Country · Americas
Ecuador
Republic of Ecuador
Ecuador is a country in South America. Its capital city is Quito. About 17.1 million people live there, in an area of 276 841 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Cayambe (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Cayambe (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Asamblea Nacional del Ecuador (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Cayambe (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Ecuador?
Ecuador lies in South America, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 223 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 2 237 km long.
It shares a border with 2 countries: Colombia and Peru.
How big is Ecuador?
Ecuador covers 276 841 square kilometres.
That is about 6.7 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 73rd largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 61.7 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Ecuador?
About 17.1 million people live in Ecuador.
That is the 67th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Spanish.
They pay with the United States dollar ($).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 71 years.
The land of Ecuador
The land in Ecuador sits on average 1 117 metres above sea level — high enough that much of it counts as mountain country.
Its coast runs for about 2 237 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 112 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Ecuador different?
A dish the country is known for: Encebollado, Fritada and Guatitas.
Websites from here often end in .ec.
Ecuador and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 2 live in Ecuador.
It takes up about 0.21 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas it is the 12th largest of 35 countries, and the 11th most populated.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Ecuador and its neighbours
Peru, its largest neighbour, is about 4.6 times bigger.
Peru has more people: 32 million against 17.1 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 5 live wild in Ecuador: Brown-throated sloth, Llama, Alpaca, Giant oceanic manta ray and Galápagos tortoise. The highest mountain we cover here is Cotopaxi, at 5 897 metres. The longest river is the Amazon, running 6 400 km from source to mouth.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Ecuador?
The capital of Ecuador is Quito. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Ecuador?
About 17.1 million people live in Ecuador, which makes it the 67th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Ecuador?
Ecuador borders Colombia and Peru — 2 neighbours in total.
How big is Ecuador?
Ecuador covers 276 841 square kilometres, making it the 73rd largest country in the world. That is about 6.7 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Ecuador in?
Ecuador is in Americas, in the part called South America.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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