay is home to 3.45 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city, Montevideo.

• Area

  

  With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometers (68,000 sq mi) being a little bigger than Forida's state(65,755 sq mi), Uruguay is geographically the second-smallest nation in South America after Suriname.

• Language

  Official language: Spanish

  Uruguayan Spanish has some modifications due to the considerable number of Italian immigrants. Immigrants used to speak a mixture of Italian and Spanish known as 'cocoliche' and some of the words are still commonly used by the population. English is common in the business world and its study has risen significantly in recent years, especially among the young. Other languages include Portuguese and Portuñol (a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese). Both are spoken in the northern regions near the Brazilian border. As few native people exist in the population, no indigenous languages are thought to remain in Uruguay.

• Education

  Education in Uruguay is secular, free, and compulsory for 14 years, starting at the age of 4. The system is divided into six levels of education: early childhood (3–5 years); primary (6–11 years); basic secondary (12–14 years); upper secondary (15–17 years); higher education (18 and up); and post-graduate education.
  Public education is the primary responsibility of three institutions: the Ministry of Education and Culture, which coordinates education policies, the National Public Education Administration, which formulates and implements policies on early to secondary education, and the University of the Republic, responsible for higher education. In 2009, the government planned to invest 4.5% of GDP in education.
  Uruguay ranks high on standardised tests such as PISA at a regional level, but compares unfavourably to the OECD average, and is also below some countries with similar levels of income. In the 2006 PISA test, Uruguay had one of the greatest standard deviations among schools, suggesting significant variability by socio-economic level.

• Culture

  Cuisine

  Beef is fundamental to Uruguayan cuisine, and the country is one of the world's top consumers of red meat per capita. Asado, a kind of barbecued beef, and is the national dish in Uruguay. Other popular foods include beef platters, chivito (steak sandwiches), pasta, barbecued kidneys, and sausages.
  Uruguay and Argentina share a national drink called mate. Mate has a strong cultural significance as national identity and social gathering. Drinking mate is a common social practice it is considered to be a tradition taken from the gauchos. Often locals can be seen carrying leather cases containing a thermos of hot water, the traditional hollowed gourd called a mate or guampa, a metal straw called a bombilla, and the dried yerba mate leaves. Sweet treats, including flan, dulce de leche, and alfajores (shortbread cookies), are favorites for desserts or afternoon snacks.
  Other Uruguayan dishes include morcilla dulce (a type of blood sausage cooked with ground orange fruit, orange peel, and walnuts), chorizo, milanesa (a breaded veal cutlet similar to the Austrian Wienerschnitzel), snacks such as olímpicos (club sandwiches), húngaras (spicy sausage in a hot dog roll), and masas surtidas (bite-sized pastries).

  Sports

  Futbol (soccer) is the most popular sport in Uruguay. The first international match outside the British Isles was played between Uruguay and Argentina in Montevideo in July 1902. Uruguay won gold at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games and again in 1928 in Amsterdam.
  The Uruguay national futbol team has won the FIFA World Cup on two occasions. Uruguay won the inaugural tournament on home soil in 1930 and again in 1950, famously defeating home favourites Brazil in the final match. Uruguay has won the Copa América (an international tournament for South American nations and guests) more than any other country, their victory in 2011 making a total of 15 Copa Américas won. Uruguay has by far the smallest population of any country that has won a World Cup. Uruguay performed very credibly in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, having reached the semi-final for the first time in 40 years. Diego Forlán was presented with the Golden Ball award as the best player of the 2010 tournament. In the rankings for June 2012, Uruguay was ranked the second best team in the world, according to the FIFA world rankings, their highest ever point in futbol history, falling short of the first spot to the Spain national futbol team.
  Uruguay exported 1,414 futbol players during the 2000s, almost as many players as Brazil and Argentina. In 2010, the Uruguayan government enacted measures intended to retain players in the country.
  Futbol was taken to Uruguay by English sailors and labourers in the late 19th century. Less successfully, they introduced rugby and cricket. There are two Montevideo-based futbol clubs, Nacional and Peñarol, who are successful in domestic and South American tournaments and have won three Intercontinental Cups each.

  Music

  The most distinctive music of Uruguay is to be found in the tango and candombe; both genres have been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Uruguayan music includes a number of local musical forms such as murga, a form of musical theatre, and milonga, a folk guitar and song form deriving from Spanish traditions and related to similar forms found in many Hispanic-American countries

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