Peru vs. Ecuador
Geography
| Peru | Ecuador | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Western South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Chile and Ecuador | Western South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean at the Equator, between Colombia and Peru |
| Geographic coordinates | 10 00 S, 76 00 W | 2 00 S, 77 30 W |
| Map references | South America | South America |
| Area | total: 1,285,216 sq km land: 1,279,996 sq km water: 5,220 sq km | total: 283,561 sq km land: 276,841 sq km water: 6,720 sq km note: includes Galapagos Islands |
| Area - comparative | almost twice the size of Texas; slightly smaller than Alaska | slightly smaller than Nevada |
| Land boundaries | total: 7,062 km border countries (5): Bolivia 1212 km, Brazil 2659 km, Chile 168 km, Colombia 1494 km, Ecuador 1529 km | total: 2,237 km border countries (2): Colombia 708 km, Peru 1529 km |
| Coastline | 2,414 km | 2,237 km |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 200 nm; note: the US does not recognize this claim exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm | territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm note: Ecuador has declared its right to extend its continental shelf to 350 nm measured from the baselines of the Galapagos Archipelago |
| Climate | varies from tropical in east to dry desert in west; temperate to frigid in Andes | tropical along coast, becoming cooler inland at higher elevations; tropical in Amazonian jungle lowlands |
| Terrain | western coastal plain (costa), high and rugged Andes in center (sierra), eastern lowland jungle of Amazon Basin (selva) | coastal plain (costa), inter-Andean central highlands (sierra), and flat to rolling eastern jungle (oriente) |
| Elevation extremes | highest point: Nevado Huascaran 6,746 m lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m mean elevation: 1,555 m | highest point: Chimborazo 6,267 lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m mean elevation: 1,117 m note: because the earth is not a perfect sphere and has an equatorial bulge, the highest point on the planet farthest from its center is Mount Chimborazo not Mount Everest, which is merely the highest peak above sea level |
| Natural resources | copper, silver, gold, petroleum, timber, fish, iron ore, coal, phosphate, potash, hydropower, natural gas | petroleum, fish, timber, hydropower |
| Land use | agricultural land: 18.8% (2018 est.) arable land: 3.1% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 1.1% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 14.6% (2018 est.) forest: 53% (2018 est.) other: 28.2% (2018 est.) | agricultural land: 29.7% (2018 est.) arable land: 4.7% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 5.6% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 19.4% (2018 est.) forest: 38.9% (2018 est.) other: 31.4% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 25,800 sq km (2012) | 15,000 sq km (2012) |
| Natural hazards | earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, landslides, mild volcanic activity volcanism: volcanic activity in the Andes Mountains; Ubinas (5,672 m), which last erupted in 2009, is the country's most active volcano; other historically active volcanoes include El Misti, Huaynaputina, Sabancaya, and Yucamane; see note 2 under "Geography - note" | frequent earthquakes; landslides; volcanic activity; floods; periodic droughts volcanism: volcanic activity concentrated along the Andes Mountains; Sangay (5,230 m), which erupted in 2010, is mainland Ecuador's most active volcano; other historically active volcanoes in the Andes include Antisana, Cayambe, Chacana, Cotopaxi, Guagua Pichincha, Reventador, Sumaco, and Tungurahua; Fernandina (1,476 m), a shield volcano that last erupted in 2009, is the most active of the many Galapagos volcanoes; other historically active Galapagos volcanoes include Wolf, Sierra Negra, Cerro Azul, Pinta, Marchena, and Santiago |
| Environment - current issues | deforestation (some the result of illegal logging); overgrazing of the slopes of the costa and sierra leading to soil erosion; desertification; air pollution in Lima; pollution of rivers and coastal waters from municipal and mining wastes; overfishing | deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; water pollution; pollution from oil production wastes in ecologically sensitive areas of the Amazon Basin and Galapagos Islands |
| Environment - international agreements | party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements | party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Geography - note | note 1: shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake, with Bolivia; a remote slope of Nevado Mismi, a 5,316 m peak, is the ultimate source of the Amazon River note 2: Peru is one of the countries along the Ring of Fire, a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering the Pacific Ocean; up to 90% of the world's earthquakes and some 75% of the world's volcanoes occur within the Ring of Fire | note 1: Cotopaxi in Andes is highest active volcano in world note 2: genetic research indicates that the cherry-sized tomato originated in Ecuador without any human domestication; later domestication in Mexico transformed the plant into the large modern tomato; archeological research indicates that the cacao tree, whose seeds are used to make chocolate and which was long thought to have originated in Mesoamerica, was first domesticated in the upper Amazon region of northwest South America - present-day Ecuador - about 3,300 B.C. |
| Total renewable water resources | 1,879,800,000,000 cubic meters (2017 est.) | 442.4 billion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Population distribution | approximately one-third of the population resides along the desert coastal belt in the west, with a strong focus on the capital city of Lima; the Andean highlands, or sierra, which is strongly identified with the country's Amerindian population, contains roughly half of the overall population; the eastern slopes of the Andes, and adjoining rainforest, are sparsely populated | nearly half of the population is concentrated in the interior in the Andean intermontane basins and valleys, with large concentrations also found along the western coastal strip; the rainforests of the east remain sparsely populated |
Source: CIA Factbook
