Uruguay Has No Resources, But They're Rich

As a uruguayan, I read the title, and I literally screamed in excitement of seeing my country in a video

Uruguay's advantage isn't what's in the ground, it's how the country is run. Strong institutions, low corruption, stable policies, and investment in people create trust, which attracts business and keeps the economy steady. While others rely on boom-and-bust resource cycles, Uruguay built stability, and that compounds over time. South America has so much potential.

Brazilian here! Big admiration for Uruguay! 🇺🇾🇧🇷

Uruguay. The country where it always feels like saturday afternoon ❤

URUGUAY MENCIONADO

The biggest flex in this video isn't the 99% renewable energy or the high GDP—it's that their left and right-wing parties actually transfer power without immediately burning down everything the previous government built. Proving that 'political civility can be an economic policy' is a lesson the rest of the world desperately needs .

Topolansky (Mujica’s wife) said something that resonated: When the large wave of “modern” European migrants (early 1900s until 1950ish) arrived in Uruguay, these were large waves of working-class Europeans with knowledge/education on unionising, labour rights, etc. So, together with what is mentioned in the video (a different form of colonialism and “latifundistas”), these new migrants engendered ideas that shaped the Uruguay we had and have today.

Uruguayan here, good video, sadly: income high, yet deceiving, cost of living here is extremely high, considering most people earn around 1000 USD a month, and the labor market is minuscule. ( Min. Salary is around 500 usd, and rent for a single bedroom apartment is about that in most neighborhoods)

Bro, the driver of the coup d'etat was the CIA

No more rankings for countries? Too bad, I liked that section

So, basically, all the common sense in Latin America is located in Uruguay.

Uruguay also had arguably the best football/soccer team on the planet relative to their population.

It's simple: Uruguay has 16 million hectares suitable for agriculture in a population of only 3.5 million. 80% of its exports are agricultural products, employing only 8% of the population, meaning 92% live off the wealth generated by only 8%. As most of good are imported , Uruguay without agriculture would be extremely poor. .Additionally poverty is low, it's also because the poor emigrate and support those who remain, with 10% of their population living abroad. Uruguay lacks significant industry and is not home to multinational corporations, which means there are few well-paying jobs. Galperin (an Argentinian who moved to Uruguay) alone has a net worth equivalent to 8% of Uruguay's GDP, and he is just one among thousands of Argentinians, contributing significantly with the Uruguayan statistics . They are low on the corruption index simply because they don't perceive it. The practice of letting friends through customs without oversight, approving house plans for architect friends without adhering to regulations, hiring family and friends at the municipality without any further requirements, or any other exceptional procedure based on favoritism is so ingrained in the culture that it's not considered corruption. You can just look at a statistic and say how a country is like. Uruguay is very hard to be an employee , rents are high, food is expensive , taxes super high, not enough customers to develop a success business only state employees have a decent good income (but is paid with high taxes )

Uruguay sounds like the Vermont of South America

My home county in Minnesota, US took over recycling as a public service, briefly raising taxes to cover costs to get the cans to EVERY house/business in county and then using the profits from selling the recycling to lower taxes to below the previous tax rate

"This country is rich!" Looks inside: basically no industries, most adults choose to study and then work in other countries, the country is just a huge farm, and its entire economy is dependant on selling these products to Argentina and Brazil, while buying basically everything else Edit: also, its important to note that most of the things said in this video are good only on a foreigners vision, most uruguayans will say the country is still bad even with all of the things he said

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Uruguay’s story is a powerful reminder that natural resources aren't a guarantee of success, but strong institutions are. It’s impressive how a country with such a turbulent history managed to build the most stable democracy in the region by investing in its people and maintaining political civility. While the 'Uruguayan model' might be difficult to replicate perfectly due to its unique history, the core lessons on long-term stability and social investment are something the rest of the world should definitely take more seriously.

12:00 Portugal decrimanlized all drugs first and treated them like mental ilness which requires help. And the consumption droped by 50%.

There is a mistake in the video: Uruguay was an integral part of Brazil between 1817 and 1825, as the Cisplatine province.