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Uruguay Regional Development
Uruguay's regions differed markedly not only in
population
size and density but also in their indexes of social and
economic
development, including education, health care,
communications,
energy consumption, and industrialization. Least developed
were
the northern ranching departments along the Brazilian
border--
Artigas, Rivera, and Cerro Largo--and also Tacuarembó.
Somewhat
more developed was a band of six departments stretching
across
the center of the country, from west to east: Río Negro,
Flores,
Florida, Durazno, Treinta y Tres, and Rocha. More
industrialized
and urbanized, but still quite poor, were the departments
of
Soriano and Salto, which, as noted previously, benefited
from the
construction of a bridge and a dam, respectively, across
the Río
Uruguay in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The two
remaining
western departments--Colonia and Paysandú--were the most
developed of the littoral.
Three departments close to Montevideo--San José,
Canelones,
and Lavalleja--presented a contradictory picture of
relatively
advanced economic development combined with low indexes of
social
modernization. Finally, Montevideo and the department of
Maldonado (which is strongly affected by the tourism
industry in
Punta del Este) had the highest indexes of social and
economic
development in the country (see
table 3, Appendix).
Data as of December 1990
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