Argentina - Demography

Unlike most other Latin American nations (the other notable exception is Uruguay), the population of Argentina is primarily of European descent (95-97% "White"), mostly Italians and Spaniards. There are also significant German, Polish, French, and Slavic populations.
 

After the regimented Spanish colonists, waves of European settlers came to Argentina from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Major contributors included Italy (initially from Piedmont, Veneto and Lombardy, later from Campania and Calabria), Spain (foremost among them Galicians and Basques), and France (mostly to Buenos Aires and Mendoza). Smaller but significant numbers of immigrants came from Germany and Switzerland (to the Lakes Region of Patagonia; and to Córdoba), Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden), Greece, the United Kingdom and Ireland (to Buenos Aires, Santa Fé, and Patagonia; see

also English settlement in Argentina), and Portugal. Eastern Europeans were also numerous, from Poland, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Lithuania, as well as Balkan countries (Croatia and Montenegro, particularly in Chaco).

There is a large Armenian community, and the Patagonian Chubut Valley has a significant Welsh-descended population. Smaller waves of settlers from Australia, South Africa and the United States are recorded in Argentine immigration records.

The majority of Argentina's Jewish community derives from immigrants of north and eastern European origin (Ashkenazi Jews), and about 15–20% from Sephardic groups from Spain. Argentina is home to the fifth largest Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. According to the National Census, Jews make up about 2 percent of Argentina's population (see also History of the Jews in Argentina).

Minorities:

The largest ethnic minority is the Mestizo (European/Native American Indigenous). Estimates range from 3 to 15%, the 3% figure being the most credited. In recent decades, especially during the 1990s, there has been an influx of immigrants from neighboring countries, principally Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru.

Small but growing numbers of people from East Asia have also settled Argentina, mainly in Buenos Aires. The first Asian-Argentines were of Japanese descent; Koreans, Vietnamese, and Chinese followed, now at over 60,000.

Argentina has a large Arab community, made up mostly of immigrants from Syria and Lebanon. Many have gained prominent status in national business and politics, including former president Carlos Menem, the son of Syrian settlers from the province of La Rioja. Most of the Arab Argentines are Christian of the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches.

The officially recognized indigenous population in the country, according to the "Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples" based on 2001 Census data, stands at approximately 402,921 people (about 1 percent of the total population).

Illegal immigrants:

Illegal immigration has been a relatively important factor in recent Argentine demographics. Most illegal immigrants come from Bolivia and Paraguay, countries which border Argentina to the north. Smaller numbers arrive from Peru, Ecuador, Romania, and the People's Republic of China. The Argentine government estimates that 750,000 inhabitants lack official documents and has launched a program called Patria Grande ("Greater Homeland"), to encourage illegal immigrants to regularize their status; so far some 200,000 applications have been processed under the program.

Urbanization:

Argentina's population is very highly urbanized. About 3.53 million people live in the autonomous city of Buenos Aires, and 12.4 million in Greater Buenos Aires (2007), making it one of the largest urban conglomerates in the world. Together with their respective metropolitan areas, the second- and third-largest cities in Argentina, Córdoba and Rosario, comprise about 1.3 and 1.1 million inhabitants respectively.

Most European immigrants to Argentina settled in the cities, which offered jobs, education, and other opportunities that enabled newcomers to enter the middle class. Many also settled in the growing small towns along the expanding railway system. Since the 1930s, many rural workers have moved to the big cities.

The 1990s saw many rural towns become ghost towns when train services ceased and local products manufactured on a small scale were replaced by massive amounts of cheap imported goods. Many slums (villas miseria) sprouted in the outskirts of the largest cities, inhabited by impoverished lower-class urban dwellers, migrants from smaller towns in the interior, and also a large number of immigrants from neighbouring countries that came during the time of the convertibility and did not leave after the 2001 crisis.

Argentina's urban areas have a European look, reflecting the influence of European settlers. Many cities are built in a Spanish-grid style around a main square (plaza). A cathedral and important government buildings often face the plaza. The general layout of the cities is called a damero, or checkerboard, since it is based on a pattern of square blocks, though modern developments sometimes depart from it (the city of La Plata, built at the end of the nineteenth century, is organized as a checkerboard plus diagonal avenues at fixed intervals). The El Faro Towers, show the modern architecture for urbanization.