9. 过去半个世纪的历史发展趋势显示，移民问题已经成为了国家的一个结构性断层现象。在经济危机影响到就业和家庭收入的困难时期，要求加快移民进度的呼声日益高涨，而乌拉圭同胞们在外国扎根后形成的聚居区，也大大促进了移民潮的发展壮大。因此，国民大量移居境外是乌拉圭在本世纪最初几年所经历危机的可预见后果，移民现象的主要特点，就是移民人口以受过中高等教育的年轻人为主。据估计，在 1996 年至 2003 年期间，约有十万人移居境外，如果将 1964年至 2004 年期间的移民数量加起来，对外移民总数为 440,000 人左右，约占乌拉圭居民人口的 13.9%。
9. Historical trends of the past 50 years show that emigration has become a structural phenomenon in the country. Periods of increased migration coincide with those in which the effects of economic crises on employment and on household income are heightened. The existence of colonies of compatriots abroad is also a major reason for increased emigration. Accordingly, heavy emigration was an expected consequence of the crisis experienced by the country in the first few years of the current century, and its key feature was the large proportion of young emigrants with medium and high education levels. It is estimated that approximately 100,000 people emigrated between 1996 and 2003, and the total for the period from 1964 to 2004 comes to approximately 440,000 emigrants, or about 13.9 per cent of the resident population of Uruguay.