Ecuador Country Information

Fact and Figures

Location - Western South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean at the Equator, between Colombia and Peru

Capital - Quito

Population - 14.7 million

People - Mestizo [mixed Amerindian & white] 65%, Amerindian 25%, European 7%, Black 3%

Language - Spanish, Amerindian languages [especially Quechua]

Religion - Roman Catholic 95%, other 5%

Literacy rate - 91%

Life expectancy - 75.5 years

% Living below $1/day - 18%

Sources The CIA World Fact Book 2008, Compassion International, www.news.bbc.co.uk

Ecuador

Ecuador’s economy was transformed by the discovery of oil in the 1970s, bringing new economic growth and progress in health, education and housing. However, not all benefited from the oil revenues and the traditionally dominant Spanish-descended elite gained far more than the indigenous population.

By 1999, corruption, natural disasters and falling oil prices had brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy and the economy remains unstable. The government has made efforts to address the disparity between rich and poor, but much of the budget remains earmarked for debt repayment and not much has improved for the most vulnerable families.

Nearly 70 per cent of Ecuador’s children live in poverty and a quarter of all children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition. The lack of job opportunities has also forced over three million people to find work in Europe and the United States, separating families and burdening relatives or neighbours with the responsibility of raising their children.

Compassion started working in Ecuador in 1984 and is now helping more than 53, 390 children in over 197 projects. Our goal is to give children in Ecuador the opportunity to rise above their circumstances and become all God has created them to be.

Compassion Ecuador currently has 32 Child Survival Programmes.

Over 53, 390 children are currently being assisted in more than 197 Child Sponsorship Programmes in Ecuador.

Compassion Ecuador currently has 125 active Leadership Development Programme students.