How Many Foreigners Actually Live in Uruguay?
INGAR · · Analysis
The short answer: the 2023 census identified 122,151 residents born outside Uruguay, combining census questionnaires with administrative records. Against an estimated population of 3,499,451 people, that works out to about 3.5%.
That figure comes with two caveats that almost never make it into the headlines:
- The census measures country of birth, not nationality. Someone born abroad may well hold Uruguayan citizenship.
- In 122,237 cases, place of birth could not be determined. In other words, 122,151 is what was identified, not necessarily the total.
Why the figure of 107,578 also circulates
The first report of final results from INE (Uruguay's national statistics institute) published a table listing 107,578 people born abroad, broken down by country of birth and period of arrival.
That number comes from a tabulation based mainly on the census questionnaire. The total population of 3,499,451, however, also folds in people recovered through administrative records.
An official study published in 2026 by MTSS (Uruguay's labor and social security ministry) and the Facultad de Ciencias Sociales at Udelar (the country's main public university) reconstructs the operation this way:
| Component of the 2023 census | Born in Uruguay | Born abroad | Place of birth not determined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census questionnaires | 2,955,901 | 107,953 | 74,959 |
| Administrative records | 299,162 | 14,198 | 47,278 |
| Total | 3,255,063 | 122,151 | 122,237 |
The gap between the 107,578 in the first report and the 107,953 in this later analysis is not explicitly accounted for in the published documents. That's a good reason to tie each figure to its source rather than treat them as measurements of exactly the same thing.
So which percentage should you use?
122,151 / 3,499,451 = 3.49%, or roughly 3.5%.
With one honest caveat: this isn't a closed measurement, because around 122,000 residents have no known place of birth in the published data.
How Uruguay's population was calculated
The estimated population as of May 31, 2023 was 3,499,451 people.
The field operation directly enumerated 3,138,813. INE estimated an overall shortfall of 10.3%: 6.3% nonresponse — mostly absent occupants and refusals — plus 4% true omission from the count itself.
May 31 was set as the reference date because that was the day the operation had reached 50% of the population ultimately enumerated.
The estimated and adjusted populations INE uses for comparison:
| Reference date | Population |
|---|---|
| June 30, 1996 | 3,258,203 |
| June 30, 2011 | 3,412,636 |
| May 31, 2023 | 3,499,451 |
Between 2011 and 2023 the population grew by 86,815 people: 2.5% cumulative, an average annual rate of about 0.2%.
Where they come from
INE's country-of-origin table covers the 107,578 people classified by country and period of arrival:
| Country of birth | Before 2000 | 2000–2011 | 2012–2023 | Year not reported | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 11,966 | 5,038 | 12,186 | 2,704 | 31,894 |
| Venezuela | 404 | 237 | 15,230 | 244 | 16,115 |
| Cuba | 157 | 142 | 11,338 | 201 | 11,838 |
| Brazil | 4,038 | 1,574 | 3,513 | 1,606 | 10,731 |
| Spain | 4,718 | 1,249 | 1,591 | 629 | 8,187 |
| United States | 448 | 1,317 | 1,151 | 169 | 3,085 |
| Other countries | 6,828 | 3,420 | 11,728 | 1,293 | 23,269 |
| Country not reported | 669 | 129 | 169 | 1,492 | 2,459 |
| Total | 29,228 | 13,106 | 56,906 | 8,338 | 107,578 |
Measured by total residents, Argentina remains the leading country of birth, followed by Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil and Spain.
Among those who arrived in 2012–2023, though, the ranking flips:
- Venezuela: 15,230
- Argentina: 12,186
- Cuba: 11,338
And there's the answer to a debate that keeps coming up: it depends on whether you're looking at the stock or at recent flows. Both claims are true; they simply answer different questions.
What those 56,906 recent arrivals really mean
The census identified 56,906 foreign-born people who were living in Uruguay in 2023 and reported having arrived between 2012 and 2023: 52.9% of the 107,578 in the table.
That is not the total number of entries over the period. The census doesn't capture people who arrived and emigrated again, who died before the count, who were missed by the questionnaire, or who were recovered through records with no known year of arrival.
What it is, then, is an arrival cohort within the population still living in the country — not a statistic on border crossings.
INE noted that the 2011 census had identified some 24,500 foreign-born residents who had arrived in the previous ten years. Recent immigration has clearly grown, though the time windows aren't identical and the comparison shouldn't be pushed too far.
What the 2024 household survey shows
The census offers the broadest coverage, but it only comes around every so often. The ECH (Encuesta Continua de Hogares, Uruguay's ongoing household survey) allows a look at more recent years, with the caveat that it is sample-based and excludes group quarters.
| Migration status (ECH 2024) | Estimated people |
|---|---|
| Immigrants with fewer than five years in Uruguay | 28,604 |
| Immigrants with longer residence | 77,144 |
| Estimated total | 105,748 |
That comes in below the census figure. The official report attributes the difference to the survey's sample-based design, its exclusion of group quarters, and the difficulty of statistically representing a relatively small population.
It would be wrong to swap the census figure for the survey number, or to compare the two as if they measured the same thing.
Was net migration really zero?
| Component | 2011–2023 |
|---|---|
| Total growth | +86,815 |
| Natural increase (births − deaths) | +94,608 |
| Implied net migration | −7,793 |
That balance comes from subtracting natural increase from total growth. It was not calculated by counting arrivals and departures.
INE itself cautions that the difference may absorb coverage errors and estimation adjustments, and given how small it is, the agency treated it as consistent with a hypothesis of zero net international migration for the period.
What that does not mean: that nobody migrated, or that there's a one-for-one match between immigrants arriving and Uruguayans leaving. A net balance near zero can coexist with heavy movement in both directions.
The national number doesn't tell the whole real-estate story
When you're analyzing housing demand, where people settle matters far more than the national average.
According to the MTSS and Udelar analysis of the 2023 census, immigrants are distributed across Uruguay's departments (the country's province-level administrative divisions) as follows:
| Department | Share of the immigrant population |
|---|---|
| Montevideo | 57.0% |
| Canelones | 14.7% |
| Maldonado | 9.8% |
Together, those three account for roughly 81.5% of the identified immigrant population.
And as a share of each department's own population, immigration runs above the national average in Maldonado (5.7%), Montevideo (5.2%), Rivera (3.2%), Rocha (3.0%), Canelones (2.9%) and Colonia (2.7%).
Which is why a national net migration balance near zero doesn't rule out effects on specific neighborhoods or submarkets: demand can cluster geographically while other areas lose population.
What we know about residency permits
Administrative residency permits are not the same as the number of foreigners living in the country.
A permit may belong to someone who was already here, and a single person can show up at different stages or under different application types. On top of that, plenty of foreign-born residents hold Uruguayan citizenship or fall into other documentation categories.
Here's what has actually been published: the report Inmigración reciente en Uruguay 2022–2024 (Recent Immigration in Uruguay 2022–2024) presents a series of residency applications going back to 2013 — with gaps and changes in source — and records 17,402 applications in 2024. The Dirección Nacional de Migración (Uruguay's national immigration authority) has also released a 2025 Statistical Yearbook with residency permits filed and granted by category, nationality, age, sex and month.
The historical series remains patchy: you have to check which agency granted each type of permit and which categories each year covers.
Frequently asked questions
How many foreigners live in Uruguay?
If we're talking about people born outside the country, the 2023 census identified 122,151, about 3.5%. Because 122,237 residents have no recorded place of birth, the exact total can't be pinned down from what's been published.
Why do some articles say 107,578?
Because that's the figure from a table in INE's first final report, based on the census questionnaire, which doesn't incorporate people recovered through administrative records in the same way.
Is the main country of origin Argentina or Venezuela?
By total residents, Argentina. Among those who reported arriving in 2012–2023, Venezuela.
Did 56,906 foreigners arrive between 2012 and 2023?
The census found 56,906 residents who said they arrived during that period. It isn't a count of entries: it only includes people who were still here when the count took place.
Are foreigners 4% of the population?
There's no official 4% measurement. What was identified amounts to roughly 3.5%, with the caveat about cases lacking data.
Was net migration zero?
INE considered the 2011–2023 residual consistent with that hypothesis. It was not a direct measurement of arrivals and departures.
How many residency permits are granted each year?
The immigration authority publishes permits filed and granted. Those are administrative flows, not the number of foreign-born people living in the country.
Why this matters for the real-estate market
Immigration is a small slice of the national population, but it's heavily concentrated in Montevideo, Canelones and Maldonado.
Gauging its impact on property takes more than the country's total growth rate. You have to look at which departments and neighborhoods people settle in, whether they rent or buy, what kind of housing they're after, what they earn, how long they stay, and how international immigration interacts with movement within Uruguay.
Opportunities don't come from a headline about a supposed "migration wave." They come from studying real demand, supply and yields, area by area. Our Index publishes prices and rental yields by neighborhood.
Behind these numbers are people deciding where to live. If that's where you are right now, our services for foreign buyers bring order to the process, and our property listings let you compare areas and prices.
Keep reading
- Where do the people moving to Uruguay come from?
- The migration data Uruguay doesn't publish
- Moving to Uruguay from abroad: a practical guide
- Is Uruguay right for me?
- Why do some foreigners leave within two years?
Sources
- INE — 2023 Census: estimated population, intercensal growth, and structure by sex and age
- INE — Methodological document for the 2023 Census
- MTSS and Facultad de Ciencias Sociales (Udelar) — Inmigración reciente en Uruguay 2022–2024
- Dirección Nacional de Migración — 2025 Statistical Yearbook
- INE — 2023 Census portal
Information reviewed on August 1, 2026. These figures describe different statistical universes and are not real-time records.