Demographics of Argentina

This article is about the demographic features of Argentina, including population density, ethnicity, economic status and other aspects of the population.

In the 2001 census [INDEC], Argentina had a population of 36,260,130 inhabitants, and preliminary results from the 2010 census [INDEC] census were of 40,091,359 inhabitants.^[3][4] Argentina ranks third in South America in total population and 33rd globally. Population density is of 15 persons per square kilometer of land area, well below the world average of 50 persons. The population growth rate in 2008 was estimated to be 0.92% annually, with a birth rate of 16.32 live births per 1,000 inhabitants and a mortality rate of 7.54 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants.

The proportion of people under 15, at 24.6%, is somewhat below the world average (28%), and the cohort of people 65 and older is relatively high, at 10.8%. The percentage of senior citizens in Argentina has long been second only to Uruguay in Latin America and well above the world average, which is currently 7%.

Argentina's population has long had one of Latin America's lowest birth rates and population growth rates (recently, about 1% a year), but it enjoys a comparatively low infant mortality rate. The median age is approximately 30 years and life expectancy at birth is of 76 years. According to an official cultural consumption survey conducted in 2006, 42.3% of Argentines speak English (though only 15.4% of those claimed to have a high level of English comprehension), 8.3% speak Portuguese^[5] and 6.9% speak Italian.^[6]

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups in Argentina ^[7]

  White (97%)

  Mestizo (mixed White and Amerindian ancestry) (3%)

Population

According to the 2010 revision of the World Population Prospects the total population was 40,412,000 in 2010, compared to only 17,150,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 24.9%, 64.5% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 10.6% was 65 years or older .^[8]

Argentine population structure in 2009, illustrated in a population pyramid

Structure of the population^[9]

Structure of the population (01.07.2010 ) (Estimates- Data refer to projections based on 2001 Population Census):

Structure of the population (01.07.2013) (Estimates) :

Cities

Argentina is highly urbanized,^[2] with the ten largest metropolitan areas accounting for half of the population, and fewer than one in ten living in rural areas. About 3 million people live in Buenos Aires proper, and the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area totals around 13 million, making it one of the largest urban areas in the world.^[10] The metropolitan areas of Córdoba and Rosario have around 1.3 million inhabitants each,^[10] and six other cities (Mendoza, Tucumán, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Salta and Santa Fe)^[10][11] have at least half a million people each.

The population is unequally distributed amongst the provinces, with about 60% living in the Pampa region (21% of the total area), including 15 million people in Buenos Aires Province, and 3 million each in Córdoba Province, Santa Fe Province and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Seven other provinces each have about one million people: Mendoza, Tucumán, Entre Ríos, Salta, Chaco, Corrientes and Misiones. Tucumán is the most densely populated (with 60 inhabitants/km², the only Argentine province more densely populated than the world average), while the southern province of Santa Cruz has less than 1 inhabitant/km².

In the mid-19th century, a large wave of immigration started to arrive to Argentina due to new Constitutional policies that encouraged immigration, and issues in the countries the immigrants came from such as wars, poverty, hunger, famines, pursuit of a better life, among other reasons. The main immigration sources were from Europe, the countries from the Near and Middle East, Russia and Japan. In fact, the immigration torrent was so strong that Argentina eventually received the second-largest number of immigrants in the world, second only to the US and ahead of such immigration receptor countries such as Canada, Brazil, Australia, etc.^[12][13]

Most of these European immigrants settled in the cities which offered jobs, education and other opportunities enabling them to enter the middle class. Many also settled in the growing small towns along the expanding railway system and since the 1930s many rural workers have moved to the big cities.^[14] Urban areas reflect the influence of European immigration, and most of the larger ones feature boulevards and diagonal avenues inspired by the redevelopment of Paris. Argentine cities were originally built in a colonial Spanish grid style, centered on a plaza overlooked by a cathedral and important government buildings. Many still retain this general layout, known as a damero, meaning checkerboard, since it is based on a pattern of square blocks. The city of La Plata, designed at the end of the 19th century by Pedro Benoit, combines the checkerboard layout with added diagonal avenues at fixed intervals, and was the first in South America with electric street illumination.^[15]

Largest cities

Largest cities or towns in Argentina (2015 INDEC metro area estimate)[16]
	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
Buenos Aires Córdoba	1	Buenos Aires	(Autonomous city)	13,834,000	11	Resistencia	Chaco	409,000	Rosario Mendoza
	2	Córdoba	Córdoba	1,519,000	12	Santiago del Estero	Santiago del Estero	406,000
	3	Rosario	Santa Fe	1,429,000	13	Corrientes	Corrientes	383,000
	4	Mendoza	Mendoza	1,082,000	14	Posadas	Misiones	355,000
	5	Tucumán	Tucumán	868,000	15	San Salvador de Jujuy	Jujuy	338,000
	6	La Plata	Buenos Aires	836,000	16	Neuquén	Neuquén	309,000
	7	Mar del Plata	Buenos Aires	633,000	17	Bahía Blanca	Buenos Aires	307,000
	8	Salta	Salta	625,000	18	Paraná	Entre Ríos	274,000
	9	Santa Fe	Santa Fe	530,000	19	Formosa	Formosa	258,000
	10	San Juan	San Juan	513,000	20	San Luis	San Luis	218,000

Provinces and districts

Flag	Province/District	Capital	Official Language	Population (2010)[17]	Rank	Area (km²)	Rank	Density (/km²)[17]	Rank
	Buenos Aires City	–		7006289108200000000♠2,891,082	4	7002203000000000000♠203	24	7004142418000000000♠14,241.8	1
	Buenos Aires Province	La Plata		7007155944280000000♠15,594,428	1	7005307571000000000♠307,571	1	7001507000000000000♠50.7	3
	Catamarca Province	San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca		7005367820000000000♠367,820	20	7005102602000000000♠102,602	11	7000360000000000000♠3.6	20
	Chaco Province	Resistencia		7006105346600000000♠1,053,466	10	7004996330000000000♠99,633	12	7001106000000000000♠10.6	11
	Chubut Province	Rawson	Spanish, Welsh	7005506668000000000♠506,668	18	7005224686000000000♠224,686	3	7000230000000099999♠2.3	22
	Córdoba Province	Córdoba		7006330482500000000♠3,304,825	2	7005165321000000000♠165,321	5	7001200000000000000♠20.0	6
	Corrientes Province	Corrientes	Spanish, Guaraní	7005993338000000000♠993,338	11	7004881990000000000♠88,199	16	7001113000000000000♠11.3	10
	Entre Ríos Province	Paraná		7006123630000000000♠1,236,300	7	7004787810000000000♠78,781	17	7001157000000000000♠15.7	7
	Formosa Province	Formosa		7005527895000000000♠527,895	17	7004720660000000000♠72,066	19	7000730000000000000♠7.3	14
	Jujuy Province	San Salvador de Jujuy		7005672260000000000♠672,260	14	7004532190000000000♠53,219	20	7001126000000000000♠12.6	8
	La Pampa Province	Santa Rosa		7005316940000000000♠316,940	22	7005143440000000000♠143,440	8	7000220000000000000♠2.2	23
	La Rioja Province	La Rioja		7005331847000000000♠331,847	21	7004896800000000000♠89,680	14	7000370000000000000♠3.7	19
	Mendoza Province	Mendoza		7006174161000000000♠1,741,610	5	7005148827000000000♠148,827	7	7001117000000000000♠11.7	9
	Misiones Province	Posadas		7006109782900000000♠1,097,829	9	7004298010000000000♠29,801	21	7001368009999900000♠36.8	4
	Neuquén Province	Neuquén		7005550334000000000♠550,334	16	7004940780000000000♠94,078	13	7000580000000000000♠5.8	17
	Río Negro Province	Viedma		7005633374000000000♠633,374	15	7005203013000000000♠203,013	4	7000310000000000000♠3.1	21
	Salta Province	Salta		7006121520700000000♠1,215,207	8	7005155488000000000♠155,488	6	7000780000000000000♠7.8	12
	San Juan Province	San Juan		7005680427000000000♠680,427	13	7004896510000000000♠89,651	15	7000760000000000000♠7.6	13
	San Luis Province	San Luis		7005431588000000000♠431,588	19	7004767480000000000♠76,748	18	7000560000000099999♠5.6	18
	Santa Cruz Province	Río Gallegos		7005272524000000000♠272,524	23	7005243943000000000♠243,943	2	7000110000000000000♠1.1	24
	Santa Fe Province	Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz		7006320073600000000♠3,200,736	3	7005133007000000000♠133,007	10	7001241000000000000♠24.1	5
	Santiago del Estero Province	Santiago del Estero		7005896461000000000♠896,461	12	7005136351000000000♠136,351	9	7000660000000000000♠6.6	15
	Tierra del Fuego Province	Ushuaia		7005126190000000000♠126,190	24	7004212630000000000♠21,263a	23	7000580000000000000♠5.8a	16
	Tucumán Province	San Miguel de Tucumán		7006144820000000000♠1,448,200	6	7004225240000000000♠22,524	22	7001643000000000000♠64.3	2

^a Not including claims to the Falkland Islands and the Argentine Antarctica.

Vital statistics

The table below gives an overview of the number of birth and deaths in Argentina during the past century. Several sources were combined to construct the table.^[18][19][20] The number of births in 2010 (756,176) was the highest number ever recorded. The number of deaths in 2010 also was the highest ever record. However, as the population of Argentina showed a sixfold increase during the past century, the birth and death rates in 2010 (18.7 and 7.9, respectively) were rather low in a historical perspective.

UN estimates

The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates of vital statistics of Argentina. ^[8]

Ethnic groups

Indigenous peoples

Distribution of the Indigenous Peoples in Argentina

According to the data of INDEC's Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples (ECPI) 2004–2005, 600,000 officially recognized indigenous persons (about 1.4% of the total population) reside in Argentina. The most numerous of these communities are the Mapuches, who live mostly in the south, the Kollas and Wichís, from the northwest, and the Guaranis and Qom, who live mostly in the northeast.^[22] In the census of 2010, 955,032 people self recognized as indigenous or descendants of indigenous peoples, thus representing 2.4% of the national population. This is without prejudice that more than half of the population has at least one indigenous ancestor, although in most cases family memory lost that origin.

Immigration to Argentina

European settlement

As with other areas of new settlement such as Canada, Australia, the United States, Brazil, New Zealand and Uruguay, Argentina is considered a country of immigrants.^[23] When it is considered that Argentina was second only to the United States (27 million of immigrants) in the number of immigrants received, even ahead of such other areas of new settlement like Canada, Brazil and Australia;^[12][13] and that the country was scarcely populated following its independence, the impact of the immigration to Argentina becomes evident.

In the last national census, based on self-identification, 952,032 Argentines (2.4% of the population) declared to be Amerindians^[22] Most of the 6.2 million European immigrants arriving between 1850 and 1950, regardless of origin, settled in several regions of the country. Due to this large-scale European immigration, Argentina's population more than doubled.

Immigrant population in Argentina (1869–1991)

The majority of these European immigrants came from Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Bulgaria, Armenia, Greece, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and several other regions.

Italian population in Argentina arrived mainly from the northern Italian regions varying between Piedmont, Veneto and Lombardy, later from Campania and Calabria;^[24] Many Argentines have the gentilic of an Italian city, place, street or occupation of the immigrant as last name, many of them were not necessarily born Italians, but once they did the roles of immigration in Italy the name usually changed. Spanish immigrants were mainly Galicians and Basques.^[25][26] Millions of immigrants also came from France (notably Béarn and the Northern Basque Country), Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Finland, Russia and the United Kingdom.^[27] The Welsh settlement in Patagonia, known as Y Wladfa, began in 1865; mainly along the coast of Chubut Province. In addition to the main colony in Chubut, a smaller colony was set up in Santa Fe and another group settled at Coronel Suárez, southern Buenos Aires Province.^[28] Of the 50,000 Patagonians of Welsh descent, about 5,000 are Welsh speakers.^[29] The community is centered on the cities of Gaiman, Trelew and Trevelin.^[30]

Recent immigrants

Foreign born residents in Argentina by country of birth.^[31]

According to the INDEC 1,531,940 of the Argentine resident population in 2001 were born outside Argentina, representing 4.22% of the total Argentine resident population.^[32][33] In 2010, 1,805,957 of the Argentine resident population were born outside Argentina, representing 4.50% of the total Argentine resident population.^{[32][33][34][35]}

Illegal immigration has been a recent factor in Argentine demographics. Most illegal immigrants come from Bolivia and Paraguay, countries which border Argentina to the north. Smaller numbers arrive from Peru and Ecuador. The Argentine government estimates that 750,000 inhabitants lack official documents and has launched a program called Patria Grande ("Greater Homeland")^[36] to encourage illegal immigrants to regularize their status; so far over 670,000 applications have been processed under the program.^[37]

Rank (2010)	Country of birth	census 2010	census 2001	census 1990
1	Paraguay	550,713	325,046	254,115
2	Bolivia	345,272	233,464	145,670
3	Chile	191,147	212,429	247,987
4	Colombia	177,000	50,250	15,939
4	Peru	157,514	88,260	15,939
5	Italy	147,499	216,718	356,923
6	Uruguay	116,592	117,564	135,406
7	Spain	94,030	134,417	244,212
8	Brazil	41,330	34,712	33,966
9	China	8,929	4,184	2,297
10	Germany	8,416	10,362	15,451
11	South Korea	7,321	8,290	8,371
12	France	6,995	6,578	6,309
13	Japan	4,036	4,753	5,674
14	Taiwan	2,875	3,511	1,870
15	Syria	1,337	2,350	N/D
16	Lebanon	933	1,619	3,171
	Other countries	121,018	127,683	150,849
TOTAL		1,805,957	1,531,940	1,628,210

Languages

The official language of Argentina is Spanish, and it is spoken by practically the entire population in several different accents. The most common variation of Spanish in Argentina is the River Plate Spanish (Spanish: Castellano Rioplatense), and it is so named because it evolved in the central areas around the Río de la Plata basin. Its distinctive feature is widespread voseo, the use of the pronoun vos instead of tú for the second person singular.

Non-indigenous minority languages

Many Argentines also speak other European languages (Italian, Portuguese, French, Welsh, German, Swedish and Croatian, as examples) due to the vast number of immigrants from Europe that came to Argentina.^[2]

English language is a required subject in many schools, and there are also many private English-teaching academies and institutions. Young people have become accustomed to English through movies and the Internet, and knowledge of the language is also required in most jobs, so most middle-class children and teenagers now speak, read and/or understand it with various degrees of proficiency. According to an official cultural consumption survey conducted in 2006, 42.3% of Argentines claim to speak some English (though only 15.4% of those claimed to have a high level of English comprehension).^[5]

Standard German is spoken by around 500,000^[38][39] Argentines of German ancestry, though the number may be as high as 3,800,000 according to some sources.^[40] German is the third or fourth most spoken language in Argentina.

There are sources of around one million Levantine Arabic speakers in Argentina,^[38] as a result of immigration from the Middle East, mostly from Syria and Lebanon.

There is a prosperous community of Argentine Welsh-speakers of approximately 25,000^[41] in the province of Chubut, in the Patagonia region, who descend from 19th century immigrants.

Religion

Religion in Argentina (2014) ^[7]

  Roman Catholicism (92%)

  Protestant (2%)

  Jewish (2%)

  Other (4%)

The 17th century Cathedral of Córdoba

The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but until 1994 the President and Vice President had to be Catholic. The society, culture, and politics of Argentina are deeply imbued with Roman Catholicism.

Estimates for the number of Roman Catholics vary from 70% of the population,^[42] to as much as 90%.^[43] The CIA Factbook lists 92% of the country is Catholic, but only 20% are practicing regularly or weekly at a church service.^[2] The Jewish population is about 300,000 (around 0.75% of the population), the community numbered about 400,000 after World War II, but the appeal of Israel and economic and cultural pressures at home led many to leave; recent instability in Israel has resulted in a modest reversal of the trend since 2003.^[43][44] Muslim Argentines number about 500,000–600,000, or approximately 1.5% of the population; 93% of them are Sunni.^[43] Buenos Aires is home to one of the largest mosques in Latin America. A recent study found that approximately 11% of Argentines are non-religious, including those who believe in God, though not religion, agnostics (4%) and atheists (5%). Overall, 24% attended religious services regularly. Protestants were the only group in which a majority regularly attended services.^[45]

Gallery

• 

  Population distribution by province.

• 

  Built in 1906 to welcome hundreds of newcomers daily, the Hotel de Inmigrantes is now a national museum.

See also

• National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina
• Racism in Argentina

References

External links

• Population cartogram of Argentina

Ancestry and ethnicity in Argentina
Africa	Angolan Arab Cape Verdean South African
Americas	Indigenous Abipón Chané Capayán Diaguita Guaraní Huarpe Kolla Mapuche Mocoví Nivaclé Pehuenche Poya Qom Quechua Quilmes Selk'nam Tehuelche Teushen Non Indigenous American Bolivian Chilean Dominican Paraguayan Uruguayan
Asia	Arab Lebanese Syrian Armenian Chinese Indian Japanese Jewish Korean
Europe	By ethnicity or religious beliefs Basque Mennonite By region and country Central Austrian Czech German Hungarian Polish Slovene Swiss Eastern Belarusian Russian Ukrainian Northern Baltic Estonian Latvian Lithuanian Nordic Danish Finnish Swedish Southeast Bulgarian Croatian Greek Macedonian Montenegrin Romanian Serbian Southern Basque Italian Portuguese Spanish Western British English Scottish Welsh Dutch French Irish All European immigration to Argentina