# The World Factbook (1990)/Ecuador

pages 87–88
​Ecuador
See regional map IV
Geography
Total area: 283,560 km²; land area: 276,840 km²; includes Galapagos Islands
Comparative area: slightly smaller than Nevada
Land boundaries: 2,010 km total; Colombia 590 km, Peru 1,420 km
Coastline: 2,237 km
Maritime claims:
    Continental shelf: 200 m
    Territorial sea: 200 nm
Disputes: two sections of the boundary with Peru are in dispute
Climate: tropical along coast becoming cooler inland
Terrain: coastal plain (Costa), inter-Andean central highlands (Sierra), and flat to rolling eastern jungle (Oriente)
Natural resources: petroleum, fish, timber
Land use: 6% arable land; 3% permanent crops; 17% meadows and pastures; 51% forest and woodland; 23% other; includes 2% irrigated
Environment: subject to frequent earthquakes, landslides, volcanic activity; deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; periodic droughts
Note: Cotopaxi in Andes is highest active volcano in world
People
Population: 10,506,668 (July 1990), growth rate 2.3% (1990)
Birth rate: 30 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 61 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 64 years male, 68 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 3.8 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Ecuadorian(s); adjective—Ecuadorian
Ethnic divisions: 55% mestizo (mixed Indian and Spanish), 25% Indian, 10% Spanish, 10% black
Religion: 95% Roman Catholic
Language: Spanish (official); Indian languages, especially Quechua
Literacy: 85% (1981)
Labor force: 2,800,000; 35% agriculture, 21% manufacturing, 16% commerce, 28% services and other activities (1982)
Organized labor: less than 15% of labor force
Government
Long-form name: Republic of Ecuador
Type: republic
Capital: Quito
Administrative divisions: 21 provinces (provincias, singular—provincia); Azuay, Bolívar, Cañar, Carchi, Chimborazo, Co- topaxi, El Oro, Esmeraldas, Galápagos, Guayas, Imbabura, Loja, Los Ríos, Manabí, Morona-Santiago, Napo, Pastaza, Pichincha, Sucúmbios, Tungurahua, Zamora-Chinchipe
Independence: 24 May 1822 (from Spain; Battle of Pichincha)
Constitution: 10 August 1979
Legal system: based on civil law system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: Independence Day, 10 August (1809, independence of Quito)
Executive branch: president, vice president, Cabinet
Legislative branch: unicameral Chamber of Representatives (Cámara de Representantes)
Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Corte Suprema)
Leaders: Chief of State and Head of Government—President Rodrigo BORJA Cevallos (since 10 August 1988); Vice President Luis PARODI Valverde (since 10 August 1988)
Political parties and leaders: Right to center parties—Social Christian Party (PSC), Camilio Ponce, president; Conservative Party (PC), José Terán Varea, director; Radical Liberal Party (PLR), Blasco Peñaherrera, director;
Centrist parties—Concentration of Popular Forces (CFP), Averroes Bucaram Saxida, director; Radical Alfarist Front (FRA), Cecilia Calderón de Castro, leader; People, Change, and Democracy (PCD), Aquiles Rigail Santisteván, director; Revolutionary Nationalist Party (PNR), Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy, leader;
Center-left parties—Democratic Left (ID), President Rodrigo Borja, leader; Roldosist Party of Ecuador (PRE), Abdala Bucaram, director; Popular Democracy (DP), Vladimiro Alvarez, leader; Christian Democratic (CD), Julio César Trujillo; Democratic Party (PD), Francisco Huerta Montalvo, leader;
Far-left parties—Broad Leftist Front (FADI), René Maugé Mosquera, director; Socialist Party (PSE), Victor Granda Aguilar, secretary general; Democratic Popular Movement (MPD), Jaime Hurtado González, leader; Ecuadorian National Liberation (LN), Alfredo Castillo; Popular Revolutionary Action Party (APRE), Lt. Gen. Frank Vargas Pazzos, leader
Suffrage: universal at age 18; compulsory for literate persons ages 18-65, optional for other eligible voters
Elections: President—first round held 31 January 1988 and second round on 8 May 1988 (next first round to be held January 1992 and second round May 1992); results—Rodrigo Borja Cevallos (ID) 54%, Abdalá Bucaram Ortiz (PRE) 46%;
Chamber of Representatives—last held 31 January 1988 (next to be held June 1990); results—ID 42%, PSC 11%, PRE 11%, DP 9%, others 27%; seats—(71 total) ID 30, PRE 8, PSC 8, DP 7, CFP 6, PSE 4, FADI 2, MPD 2, FRA 2, PCE 1, PLR 1; note—with the addition of the new province of Sucúmbios there will be 72 seats in the August 1990 election
Communists: Communist Party of Ecuador (PCE, pro-Moscow), René Maugé Mosquera, secretary general, 5,000 members; Communist Party of Ecuador/Marxist Leninist (PCMLE, Maoist), 3,000 members; Socialist Party of Ecuador (PSE, pro-Cuba), 5,000 members (est.); National Liberation Party (PLN, Communist), 5,000 members (est.)
Member of: Andean Pact, ECOSOC, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB—Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IRC, ITU, LAIA, NAM, OAS, OPEC, PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPEB, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Jaime MONCAYO; Chancery at 2535 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20009; telephone (202) 234-7200; there are Ecuadorian Consulates General in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco, and a Consulate in San Diego; US—Ambassador-designate Paul C. LAMBERT; Embassy at Avenida Patria 120, on the corner of Avenida 12 de Octubre, Quito (mailing address is P. O. Box 538, Quito, or APO Miami 34039); telephone [593](2) 562-890; there is a US Consulate General in Guayaquil
​Flag: three horizontal bands of yellow (top, double width), blue, and red with the coat of arms superimposed at the center of the flag; similar to the flag of Colombia which is shorter and does not bear a coat of arms
Economy
Overview: Ecuador continues to recover from a 1986 drop in international oil prices and a major earthquake in 1987 that interrupted oil exports for six months and forced Ecuador to suspend foreign debt payments. In 1988-89 oil exports recovered accounting for nearly half of Ecuador's total export revenues and Quito resumed full interest payments on its official debt, and partial payments on its commercial debt. The Borja administration has pursued austere economic policies that have helped reduce inflation and restore international reserves. Ecuador was granted an IMF standby agreement worth $135 million in 1989, and Quito will seek to reschedule its foreign commercial debt in 1990.
GDP: $9.8 billion, per capita $935; real growth rate 0.5% (1989)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 54% (1989)
Unemployment rate: 14.3% (1988)
Budget: revenues $2.2 billion; expenditures $2.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $601 million (1988 est.)
Exports: $2.2 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities—petroleum 47%, coffee, bananas, cocoa products, shrimp, fish products; partners—US 58%, Latin America, Caribbean, EC countries
Imports: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities—transport equipment, vehicles, machinery, chemical, petroleum; partners—US 28%, Latin America, Caribbean, EC, Japan
External debt: $10.9 billion (1989)
Industrial production: growth rate 0.7% (1988)
Electricity: 1,953,000 kW capacity; 5,725 million kWh produced, 560 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: food processing, textiles, chemicals, fishing, timber, petroleum
Agriculture: accounts for 18% of GDP and 35% of labor force (including fishing and forestry); leading producer and exporter of bananas and balsawood; other exports—coffee, cocoa, fish, shrimp; crop production—rice, potatoes, manioc, plantains, sugarcane; livestock sector—cattle, sheep, hogs, beef, pork, dairy products; net importer of foodgrain, dairy products, and sugar
Illicit drugs: relatively small producer of coca following the successful eradication campaign of 1985-87; significant transit country, however, for derivatives of coca originating in Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru
Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $457 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $1.4 billion; Communist countries (1970-88), $64 million
Currency: sucre (plural—sucres); 1 sucre (S/) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: sucres (S/) per US$1—526.35 (1989), 301.61 (1988), 170.46 (1987), 122.78 (1986), 69.56 (1985)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications
Railroads: 965 km total; all 1.067-meter-gauge single track
Highways: 28,000 km total; 3,600 km paved, 17,400 km gravel and improved earth, 7,000 km unimproved earth
Inland waterways: 1,500 km
Pipelines: crude oil, 800 km; refined products, 1,358 km
Ports: Guayaquil, Manta, Puerto Bolivar, Esmeraldas
Merchant marine: 47 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 340,446 GRT/492,670 DWT; includes 1 passenger, 7 cargo, 17 refrigerated cargo, 2 container, 1 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 16 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 1 chemical tanker, 1 liquefied gas, 1 bulk
Civil air: 44 major transport aircraft
Airports: 179 total, 178 usable; 43 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m; 6 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 20 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: domestic facilities generally adequate; 318,000 telephones; stations—272 AM, no FM, 33 TV, 39 shortwave; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station
Defense Forces
Branches: Ecuadorean Army (Ejercito Ecuatoriano), Ecuadorean Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana), Ecuadorean Navy (Armada Ecuatoriana)
Military manpower: males 15-49, 2,635,543; 1,786,068 fit for military service; 114,976 reach military age (20) annually
Defense expenditures: 1% of GDP, or $100 million (1988 est.)