IOM Migration Profile for Uruguay Provides a Comprehensive Overview
The IOM Migration Profile for Uruguay, published today in the
capital Montevideo, provides a comprehensive overview of migration
today and how immigration from Europe – mainly from Italy and
Spain – from the 1800s until the 1960s shaped the South
American nation.
The 1860 census tallied the foreign born at 34 per cent of the
country's population. But after the 1960s, during a deepening
economic, social and political crisis, which lead to a coup
d'état in 1973, many Uruguayans migrated to countries in the
region, North America and Europe. Other large emigration waves
occurred during the crises of 1982 and 2002.
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target="_blank" title="">Perfil Migratorio de Uruguay
2011
By 1996, according to official data, an estimated 15 per cent of
Uruguayans were living outside the country. An additional estimated
117,000 left the country between 1996 and 2004. This brought the
percentage of the population living abroad to approximately 18 per
cent.
Historically, Argentina has been the main country of destination
for Uruguayan migrants. Since 2002, Spain and to a lesser extent
the United States have become the main receiving countries; with
nearly 70 per cent of recent Uruguayan migrants concentrated in
these two countries.
The return of democracy, and more recently a period of
significant economic growth and very low unemployment rates,
(currently at 5.4 per cent) have been credited with an increase in
immigration flows and an accelerated return of Uruguayan migrants,
who for the most part are predominantly working age males with a
higher level of education than the native population.
The IOM Migration Profile points out that in recent years there
have been notable advances towards the design of policies aimed at
reducing possible negative impacts of migration on social and
economic development.
A new Migration Law, the creation of a Bureau of Consular
Affairs and Liaison and of an Office of Return and Welcome within
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirm these advances, but also
cautions that much remains to be done to ensure effective migration
policies.
In terms of civil society there has been notable progress in the
creation of NGOs that promote and monitor migrants' rights. The
Migrant Support Network created in 2010, has organized and carried
out many activities that have contributed to placing migration on
the national agenda. The Profile emphasizes a need to continue
awareness-raising on migrant and returnee rights.
The Profile also recommends including questions in the
Continuous Household Survey of the National Statistics Institute in
order to identify migrants who have returned to Uruguay, and to
keep the questions that gather information on immigrants arriving
in the country, as well as on remittance-receiving households.
The IOM Migration Profiles, prepared in close cooperation with
government entities working on migration-related issues, are
developed as a tool for governments to identify and understand
their migration realities and needs in order to develop the
policies and strategies at the national and regional levels for
well-managed migration.
In South America, IOM has developed Migration Profiles for
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela, and
is currently finalizing profiles for Bolivia, Chile and Peru.
The IOM Migration Profile for Uruguay, available in Spanish, can
be downloaded at:
For more information please contact:
Alba Goycoechea
IOM Montevideo
Tel: +598 2 916.80.43
E-mail:
"agoycoechea@iom.int">agoycoechea@iom.int