Montevideo, Dec 11 : Uruguay's 2023 national census counted 3,499,451 inhabitants, 2.5 percentage points higher than the 2011 one, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported.

Despite the growth, the number of children per woman fell from 1.8 to 1.7, according to the census. And there were 31,385 births registered in the country and 34,678 deaths last year, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We are with a negative population growth, unless immigration compensates, or we are already losing population," INE director Diego Aboal said, adding that Uruguay reported "a drop of 18,000 births" in the last eight years.

According to the census, the number of foreign residents settling in Uruguay has grown by 4 per cent since 2011.

Montevideo, the capital city, is still the most populous city with a population of 1,302,954, or 37 per cent of Uruguay's total.

/IANS