Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 06:04, 15 January 2009

Part of a series on the
Culture of Argentina
Society
Argentines Ethnicity History Humor Language Immigration Holidays Religion Women
Topics
Art Architecture Cinema Cuisine Literature Comics Media Radio Television Newspapers Monuments Music Painting Sport
Symbols
Flag Coat of arms Cockade Motto Anthem Sun of May World Heritage Sites
Argentina portal
v t e

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

Origins and ethnicity

Argentina, along with other areas of contemporary settlement like the Americas or Australasia, is a melting pot of different peoples, both autochthonous and immigrants. Citizens of predominant or full European descent make up the great majority of the population, with estimates varying from 89.7% to 97%, based on self-ascription. The last national census, again based on self-ascription, indicated that 2% declared to be of Amerindian descent as a first-generation Mestizo and 7% were Mestizo from prior generations.

The most common ethnic groups are Italian and Spaniard (mostly Galicians and Basques). There are also significant Germanic, Slavic, British and French populations.

Waves of immigrants from European countries arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The main contributors were Spain, Italy, France (mostly settled in Buenos Aires city and province), Eastern European nations such as Croatia, Poland, Russia, Romania, Ukraine and the Balkans (especially Greece, Serbia and Montenegro), Switzerland, 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.

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 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.

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 (English and Scottish) and Irish immigrants settled in Patagonia; today, the Chubut Valley has a significant Welsh-descended population and retains many aspects of Welsh culture. But since the 1980s, many Welsh Argentines began to emigrate to Canada and Australia.

German and Swiss colonies settled in the provinces of Entre Ríos, Misiones, Formosa, Córdoba Province and Patagonia, as well as in Buenos Aires itself. As many as 8 million may be of German ancestry, third largest after Italian and Spanish.

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.

Indigenous peoples

According to the provisional data of INDEC's Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples (ECPI) 2004 - 2005, 402,921 indigenous persons (about 1% of the total population) reside in Argentina. An additional 4.5% are labeled as Mestizo even though a significant proportion of all, including White Argentines, have some Amerindian ancestry.

Emigration

The rate of Argentine emigration to Europe (especially to Spain and Italy) and, to a lesser degree, to North America (mostly to Mexico and the United States) peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is noteworthy

Population dynamics

In 2001 census , Argentina had a population of 36,260,130 million inhabitants, of which 1,527,320, or 4.2%, were born abroad. The population growth rate in 2008 was estimated to be 0.917% 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 net migration rate is a modestly positive, 0.39 immigrants per 1,000 inhabitants, though Argentina is the only Latin American state receiving net immigration. The proportion of people under 15, at 24.6%, is a little below the world average (28%); but 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 (currently 7%).

The Argentine population has long had one of Latin America's lowest growth rates (recently, about one percent a year) and it also enjoys a comparatively low infant mortality rate. The median age is approximately 29 years and life expectancy at birth is of 76 years. Unlike most developed countries, Argentina does not yet have sub-replacement fertility and the worries and problems associated with it.

Economic status

Argentines enjoy comparatively high standards of living compared to other Latin American countries; most of the population considers itself middle class and the country has a high Human Development Index score of 0.869. As of 2008, 20.6% of the population is under the official poverty lineand income distribution has become considerably unequal as a result of the 2001 economic crisis.

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 (99%).

In the countryside huge ranches, called estancias, cover much of the Pampa and Patagonia, many of which are the legacy of agricultural colonies established by European immigration during the 19th century.

Some rural people work on estancias, while others own small farms. The soybean boom, the exportation of certain cereals, meats, wines and other fruits, have turned the Argentine countryside into a very profitable business, causing some city people to leave urban areas in search of a more tranquil quality of life.

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 Italian and Spanish 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.

Preliminary research has shown that Rioplatense Spanish, and particularly the speech of the city of Buenos Aires, has intonation patterns that resemble those of Italian dialects, most closely resembling Neapolitan. This correlates well with immigration patterns. Argentina, and particularly Buenos Aires, had huge numbers of Italian settlers since the 19th century.

Italian influence is shown mainly in vocabulary, lingo 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 called Portuñol.

Some few 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, 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.

Foreign languages

Many Argentines also speak other European languages (Italian, Portuguese, French, German and Serbo-Croatian, as examples) due to the vast number of immigrants from Europe that came to Argentina. Due to the linguistic influences of Rioplatense Spanish from Italian, the average Argentine is well-positioned to understand that language to a substantial degree.

Italian

Argentina has more than 1,500,000 Italian speakers; this tongue is the second most widely spoken language in the nation. Italian immigration from the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century made a lasting and significant impact on the pronunciation and vernacular of the nation's spoken Spanish, giving it an Italian flare. Italian has contributed so much to Rioplatense that many foreigners mistake it for Italian.

English

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 certain 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 Argentinians claim to know some English (though only 15.4% of those claimed to have a high level of English comprehension).

German

Standard German is spoken by between 400,000 and 500,000 Argentines of German ancestry, though the number may be as high as 2,800,000 according to some sources. German, is the third or fourth most spoken language in Argentina.

Levantine Arabic

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

Welsh

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

Genetic Studies

Average composition of the Argentine genome (Avena et al, 2006)

A group of researchers belonging to diverse scientific Argentine and French institutions (CONICET, UBA, Centres D'Anthropologie de Toulouse),on the base of information gathered in the Hospital of Clinics and Italian of the City of Buenos Aires, concluded that:

• The genetic average admixture of the Argentine population, contains 79.9 % of European contribution, 15.8% Amerindian and 4.3% African.

Amerindian Ancestors (Corach-UBA, 2005)

The "Servicio de Huellas Digitales Genéticas" of University of Buenos Aires concluded in 2005 a research directed by the Argentine geneticist Daniel Corach (realized on 320 individuals of 9 provinces) from genetic scoreboards established that 56% of the Argentine population has at least one Amerindian ancestor. The study indicates that the genetic Amerindian characteristic, not necessarily demonstrates physical visible feature. From this percentage, only 10% of the population has exclusively Amerindian ancestors. The remaining 44% of the total population, does not have Amerindian ancestry.

Average composition of the Argentine genome (Seldin et al, U. California 2006)

A group of researchers belonging to diverse scientific Argentine, North American, Swedish, and Guatemalan institutions, directed by Michael F. Seldin of University of California, concluded that:

• The genetic average structure of the Argentine population contains 78% of European contribution, 19.4% Amerindian and 2.5% African (using the Bayesian algorithm).

African Ancestors (CGFyL-UBA, 2005)

A research of Centro de Genética de Filosofía y Letras of the University of Buenos Aires established in 2005, after analyzed 500 blood samples in the Italian Hospital, Hospital of Clinics, and the Regional Medical Center of the city of La Plata, that 4.3% of the analyzed samples corresponding to inhabitants of greater Buenos Aires contains genetic African scoreboards (though it is not observed at the phenotypical level).

Demographic statistics from the CIA World Factbook

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook.

Population

40,301,927 (June 2007 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 24.9% (male 5,134,958/female 4,905,181)

15-64 years: 15-64 years: 64.4% (male 12,979,588/female 12,967,507)

65 years and over: 10.7% (male 1,769,593/female 2,545,100) (2007 est.)

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

7.54 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate

0.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio

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.)

Infant mortality rate

Total: 12.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2006)

Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 76.32 years

Male: 72.60 years

Female: 80.24 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate

2.16 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: 0.7% (2001 est.)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 130,000 (2001 est.)

Deaths: 1,500 (2003 est.)

Ethnic groups

European descent (mostly Spanish and Italian) 97%

Mestizo (European/Amerindian ancestry), Amerindian, or other non-white groups represent the remainder

Religions

Roman Catholic 90%

Protestant 5%

Muslims 1.5%

Jews 0.8%

other religious groups 2.5%

Languages

Spanish (official; most spoken dialect: Rioplatense Spanish).

Languages spoken by members of ethnic groups/communities: English, Italian, German, French, Yiddish, Russian, Polish, Welsh, Armenian and Serbo-Croatian.

Portuguese (near Brazilian border)

Guaraní (official in Corrientes; spoken also in northeastern litoral areas, near Paraguayan border.

Quechua (in decline, found in the northwest provinces, primarily in Santiago del Estero).

Literacy

Literacy (as defined as individuals of age 15 and over who can read and write):

Total population: 97.2%

male: 97.2%

female: 97.2% (2001 est.)

See also

• Argentina
• Immigration in Argentina
• Ethnography of Argentina
• White Argentine
• Italian settlement 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
• White Latin American

References

1. Argentina
2. ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Argentina
3. http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Argentina.html
4. Dinámica migratoria: coyuntura y estructura en la Argentina de fines del XX
5. http://www.buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/hacienda/sis_estadistico/anu_estadistico/01/web01/c110.htm
6. INDEC: Encuesta Complementaria de Pueblos Indígenas (ECPI) 2004 - 2005 (in Spanish), INDEC. Document dated June 26, 2006; URL accessed on March 29, 2006.
7. Argentina Turismo, Información, Información general accessed: 2006-08-30
8. http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2008/03/genetics_the_mythbuster_the_ca.php
9. Estructura genética de la Argentina, Impacto de contribuciones genéticas - Ministerio de Educación de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Nación
10. Reversal Of Fortune - TIME
11. La otra cara de la 'fuga de cerebros'
12. Infobae:Clase Media Argentina Sumo en un Año 160.000 Familias
13. Afirmó Cristina Fernández que la pobreza cayó a 20,6%
14. UNdata | record view | Literacy rates of 15-24 years old, men, percentage
15. Más porteños dejan todo para irse al campo a vivir de la tierra Clarin, 27-07-2005
17. ^ Página/12, 27 December 2006. Los idiomas de los argentinos.
18. Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (2005). "Language of Argentina". Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. SIL International. Retrieved 2008-08-21. Italian (1,500,000){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
19. International Real State Digest
20. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: Languages of Argentina, Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
21. WorldLanguage website. Retrieved on 2007-01-29
22. "Rápida recuperación económica tras la grave crisis"
23. Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (2005). "Language of Argentina". Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. SIL International. Retrieved 2008-08-21. Welsh (25,000){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
24. Avena, Sergio A., Goicochea, Alicia S., Rey, Jorge et al. (2006). Mezcla génica en una muestra poblacional de la ciudad de Buenos Aires. Medicina (B. Aires), mar./abr. 2006, vol.66, no.2, p.113-118. ISSN 0025-7680.
25. Estructura genética de la Argentina, Impacto de contribuciones genéticas - Ministerio de Educación de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Nación.
26. F. Seldin et al. (2006). "Argentine population genetic structure: Large variance in Amerindian contribution", American Journal of Physical Anthropology Volume 132, Issue 3, Pages 455 - 462 Published Online: 18 Dec 2006
27. Clarín (09-06-2006)
28. DEIS
29. International Religious Freedom Report 2007

Sources

• Template:CIA WFB 2006
•  This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.
• National Statistics and Censuses Institute

• Demographics of Argentina
• Demographics