Paraguay and Uruguay Compared

Mr. Beat compares and contrasts the two South American countries outsiders often get mixed up- Paraguay and Uruguay.

A special shout out to @CogitoEdu for looking over the script. He spends a lot of time in Uruguay!

Produced by Matt Beat. All images/video by Matt Beat, found in the public domain, or used under fair use guidelines.

Music:
Photos/video:
pukupukuch paraguay
FFE.Franco
Myparaguay
Marcelo Campi
Felipe Restrepo Acosta
FF MM
Ricardogomezize
Ilosuna
Tetraktys
Iwan
GFDL
Diego Delso
Súbete a mi moto
Wikitongues
Caacupé
Leandro Neumann Ciuffo
Agência Brasil
Municipalidad de Miraflores
Jonas de Carvalho
Martin St-Amant

Sources/further reading:

Further watching by @NameExplain:
Why Do Paraguay & Uruguay Have Such Similar Names?

Paraguay and Uruguay
Or officially the Republic of Paraguay and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay
No way. Yes way
The two South American countries that outsiders often get mixed up that are both between Brazil and Argentina. The way I’ve always remembered where each is located is P U, and the P is always over the U. Yeah, I’m a weird guy, what can I say.

But while folks confuse the two, they are actually both quite different.

For starters, Paraguay is about twice as big as Uruguay. It also has about twice the population of Uruguay. (P- 7,152,703, U- 3,449,285) 90% of Paraguay lives east of the Paraguay river. Paraguay is also growing at a faster rate.

Paraguay is landlocked, Uruguay borders the Atlantic Ocean, for crying out loud. But hold up, despite being landlocked, the country has coasts and ports on the Paraguay and Paraná rivers, and the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway does exit to the Atlantic Ocean. See those beaches? They are in Paraguay, yo. Oh and Paraguay has the largest navy of any landlocked country in the world.

Paraguay and Uruguay don’t even border each other. Paraguay borders another landlocked country, actually...Bolivia.

Being further south and by the ocean, Uruguay has a more temperate climate. He never gets too hot or cold there, but in Paraguay it's much more varied. This map sums it up. Southeast Paraguay has a climate more similar to Uruguay, but the more north and west you go the more tropical it gets. Paraguay actually has two distinct geographic regions, divided by the Paraguay River. The eastern region, which is mostly grassy plains and wooded hills, and the western region, also known as the Chaco, which is mostly marshy plains with random big hills in certain spots. Paraguay also has a wet and dry season. Uruguay, for the most part, does not.

The median age is younger in Paraguay. (P- 26.3, U- 35.8) The life expectancy is higher in Uruguay. (P- 74.6, U- 78.4) And the infant mortality rate is also much lower there.

#paraguay #uruguay #compared #mrbeat

[iammrbeat]

Which two countries should I compare next?

[jonauruguay]

Fun fact: Artigas ("Uruguay's national hero") died in Paraguay.
Greetings from Uruguay.

[JamesKerLindsay]

A great source of confusion in Latin America. So many similarities with Slovakia and Slovenia in Europe. But the Slovenes and Slovaks go out of the way to make the confusion tougher by having almost identical flags!

[omegajrz]

-Los dos países toman mate
-Los dos países con un Partido Colorado
-Los dos países se llaman casi igual por el guaraní
-El prócer uruguayo murió en Paraguay
-Los 2 países usan palabras del lunfardo
-Un uruguayo, Fransisco Acuña de Figueroa, creó el himno de Paraguay.

Más hermanos, imposible. Saludos desde Uruguay a los hermanos paraguayos.

[ecopequeno]

So weird to hear “ -guay” pronounced like “-way”. I wasn’t aware of this pronunciation as I am a Spanish-speaking person. We pronounce it like “-why”. “Para-why” and “Ooroo-why” :]

[SargentoBonzo]

A big difference: URUGUAY WON 2 WORLD CUPS WITH ONLY A POPULATION OF 3 MILLION.

[nataliasaavedra]

soy Uruguaya pero amo Paraguay, es una joya escondida que pocos han descubierto, hay gente que dice que no tiene nada para visitar y ver y yo me rio por dentro, es un país increíble, en 2015 me hice un viaje por 6 meses por norte argentino, paraguay y bolivia y amé Paraguay, gran video, pero te faltaron algunas cosas, saludos amigo

[jonauruguay]

Saludos a los hermanos de Paraguay desde Montevideo, Uruguay. 🇵🇾♥️🇺🇾

[cynzix]

"Funny" fact: most of the Charrúa population was slaughtered in a place called Salsipuedes, that literally means "get out if you can"

[RemixedVoice]

Uruguay is easily my favorite South American country that I've visited. Though Bolivia is a close second.

[timbersnavy]

Having lived in both countries, I can confirm that this is nearly all accurate, although the pronunciation made me wince approximately 47 times. President Hayes didn't arbitrate the territorial dispute over the Chaco until 1878, eight years after the end of the Triple Alliance War, but he is absolutely a national hero in Paraguay and far better remembered there than in his own country. Religion is far more prevalent in Paraguay; most Uruguayans take pride in being a secular nation and don't maintain religious ties. There is a much broader variety of cuisine available in Paraguay, since they have their own traditional foods (comidas típicas such as mbeju, chipa, sopa paraguaya, etc) as well as more Asian and other ethnic options. There is good food in Uruguay too, but about 80% of it is steak, pizza, and pasta. Despite being landlocked, Paraguayans also eat more fish than Uruguayans, oddly enough. But I think one of the most notable differences is the friendliness of the people. Uruguayans are typically polite but reserved, and less likely to branch out by making a friend outside of their established circle of family and close friends. However, Paraguayans are among the most welcoming and hospitable people I have ever encountered anywhere. Especially if you are outside of the capital, it's not uncommon to strike up a conversation with a local and be invited over for merienda (late afternoon snack) or a meal.

[yibithehispanic]

We named an entire state after President Hayes, not only a City xd

[unepiccube]

Fun fact: in the 90s, Disney sued a small food company in paraguay called "Mickey" (which also used the mouse as the logo), because of "brand use" or smth like that, however, Disney sued the lawsuit because Disney was an entertainment company, while Mickey (the food brand) was a food company, and not only that, but in the 30s Mickey got registered in paraguay, so that means they can sell their product in paraguay and only paraguay without getting in big trouble.

So long story short, *The dominant company that could buy Fox lost a lawsuit against a small company from a 3rd world country*

[tiago]

Oh my god... Mr Beat doing a video about my country Cheers from Uruguay 🇺🇾 love your channel

[victorinocuevasdross]

Nadie:
Absolutamente nadie:
Este men y los demas yankees:
Peregüei and iurugüei

[canteroski]

I’m from Uruguay and I consider myself lucky to live here, I think it’s the best in Latin America. Some years ago I went to Paraguay and is a beautiful country too, there’s more vegetation and it has a much warmer climate. Here in Uruguay we have the 4 distinct seasons, it doesn’t snow but it gets cold tho

[josefina]

soy uruguaya y tuve la oportunidad de visitar Paraguay es un país muy lindo y la gente es muy amable. les mando un abrazo fuerte hermanos paraguayos!

[tylerhackner]

Gives me flashbacks to kids saying “Ur gay” instead of Uruguay because they think it’s the funniest thing ever.

[MrTilldaddy]

I went to Paraguay twice in high school. It is a beautiful country with delicious cuisine.

[javirezio]

You forgot to mention one more thing in common: Both of the countries are high consumers of yerba mate. However, the paraguayans drink iced mate (commonly called "Terere") and Uruguayans drink hot mate like argentinians. That's another way to distinguish both of them xD