Location: Western South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean, at the Equator, between Colombia and Peru.
Land Area: 283,560 sq km (109,482 sq. miles)
Coastline: 2,237 km (1,390 miles)
Highest Point: Chimborazo 6,267 m (20,555 ft.)
Lowest Point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
Notable Landmarks: Take a peek...

Ecuador has substantial petroleum resources, which have accounted for 40 percent of the country's export earnings and one-fourth of the government income in recent years. Consequently, changes in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. In the late 1990s, Ecuador suffered its worst economic crisis, with natural disasters and sharp declines in world petroleum prices pushing Ecuador's economy into a "free fall" in 1999. Real Gross Domestic Product went down by more than six percent, with poverty worsening significantly. The banking system also collapsed. Ecuador could not pay its external debt later that year. The currency depreciated (was worth less) by some 70 percent in 1999, and on the brink of hyperinflation (rapidly rising prices), the Mahaud government announced it would dollarize the economy. A coup, however, ousted Mahaud from office in January 2000, and after a short-lived junta failed to garner military support, Vice President Gustavo Noboa took over the presidency. In March 2000, Congress approved a series of structural reforms that also provided the framework for the adoption of the U.S. dollar as its legal money. Dollarization stabilized the economy, and growth returned to its pre-crisis levels in the years that followed. Under the administration of Lucio Gutierrez, who took office in January 2003, Ecuador benefited from higher world petroleum prices, but the government has made little progress on fiscal reforms and reforms of state-owned enterprises necessary to reduce Ecuador's vulnerability to petroleum price swings and financial crises.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): $57.23 billion (2005 est.)
GDP Per Capita: $4,300 (2005 est.)
Number of Workers: 4.6 million (urban) (2005 est.)
Unemployment Rate: 10.7% official rate; but underemployment of 47% (2005 est.)
Industries: petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals.
Currency: sucre - This was the currency used until 2000, when Ecuador adopted the U.S. Dollar as its offical currency.

Type of Government: Republic
Head of State: President Alfredo PALACIO (since 20 April 2005)
Head of Government: President Alfredo PALACIO (since 20 April 2005)
Capital City: Quito
Legal Age to Vote: 18 years of age; universal for literate persons ages 18 to 65, optional for other eligible voters.
Flag Design: 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.
Official Language: Spanish (official), Amerindian languages, especially Quechua.
Religions: Roman Catholic, 95 percent.

"The Republic of the Equator" is one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the other two being Colombia and Venezuela). Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors. A border war with Peru that flared up in 1995 was resolved in 1999.