Uruguayan American - Demography

Demography

According to 2010 census on the Uruguayan descent population in the U.S., there are about 56,884 people of that origin. The majority of Uruguayans that migrated to the United States arrived in the 1960s and 1970s. It calculates that, between 1963 and 1975 (when the country's economy suffered a huge drop), 180,000 Uruguayans left of country. Later on, between 1975 and 1985, during the period of oppressive military control, 150,000 Uruguayans left Uruguay. And, in 1989, only 16,000 of these citizens had returned to their native country. When these two figures are added together, the migration figure stands at approximately one-tenth of the population.

Although in the 1990s Uruguayans constituted 43 percent of all immigrants to the United States originating from Latin America and the Caribbean, they only made up a small part of the large U.S. Hispanic population. The most Uruguayan immigrants established themselves in New York City, New Jersey, and Long Island. Two other remarkable centers for Uruguayan American population are Washington, D.C., and Florida.