Demographics of Argentina
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This article is about the demographics features of the population of Argentina, including distribution, ethnicity, economic status and other.
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[edit] Origins and ethnicity
Unlike most of its neighbouring countries, Argentina's population descends overwhelmingly from Europeans. Most of the population is made up of descendants of Spanish, Italian and other European settlers. According to the CIA World Factbook, 97% of Argentinians are ethnically white.
Waves of immigrants from European countries arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The main contributors were France (mostly settled in Buenos Aires city and province), Eastern European nations such as Poland, Russia, Romania, Ukraine and the Balkans region (especially Greece, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro), Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland (Buenos Aires and Patagonia), and Scandinavia (especially Sweden). Smaller waves of settlers from Australia, South Africa and the United States are recorded in Argentine immigration records. By the 1910s, over 30 percent of the country's population was non-native Argentine after immigration rates peaked, and half of Buenos Aires' population was foreign-born. [1] [2]
The overwhelming majority of Argentina's Jewish community (about 2% of the population) derives from immigrants of Northern, Central, and Eastern European origin (Ashkenazi Jews). Argentina's Jewish population is by far the largest Jewish community in all of Latin America and is the fifth largest in the world. Buenos Aires itself is said to have 100,000 practicing Jews, making it one of the largest Jewish urban centers in the world (see also History of the Jews in Argentina).
Small numbers of people from Far East Asia have also settled Argentina, mainly in Buenos Aires. The first Asian-Argentines were of Japanese descent, but Koreans, Vietnamese, Chinese and Laotians soon followed.
In recent decades, especially during the 1990s, there has been a substantial influx of immigrants from neighboring South American countries, mainly from Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia. Other immigrants are from neighboring Brazil through the Brazil-Argentine border.
The rate of Argentine emigration to Europe (especially to Spain and Italy, others went to France, Germany and the UK), and North America has greatly slowed during the 1990s. In the US, Argentine-American communities flourished since the 1960s in Miami, Florida, followed by New York City, Chicago, Washington, DC and the Los Angeles area.[citation needed]
[edit] Colonies
Most immigrants, regardless of origin, settled in the city of Buenos Aires or around (Greater Buenos Aires or Buenos Aires Province). However, in the first stages of immigration, some formed colonies (especially agricultural colonies) in other parts of the country, often encouraged by the Argentine government and/or sponsored by private individuals and organizations.
Many Scandinavian, British and Irish immigrants settled in Patagonia; today, the Chubut Valley has a significant Welsh-descended population and retains many aspects of Welsh culture. German and Swiss colonies settled in the provinces of Entre Ríos, Misiones, Formosa, Córdoba Province and Patagonia, as well as in Buenos Aires itself.
Immigration from the Chilean island of Chiloé made up much of the Chilean immigration to the southern region of Patagonia during the late 19th century. Today, seasonal migration of farm laborers along with many miners in the Andean provinces come from Chile, or Peru and Bolivia.
[edit] Indigenous peoples
According to the provisional data of INDEC's Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples (ECPI) 2004 - 2005 [1] only 402,921 persons (about 1% of the total population) were counted as pertaining in active affiliation, or descending in first generation, to an indigenous community. These parameters may have led to a considerable undercount in the official figure of the indigenous population, as most indigenous Argentines are no longer tribally affiliated, and most of these have not been so for several generations. In addition, some 2.8% of Argentine homes have at least one member that is recognized as pertaining to an indigenous community.
[edit] Population and growth
The Argentine population has one of Latin America's lowest growth rates (about one percent per annum), and it also enjoys a comparatively small infant mortality rate. The age structure of the population is therefore similar to that of more developed countries, with a median age of about 29 years and a life expectancy of 75 years at birth.
As per the 2001 census [INDEC], the total population is 36,260,130, of which 1,527,320 (4.2%) were born abroad. The Argentine census agency estimates 38,592,150 for June 2005. This figure turns out to be lower than expected prior to the census; the difference was attributed to the impact of the economic recession.
[edit] Demographic distribution
Eighty percent of the Argentine population resides in cities or towns of more than two thousand inhabitants, and over one-third lives in the Greater Buenos Aires area. With 11.5 million inhabitants, this sprawling metropolis serves as the focus for national life. Buenos Aires is one of the ten largest metropolises in the southern and western hemispheres, and the second largest in South America after Sao Paulo, Brazil and has 5 million people less than Mexico City, Mexico located in North America.[citation needed]
An additional 1.1 million people live in the metropolitan area of Rosario, and 1.3 million in the city of Córdoba. Most of the Argentine population lives in the corresponding provinces (Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Córdoba). In 1989, the Argentine government voted but never got to construct a master-planned capital in Viedma near the coastal city of Bahía Blanca, in order to generate development in the central provinces.
The rest of the country is, by comparison, under-populated; for example, the whole southern province of Santa Cruz has about 200,000 inhabitants. Large extensions of the Argentine territory are dedicated to agriculture and pastures. The Andean provinces facing both the Chilean and Bolivian borders, and the northeast frontier facing Brazil are also rural and sparsely populated areas.
[edit] Economic status
Argentines enjoy high standards of living compared to other Latin American countries; half the population considers itself middle class. The general impoverishment of the country during the last part of the 1990s, culminating with the economic crisis at the turn of the millennium, have greatly diminished this impression. As of 2006, about 30% of the population is under the official poverty line, and income distribution has become considerably unequal.
The educational level is good, at least in urban areas with ready access to public schools and universities. The Argentine literacy rate is very high (98.1%).
Huge ranches, called estancias, cover much of the Pampa and Patagonia. Some rural people work on estancias, while others own small farms. As a general rule, country people do not live as well as city people. Because of this fact the rural population is declining as farm workers seek better life in the cities. Many rural houses are built of adobe. The poorer people live in houses with adobe walls, dirt floors, and roofs of straw and mud. Wealthy landowners have elegant country estates and luxurious city homes.
[edit] Linguistic survey
The official language of Argentina is Spanish, and it is spoken by practically the entire population in several different dialects,each having various degrees of Spanish and Italian influences. The most common dialect of Spanish in Argentina is Rioplatense Spanish, and it is so named because it evolved in the central areas around the Río de la Plata basin. Rioplatense Spanish is the standard form of Spanish as used by the Argentine media. Its distinctive feature is widespread voseo, the use of the pronoun vos instead of tú for the second person singular. It shows Italian influence in vocabulary and intonation. In addition to Rioplatense Spanish, people of the province of Córdoba have a distinctive intonation pattern. Along the Brazilian border it is quite common to hear a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish which some call portuñol.
Some people in the littoral provinces of the north-east speak Guaraní, an Amerindian language, usually mixing it with Spanish. Guaraní as a second language is understood at varying degrees by 3.7% of Argentinians, [2] and holds official status alongside Spanish in the province of Corrientes. Quechua, another Amerindian language, is also spoken by some people but is confined primarily to Santiago del Estero.
[edit] Foreign languages
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 many jobs, so most middle-class children and teenagers now speak, read and/or understand it with various degrees of efficiency. According to an official cultural consumption survey conducted in 2006, 42.3% of Argentinians claim to know some English (though only 15.4% of those claimed to have a high level of English comprehension).[2]
Due to the linguistic similarity with Spanish and the social influence of both countries, the average Argentine can understand Italian and Portuguese, if spoken clearly. Many Argentines also speak other Indo-European languages (French, German and Serbo-Croatian, as examples) due to the vast number of immigrants from Europe that came to Argentina.
There is a small but prosperous community of Argentine Welsh-speakers in the province of Chubut, in the Patagonia region, who descend from 19th century immigrants.
[edit] Demographic data
Population: 39,921,833 (June 2006 est.)
Age structure:
- 0-14 years: 25.2% (2006)
- 15-64 years: 64.1% (2006)
- 65 years and over: 10.6% (2006)
Median age:
- Total: 29.7 years
- Male: 28.8 years
- Female: 30.7 years (2006 est.)
Annual population growth rate: 0.96% (2006 est.)
Birth rate: 16.73 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death rate: 7.55 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
- At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
- Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
- 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female
- Total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2006 est.)
- Total: 14.73 deaths/1,000 live births (2006)
Life expectancy at birth:
- Total population: 76.12 years
- Male: 72.38 years
- Female: 80.05 years (2006 est.)
Total fertility rate: 2.16 children born/woman (2006 est.)
- Adult prevalence rate: 0.7% (2001 est.)
- People living with HIV/AIDS: 130,000 (2001 est.)
- Deaths: 1,500 (2003 est.)
- White (mostly Spanish and Italian) 97%
- Mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry), Amerindian, or other non-white groups represent the remainder
Religions:
- Nominally Roman Catholic 92%
- Protestant 2%
- Jewish 2%
- Other, including non-confessional and atheists 4%
Languages:
- Spanish (official; most spoken dialect: Rioplatense Spanish)
- Italian, English, French, German, Welsh, Yiddish,
- Guaraní (official in Corrientes; spoken also in north-eastern litoral areas, near Paraguayan border, and by Paraguayan immigrants)
- Portuguese (near Brazilian border)
- Quechua (in decline, found in the northwest provinces, primarily in Santiago del Estero)
Literacy (defined as individuals of age 15 and over who can read and write):
- Total population: 97.1%
- male: 97.1%
- female: 97.1% (2003 est.)
[edit] See also
- Immigration in Argentina
- Spanish settlement in Argentina
- Basque settlement in Argentina
- German settlement in Argentina
- Welsh settlement in Argentina
- English settlement in Argentina
- Irish settlement in Argentina
- Swedish settlement in Argentina
- Montenegrins in Argentina
- Ukrainians of Argentina
[edit] Sources
- ^ INDEC: Encuesta Complementaria de Pueblos Indígenas (ECPI) 2004 - 2005 (in Spanish), INDEC. Document dated June 26, 2006; URL accessed on March 29, 2006.
- ^ a b Página/12, 27 December 2006. Los idiomas de los argentinos.
[edit] References
- This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook (2006 edition) which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
- This article contains material from the US Department of State's Background Notes which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
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