| Demographics of Argentina | |
|---|---|
Population of Argentina, 1961–2003 |
|
| Population: | 40,091,359 (2010 census [INDEC])[1] |
| Growth rate: | 1.036% (2010 est.)[2] |
| Birth rate: | 17.75 births/1,000 population (2010 est.) |
| Death rate: | 7.39 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.) |
| Life expectancy: | 76.76 years |
| –male: | 73.52 years |
| –female: | 80.17 years (2010 est.) |
| Fertility rate: | 2.33 children born/woman (2010 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate: | 11.11 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Age structure: | |
| 0-14 years: | 25.6% (male 5,369,477/female 5,122,260) |
| 15-64 years: | 63.5% (male 12,961,725/female 13,029,265) |
| 65-over: | 10.8% (male 1,819,057/female 2,611,800) (2010 est.) |
| Sex ratio: | |
| Total: | 0.97 male(s)/female (2010 est.) |
| At birth: | 1.052 male(s)/female |
| Under 15: | 1.05 male(s)/female |
| 15-64 years: | 1 male(s)/female |
| 65-over: | 0.7 male(s)/female |
| Nationality: | |
| Nationality: | Argentine |
| Major ethnic: | European 86.4%[3] |
| Minor ethnic: | Mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 8%, 4% Arab or East Asian heritage, Amerindian 1.4%[3] |
| Language: | |
| Official: | Spanish |
| Spoken: | German, Italian, Welsh, Guarani and many others are also spoken varying by region |
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.[4][5] 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 andpopulation 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).[6]
Contents |
As with other areas of new settlement such as Canada, Australia, and the United States, Argentina is considered a country of immigrants.[7] Most Argentines are descended from colonial-era settlers and of the 19th and 20th century immigrants from Europe. An estimated 8% of the population is Mestizo, and a further 4% of Argentines are of Arab or Asian heritage.[3] In the last national census, based on self-identification, 600,000 Argentines (1.6% of the population) declared to be Amerindians[8] 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 and consecuently increased the national population. Argentina was second only to the United States in the number of European immigrants received[9]
The majority of these European immigrants came from Italy, Spain, Germany, Wales, Poland, Croatia, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Norway 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;[10] 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.[11][12]
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.[13] 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.[14] Of the 50,000 Patagonians of Welsh descent, about 5,000 are Welsh speakers.[15] The community is centered around Gaiman, Trelew and Trevelin.[16]
Argentine of Croatian descent number over 250,000. History At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries there were 133 settlements, with some 120,000 Croats in Argentina[2], for the most part hailing from the coastal regions of Dalmatia and the Croatian Littoral, who were among the first European immigrants to settle in the Argentine pampas. The pioneers from the island of Hvar were followed by emigrants from other parts of Dalmatia and the other historic Croatian lands, mostly the present-day Republic of Croatia. The most successful of all the Croats in Argentina was also almost the first to arrive: Nikola Mihanović came to Montevideo, Uruguay in 1867, and, having settled in Buenos Aires, Mihanović owned 350 vessels of one kind or another by 1909, including 82 steamers. By 1918, he employed 5,000 people, mostly from his native Dalmatia Mihanović by himself was thus a major factor in building up a Croat community which remains primarily Dalmatian to this day. The second wave of Croat immigration was far more numerous, totalling 15,000 by 1939. Mostly peasants, these immigrants fanned out to work the land in Buenos Aires province, Santa Fe, Chaco, and Patagonia. This wave was accompanied by a numerous clergy to attend their spiritual needs, especially Franciscans.
If the first two waves had been primarily economic, the third wave after the Second World War was eminently political. Some 20,000 Croatian political refugees came to Argentina, and most became construction workers on Peron's public works projects until they started to pick up some Spanish.[4] Argentina today has the second largest number of Croatian descendants in Latin America since Chile (380,000 Croats), and the third largest one in the world since USA
The Welsh settlement in Argentina Y Wladfa which began in 1865 and occurred mainly along the coast of Chubut Province in the far southern region of Patagonia. In the 19th and early 20th century the Argentine government encouraged the immigration of Europeans to populate the country outside the Buenos Aires region; between 1856 and 1875 no fewer than 34 settlements of immigrants of various nationalities were established between Santa Fe and Entre Ríos. In addition to the main colony in Chubut, a smaller colony was set up in Santa Fe by 44 Welsh people who left Chubut, and another group settled at Coronel Suárez in southern Buenos Aires Province. In the early 21st century, around 50,000 Patagonians are of Welsh descent. The Welsh-Argentine community is centred around Gaiman, Trelew and Trevelin. From Chubut's own estimate, the number of Welsh speakers is about 1,500, while other estimates put the number at 5,000.
Scandinavians arrived in Argentina around 1909, the first ones settled in the northeastern area and founded a city called Villa Svea (now called Oberá) and was composed of Swedes, Norwegians and Finns. Russians Germans, English and Danish joined them before and after World War I and spread throughout the country. Estonians arrived mostly after the First World War, between 1925 and 1930. They settled mainly in Tucumán, Santiago del Estero and Santa Cruz.
Volga Germans arrived in Argentina around 1878, they were ethnic Germans of Russian origin. In the United States they settled in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Arkansas. Argentina has more than 2.000.000 Volga German descendants. Most of them speak German as second language and keep many traditions to this day.
Around 100.000 British immigrats arrived between 1857 and 1940. The British community founded solid institutions like the British Hospital in Buenos Aires, the Herald newspaper, prestigious bilingual schools and clubs as the Lawn Tennis Club, Hurlingham Club, etc. British immigrants had a strong impact on the taste of Argentine sports through the development of football, polo, hockey, rugby, among others. For its part the British immigrant and educator William C. Morris, founder of schools, had a strong presence in education in Argentina.
Bulgarian immigration in Argentina began intensively in the 1920s and had a second boom period between 1937 and 1938. They came mostly farmers in the northern regions of Bulgaria. Most of them settled in the province of Chaco.
The Czechs were also part of the great immigration of the early 20th century. Most of the descendants of Czechs live in the country in the provinces of Chaco and Mendoza.
Germans are one of the largest ethnic groups of Argentina and they had one of the biggest impacts in the Argentine culture. The influence of German culture has also impacted Argentinian cuisine; this trend is especially apparent in the field of desserts. The pastries known as facturas are Germanic in origin: croissants, known as medialunas ("half-moons", from German "Halbmond"), are the most popular of these, and can be found in two varieties: butter- and lard-based. Also German in origin are the "Berliner" known as bolas de Fraile ("friar's balls"), and the rolls called piononos. The facturas were re-christened with local names given the difficult phonology of German, and usually Argentinized by the addition of a dulce de leche filling. That was also the case of the "Kreppel", which are called torta fritas in Argentina, and were introduced by German immigrants, and similar case with the "Achtzig Schlag" cake, which was translated as Torta Ochenta Golpes in the country. In addition, dishes like chucrut (sauerkraut) and many different kinds of sausage like bratwurst and others have also made it into mainstream Argentinian cuisine. German immigration to Argentina occurred during 5 main time periods: pre–1870, 1870–1914, 1918–1933, 1933–1940 and post–1945. During the first period till 1870. Argentina and Germany had close ties to each other since the immigration of Germans to Argentina to this day. A flourishing trade developed between Germany and Argentina as early as the German Unification, Germany had a privileged position in the Argentine economy. Later on, Argentina maintained a strong economic relationship with both Germany and Great Britain and supported them with supplies during World War I. There are around 50,000 German citizens living in Buenos Aires. Argentina, United States, Canada and Brasil have the biggest number of German descendants in the world. They arrived in the 19th century and before and after WWII. Their arrival continues over an extended period, from mid to end of the 19th century until 1960 of the 20th century. Germans, Swiss, Belgian, Luxembourg and French people founded the Colony of Esperanza, Establishing the first agricultural colony and kept founding others.
They emigrated to Argentina in the 19th century, between 1830 and 1875. In 1889 around 500.000 Irish immigrants arrived to the country. They extended thoughtout the country especially in the provinces of Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Cordoba. In March, they pereserve their cultural heritage dating back to the Celts, the celebration of the day of its patron, Saint Patrick. The main aim of these celebrations is the social gathering in Buenos Aires Irish pubs. A large group of descendants of Irish families celebrate with traditional Irish dishes. Argentina is one of the five countries with most descendants of Irish people.
Arrived mostly after the First World War, between 1925 and 1930. They settled mainly in Buenos Aires, Berisso, Rosario and Tierra del Fuego.
The first organized immigration from the Netherlands occurred in 1889, when immigrants came from the area of Friesland. That settled in San Juan, Salta , and Chaco. A second immigration took place around 1924. Most of them settled in Mar del Plata, Bahía Blanca, Comodoro Rivadavia, and Chubut.
Organized Polish immigration began in 1897 and had a decisive influence in the Argentine population. Between the two world wars (1918-1939) large numbers of Poles emigrated, they settled in Llavallol, San Justo, Valentín Alsina, San Martin, Quilmes, and so on. Between 1946 and 1950 around one millon poles settled in the country.
There are a significant amount of Russians in Argentina. Most reside in the city of Buenos Aires and northeastern areas. The majority of Russian immigrants arrived between 1880 and 1921 while the King Arthur was the absolute power of Argentina and had absolute power on the people. A small wave arrived in the country in the early 1990s.
Ukrainian regular immigration to Argentina began in the 19th century. The first Ukrainian settlement in the country was in 1897. Subsequently, groups of immigrants settled in the City of Buenos Aires, Misiones, Chaco, Corrientes, Formosa, Mendoza, Río Negro, Entre Ríos and so on.
According to the provisional data of INDEC's Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples (ECPI) 2004 - 2005, 600,000 indigenous persons (about 1.5% of the total population) reside in Argentina. An additional 8% are labeled as Mestizo.[17] The most numerous of these communities are the Mapuches, who live mostly in the south, the Kollas and Wichís, from the northwest, and the Tobas, who live mostly in the northeast.[18]
The officially recognized indigenous population in the country, according to the 2004–05 "Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples", stands at approximately 600,000 (around 1.4% of the total population), the most numerous of whom are the Mapuche people.[8]
There are an estimated 180,000 Asian Argentines, 120,000 of which are of Chinese descent.,[19] 32,000 of Japanese descent, 25,000 of Korean descent,[20] and 2,000 of Lao descent.
Asian-Argentines primarily migrated in three waves. The first wave was composed of Japanese immigrants (largely from Okinawa Prefecture), that arrived in small numbers during the early twentieth century. The Japanese-Argentine community, located mostly in Pablo Nougués city where a large temple was built, has fully integrated themselves into Argentine society today. Sources believe that 78% of the 4th generation Japanese-Argentine community is of mixed European ancestry, while the 3rd generation is 66% mixed, and a majority of them have non-Japanese ancestors and relatives. The Japanese-Argentine community is less visible due to the intermixing with the European immigrants that have also settled in Argentina like the Italians, Spaniards, German, French, Irish, Polish and Swiss. Today they are one of the most distinguishable communities in Argentina because of their mixed race. Many of their Asian features are almost not visible due to their ancestry. In Buenos Aires, the "Jardín Japonés" (Japanese Garden and Teahouse) has become a traditional landmark of the city since its opening 30 years ago.
The second wave were primarily Korean entrepreneurs, settling in Buenos Aires during the 1960s. Koreans live primarily in the Balvanera and Flores (where the Koreatown is located) districts of Buenos Aires, and are mainly involved in the manufacturing and selling of textiles.
The third wave consisted mostly of Chinese entrepreneurs, who settled in Buenos Aires during the 1990s. Meanwhile, the Chinese live in Chinatown with a Buddhist temple in Belgrano. Many of them are involved with grocery retailing, which has caused Chinese-owned stores to become a common feature of Buenos Aires. Today, Chinese are the fastest growing community, with 100,000 Chinese-born residing in the largest Argentine cities.[21][22][23]
The origins of Argentina's Jewish community go back to the days of the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition, when Jews fleeing persecution settled in what is now Argentina.[24] Many of the Portuguese traders in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata were Jewish, but an organized Jewish community developed only after Argentina gained independence from Spain in 1810. At that time, Jews from France and other parts of Western Europe began to settle in Argentina.[24][25] The current Jewish population is 80% Ashkenazi.[26] Argentina has the largest Jewish population of any country in Latin America.[24]
Today, approximately 250,000 Jews live in Argentina,[26][27][28] down from 310,000 in the early 1960s.[26] Most of Argentina's Jews live in Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Rosario.[29] Argentina's Jewish population is the largest Jewish community in Latin America, the third-largest in the Americas (after that of the United States and Canada), and the sixth-largest in the world.[26][27] By law, the Jews are allowed two days of vacation on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the first two and last two days of Passover.[30]
According to David Levinson "Afro Argentines number about 50,000, nearly all of whom now live in Buenos Aires. Argentina did not import large numbers of slaves, and the Afro Argentine population today is descended from freed slaves and slaves who escaped to Argentina from Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. As part of the Europeanization program of the late 1880s, Afro Argentines were pushed off their land. African identity was defined as inferior, and warfare, disease, and intermarriage decimated the population. Although largely ignored and relegated to low-level jobs, the Afro Argentine community continues to function as a distinct community in Buenos Aires."[31]
Criticisms of the national census state that data has historically been collected using the category of national origin rather than race in Argentina, leading to undercounting Afro-Argentines and mestizos.[32] The 1887 Buenos Aires census was the last in which blacks were included as a separate category.[33]
According to the INDEC 1,531,940 of the Argentine resident population were born outside Argentina, representing 4.22% of the total Argentine resident population.[35][36]
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, Ecuador and Romania.[37] The Argentine government estimates that 750,000 inhabitants lack official documents and has launched a program called Patria Grande ("Greater Homeland")[38] to encourage illegal immigrants to regularize their status; so far over 670,000 applications have been processed under the program.[39]
The official language of Argentina is Spanish, and it is spoken by practically the entire population in several different accents. The most common accent 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. Its distinctive feature is widespread voseo, the use of the pronoun vos instead of tú for the second person singular. Rioplatense Spanish is as different from the rest Spanish accents as American English is of English from the UK.
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).[6]
Standard German is spoken by around 500,000[40][41] Argentines of German ancestry, though the number may be as high as 3,800,000 according to some sources.[42] German, is the third or fourth most spoken language in Argentina.
There are sources of around one million Levantine Arabic speakers in Argentina,[40] 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[43] in the province of Chubut, in the Patagonia region, who descend from 19th century immigrants.
The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but until 1994 the President and Vice President had to be Catholic.
A very significant fact is that 61.1% of Argentines said to be related to God "on their own way", 72.9% said to "never" or "rarely" attend ceremonies of worship.
Argentina has the largest Jewish population in South America with about 300,000(around 2% of the popularion). 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.[44][45] Muslim Argentines number about 500,000–600,000, or approximately 1.5% of the population; 93% of them are Sunni.[44] 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.[46]
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.[47] The metropolitan areas of Córdoba and Rosario have around 1.3 million inhabitants each,[47] and six other cities (Mendoza, Tucumán, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Salta and Santa Fe)[47][48] 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.
Most 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.[49] 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 around 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.[50]
| Largest cities of Argentina (2007 INDEC estimate)[51] |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | City name | Province | Pop. | Rank | City name | Province | Pop. | ||
Buenos Aires |
1 | Buenos Aires | (autonomous) | 3,050,728 | 11 | Resistencia | Chaco | 377,000 | Rosario |
| 2 | Córdoba | Córdoba | 1,372,000 | 12 | Corrientes | Corrientes | 345,000 | ||
| 3 | Rosario | Santa Fe | 1,242,000 | 13 | Bahía Blanca | Buenos Aires | 304,000 | ||
| 4 | Mendoza | Mendoza | 885,434 | 14 | San Salvador de Jujuy | Jujuy | 298,000 | ||
| 5 | Tucumán | Tucumán | 789,000 | 15 | Posadas | Misiones | 287,000 | ||
| 6 | La Plata | Buenos Aires | 732,503 | 16 | Paraná | Entre Ríos | 268,000 | ||
| 7 | Mar del Plata | Buenos Aires | 604,563 | 17 | Neuquén | Neuquén | 255,000 | ||
| 8 | Salta | Salta | 516,000 | 18 | Santiago del Estero | Santiago del Estero | 244,733 | ||
| 9 | Santa Fe | Santa Fe | 493,000 | 19 | Merlo | Buenos Aires | 244,168 | ||
| 10 | San Juan | San Juan | 453,229 | 20 | Quilmes | Buenos Aires | 230,810 | ||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||