The uruguayan territory is largely flat, southward is a wavy plain alternating with marshy areas and internal lagoons along the coast, including, along the border with Brazil, the vast Laguna Merin (Lagoa Mirim in Portuguese). The rest of the territory is made up of a flatland alternating with hills (cuchillas). The highest point of the country is the Cerro Catedral (514 metres) in the Sierra de Carapé, in the southern part of the nation. The main river in the country is the Uruguay river which marks the border with Argentina, the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Uruguay river, divides the south of the country from the north.

The main resource of the country is the breeding of livestock, especially sheep and cattle, but also pigs, goats and horses. Agriculture produces grains (wheat, rice, corn, barley and sorghum), beet sugar, cane sugar, potatoes, tobacco, batate, grapes, flax, sunflower, peanuts, soybeans, citrus fruits (oranges and lemons) and fruit. Fishing is slowly gaining some importance, while the country lacks completely of raw materials. Major investments were made in the hydropower sector with the construction of the big dam of Salto Grande (Represa Salto Grande), jointly owned between Uruguay and Argentina. A discreet importance is also covered by the industrial sector mainly linked to the processing of agricultural products (sugar, tobacco, beer) and animal (wool, meat preservation). Tourism is quite developed, thanks to the beaches of Punta del Este and Piriápolis and the historic colonial center of Colonia del Sacramento.