"text":"What is now Ecuador formed part of the northern Inca Empire until the Spanish conquest in 1533. Quito became a seat of Spanish colonial government in 1563 and part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717. The territories of the Viceroyalty - New Granada (Colombia), Venezuela, and Quito - gained their independence between 1819 and 1822 and formed a federation known as Gran Colombia. When Quito withdrew in 1830, the traditional name was changed in favor of the \"Republic of the Equator.\" Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors. A border war with Peru that flared in 1995 was resolved in 1999. Although Ecuador marked 30 years of civilian governance in 2004, the period was marred by political instability. Protests in Quito contributed to the mid-term ouster of three of Ecuador's last four democratically elected presidents. In late 2008, voters approved a new constitution, Ecuador's 20th since gaining independence. Guillermo LASSO was elected president in April 2021 becoming the country's first center-right president in nearly two decades when he took office the following month."
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> Ecuador has declared its right to extend its continental shelf to 350 nm measured from the baselines of the Galapagos Archipelago"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> because the earth is not a perfect sphere and has an equatorial bulge, the highest point on the planet farthest from its center is Mount Chimborazo not Mount Everest, which is merely the highest peak above sea level"
"text":"nearly half of the population is concentrated in the interior in the Andean intermontane basins and valleys, with large concentrations also found along the western coastal strip; the rainforests of the east remain sparsely populated"
"text":"<p>frequent earthquakes; landslides; volcanic activity; floods; periodic droughts</p><p><strong>volcanism:</strong> volcanic activity concentrated along the Andes Mountains; Sangay (5,230 m), which erupted in 2010, is mainland Ecuador's most active volcano; other historically active volcanoes in the Andes include Antisana, Cayambe, Chacana, Cotopaxi, Guagua Pichincha, Reventador, Sumaco, and Tungurahua; Fernandina (1,476 m), a shield volcano that last erupted in 2009, is the most active of the many Galapagos volcanoes; other historically active Galapagos volcanoes include Wolf, Sierra Negra, Cerro Azul, Pinta, Marchena, and Santiago</p>"
"text":"<strong>note 1:</strong> Cotopaxi in Andes is highest active volcano in world<br><br><strong>note 2:</strong> genetic research indicates that the cherry-sized tomato originated in Ecuador without any human domestication; later domestication in Mexico transformed the plant into the large modern tomato; archeological research indicates that the cacao tree, whose seeds are used to make chocolate and which was long thought to have originated in Mesoamerica, was first domesticated in the upper Amazon region of northwest South America - present-day Ecuador - about 3,300 B.C."
"text":"Spanish (Castilian) 93% (official), Quechua 4.1%, other indigenous 0.7%, foreign 2.2%; note - (Quechua and Shuar are official languages of intercultural relations; other indigenous languages are in official use by indigenous peoples in the areas they inhabit) (2010 est.)"
"text":"<br>La Libreta Informativa del Mundo, la fuente indispensable de información básica. (Spanish)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
"text":"<p>Ecuador's high poverty and income inequality most affect indigenous, mixed race, and rural populations. The government has increased its social spending to ameliorate these problems, but critics question the efficiency and implementation of its national development plan. Nevertheless, the conditional cash transfer program, which requires participants' children to attend school and have medical check-ups, has helped improve educational attainment and healthcare among poor children. Ecuador is stalled at above replacement level fertility and the population most likely will keep growing rather than stabilize.</p><p>An estimated 2 to 3 million Ecuadorians live abroad, but increased unemployment in key receiving countries - Spain, the United States, and Italy - is slowing emigration and increasing the likelihood of returnees to Ecuador. The first large-scale emigration of Ecuadorians occurred between 1980 and 2000, when an economic crisis drove Ecuadorians from southern provinces to New York City, where they had trade contacts. A second, nationwide wave of emigration in the late 1990s was caused by another economic downturn, political instability, and a currency crisis. Spain was the logical destination because of its shared language and the wide availability of low-skilled, informal jobs at a time when increased border surveillance made illegal migration to the US difficult. Ecuador has a small but growing immigrant population and is Latin America's top recipient of refugees; 98% are neighboring Colombians fleeing violence in their country.</p>"
"text":"nearly half of the population is concentrated in the interior in the Andean intermontane basins and valleys, with large concentrations also found along the western coastal strip; the rainforests of the east remain sparsely populated"
"text":"deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; water pollution; pollution from oil production wastes in ecologically sensitive areas of the Amazon Basin and Galapagos Islands"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"none of the selected agreements"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"tropical along coast, becoming cooler inland at higher elevations; tropical in Amazonian jungle lowlands"
"text":"named after the Quitu, a Pre-Columbian indigenous people credited with founding the city; the name is also a combination of two Tsafiki words: <em>quitso</em> (meaning \"center\" or \"half\") + <em>to</em> or <em>tu</em> (\"the world\"); the combination roughly translates as \"center of the world\" and reflects the fact that native peoples recognized that at the two annual equinoxes, the overhead sun in that area (only about 20 km (12 mi) north of the equator) did not display any shade and thus must be in the middle of the world"
"text":"proposed by the president of the republic through a referendum, by public petition of at least 1% of registered voters, or by agreement of at least one-third membership of the National Assembly; passage requires two separate readings a year apart and approval by at least two-thirds majority vote of the Assembly, and approval by absolute majority in a referendum; amendments such as changes to the structure of the state, constraints on personal rights and guarantees, or constitutional amendment procedures are not allowed; amended 2011, 2015, 2018"
"text":"President Guillermo LASSO Mendoza (since 24 May 2021); Vice President Alfredo Enrique BORRERO Vega (since 24 May 2021); the president is both chief of state and head of government"
"text":"president and vice president directly elected on the same ballot by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 7 February 2021 with a runoff on 11 April 2021 (next to be held in February 2025)"
"text":"<br><em>2021:</em> Guillermo LASSO Mendoza elected president; first round election results: percent of vote - Andres ARAUZ (UNES) 32.72%, Guillermo LASSO Mendoza (CREO) 19.74%, Yaku PEREZ Guartambel (MUPP) 19.38%, Xavier HERVAS Mora (ID) 15.68%, other 12.48%; second round election results: percent of vote - Guillermo LASSO Mendoza (CREO) 52.5%, Andres ARAUZ (UNES) 47.5%<br><br><em>2017:</em> Lenin MORENO Garces elected president in second round; percent of vote - Lenin MORENO Garces (Alianza PAIS Movement) 51.1%, Guillermo LASSO (CREO) 48.9%"
"text":"unicameral National Assembly or Asamblea Nacional (137 seats; 116 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 15 members directly elected in a single nationwide constituency by proportional representation vote, and 6 directly elected in multi-seat constituencies for Ecuadorians living abroad by simple majority vote; members serve 4-year terms); note - all Assembly members have alternates from the same party who cast votes when a primary member is absent, resigns, or is removed from office"
"text":"percent of vote by party - UNES 32.2%, MUPP 16.8%, ID 11.9%, PSC 9.7%, MC-PSE 3.8%, other 15.9%; seats by party - UNES 49, MUPP 27, ID 18, PSC 18, CREO 12, MC-PSE 2, independent 3, other 8; composition as of July 2023 - men 84, women 53, percent of women 38.7%; note - defections by National Assembly members are commonplace, resulting in frequent changes in the numbers of seats held by the various parties"
"text":"National Court of Justice or Corte Nacional de Justicia (consists of 21 judges, including the chief justice and organized into 5 specialized chambers); Constitutional Court or Corte Constitucional (consists of the court president and 8 judges)"
"text":"candidates for the National Court of Justice evaluated and appointed justices by the Judicial Council, a 9-member independent body of law professionals; justices elected for 9-year, non-renewable terms, with one-third of the membership renewed every 3 years; candidates for the Constitutional Court evaluated and appointed judges by a 6-member independent body of law professionals; judges appointed for 4-year renewable terms"
"text":"provincial courts (one for each province except Galapagos); fiscal, criminal, and administrative tribunals; Election Dispute Settlement Courts; cantonal courts"
"text":"Avanza Party or AVANZA [Javier ORTI Torres]<br>Central Democratic Movement or CD [Jimmy JAIRALA]<br>Citizen Revolution Movement or MRC or RC5 [Marcela AGUIÑAGA]<br>Creating Opportunities Movement or CREO [Guido CHIRIBOGA]<br>Democratic Left or ID [Enrique CHÁVEZ]<br>Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement or MUPP [Guillermo CHURUCHUMBI]<br>Patriotic Society Party or PSP [Lucio GUTIERREZ Borbua]<br>Social Christian Party or PSC [Alfredo SERRANO]<br>Socialist Party [Gustavo VALLEJO] <br>Society United for More Action or SUMA [Guillermo CELI]"
"text":"three horizontal bands of yellow (top, double width), blue, and red with the coat of arms superimposed at the center of the flag; the flag retains the three main colors of the banner of Gran Colombia, the South American republic that broke up in 1830; the yellow color represents sunshine, grain, and mineral wealth, blue the sky, sea, and rivers, and red the blood of patriots spilled in the struggle for freedom and justice",
"text":"highly informal South American economy; USD currency user; major banana exporter; hard hit by COVID-19; macroeconomic fragility from oil dependency; successful debt restructuring; China funding budget deficits; social unrest hampering economic activity"
"text":"Ecuador has a small telecom market dominated by the mobile sector; the evolution of the market has been influenced by the poor fixed-line infrastructure, which has stymied the development of fixed-line broadband services; to some extent poor infrastructure has been the result of topographical challenges which have rendered the cost of deploying networks to remote and mountainous areas prohibitive; although Ecuador has several fixed-line operators and a large number of ISPs, the state-owned incumbent leads the fixed-line market, and thus also the fixed broadband market; thus far the MVNO sector has been slow to develop, partly because the incumbent operators also have their low-cost brands and thus there is little business case for new market entrants; the government is keen to advance and improve teledensity; from 2022, additional revenue will be earmarked for programs aimed at expanding the reach of internet and mobile services in rural areas of the country; Ecuador lacks a national 5G roadmap; the mobile operators have conducted several 5G pilots, but no progress has been made on allocation spectrum for 5G, or on developing strategies to encourage investment in the sector (2022)"
"text":"according to 2021 statistics from the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Society, 50 percent of Ecuadorian homes do not have access to fixed internet; fixed-line teledensity is about 10 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular service with a subscribership of nearly 94 per 100 persons (2021)"
"text":"country code - 593; landing points for the SPSC (Mistral Submarine Cable), Panamerican Cable System (PAN-AM), Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS), America Movil-Telxius West Coast Cable and SAm-1 submarine (SAm-1) cables that provide links to South and Central America, and extending onward to the Caribbean and the US; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2019)"
"text":"<p>the Communication Council, an official entity, carried out a media registry in Ecuador in December 2020. It registered 956 media outlets, 89% are private, 5% are public and 6% belong to small communities. The government controls most of the 44 public media, this includes national media and multiple local radio stations. In addition, of the 956 registered media, 58% are radio and 18% print. Two provinces have the largest number of media outlets: Guayas has 172 media outlets and Pichincha has 130 media outlets. (2020) so also sent to the National Assembly a new regulation proposal that is still under discussion.</p> (2022)"
"note":"according to 2021 statistics from Ecuador's Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Society, 50% of homes do not have access to fixed internet"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"text":"Ecuadorian Armed Forces: the Ecuadorian Army (Ejército Ecuatoriano), Ecuadorian Navy (Armada del Ecuador, Fuerza Naval del Ecuador, FNE; includes naval infantry, naval aviation, coast guard), Ecuadorian Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana, FAE) (2023)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the National Police of Ecuador (Policía Nacional del Ecuador) is under the Ministry of Government/Interior"
"text":"the military's inventory includes a wide mix of mostly older equipment derived from a variety of sources such as Brazil, China, Russia, and the US; in recent years, Ecuador has received limited amounts of more modern material from several countries, including Germany and Spain (2023)"
"text":"18 years of age for selective conscript military service, although conscription was suspended in 2008; 18 years of age for voluntary military service; Ecuadorian birth requirement; 1-year service obligation; females have been allowed to serve in all branches since 2012 (2022)",
"text":"the military is responsible for preserving Ecuador’s national sovereignty and defending the integrity of the state; it also has some domestic security responsibilities and may complement police operations in maintaining public order if required; the military shares responsibility for border enforcement with the National Police; it trains regularly, participates in bilateral and multinational training exercises, and sends troops on UN peacekeeping missions; the military has defense ties to regional countries, such as Chile, Colombia, and Peru, and security ties with the US have been revived in recent years<br><br>border conflicts with Peru dominated the military’s focus until the late 1990s and border security remains a priority, but in more recent years, security challenges have included counterinsurgency and counternarcotics operations, particularly in the northern border area where violence and other criminal activity related to terrorism, insurgency, and narco-trafficking in Colombia, as well as refugees from Venezuela, have spilled over the border; the military has established a joint service task force for counterinsurgency and counternarcotics operations and boosted troop deployments along those borders; other missions include countering illegal mining, smuggling, and maritime piracy; since 2012, the Ecuadorian Government has expanded the military’s role in general public security and domestic crime operations, in part due to rising violence, police corruption, and police ineffectiveness<br><br>the Joint Command of the Armed Forces (El Comando Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas or CCFFAA) is the military’s highest body for planning, preparation, and strategic conduct of military operations; the chief of the CCFFAA is appointed by the president; the military is deployed throughout the country in 5 joint service operational commands or task forces; it also has a cyber defense command; the Army is organized into 4 regionally based divisions and approximately 12 combat brigades, including armored cavalry, artillery, aviation, infantry (including specialized jungle infantry), and special forces; the Navy is a compact force comprised of 2 frigates, 6 corvettes, 3 missile attack boats, and 2 attack submarines; it also has a small aviation force and a Marine Corps with about 2,000 amphibious infantry and commandos; the Air Force has small numbers of operational jet fighters and light ground attack aircraft, as well as some multirole helicopters <br><br>the military has had a large role in Ecuador’s political history; it ruled the country from 1963-1966 and 1972-1979, and supported a dictatorship in 1970-1972; during the 1980s, the military remained loyal to the civilian government, but civilian-military relations were at times tenuous, and the military had considerable autonomy from civilian oversight; it was involved in coup attempts in 2000 and 2010 (2023)"
"text":"the International Maritime Bureau reported no incidents in 2022; the territorial and offshore waters of Ecuador remain at risk for piracy and armed robbery against ships; vessels, including commercial shipping and pleasure craft, have been attacked and hijacked both at anchor and while underway; crews have been robbed and stores or cargoes stolen"
"text":"65,854 (Colombia) (refugees and asylum seekers) (2021); 502,214 (Venezuela) (economic and political crisis; includes Venezuelans who have claimed asylum, are recognized as refugees, or have received alternative legal stay) (2022)"
"text":"<p>Ecuador is a major transit country for cocaine destined for the United States and other international destinations; criminal groups traffic cocaine precursor chemicals for drug gangs; not a major drug producing country; a major source of precursor or essential chemicals used in the production of illicit narcotics</p>"
