Facts & Figures

President: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007) 

Land area: 1,056,636 sq mi (2,736,690 sq km); total area: 1,068,296 sq mi (2,766,890 sq km)

Population (2009 est.): 40,913,584 (growth rate: 1.0%); birth rate: 17.9/1000; infant mortality rate: 11.4/1000; life expectancy: 76.5; density per sq mi: 38

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Buenos Aires, 13,349,000 (metro. area), 2,768,772 (city proper)

 

Other large cities: Córdoba, 1,486,200; Rosario, 1,276,900; Mendoza, 988,600; Mar del Plata, 683,700

Monetary unit: Peso

National name: República Argentina

Languages: Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French

Ethnicity/race: white (mostly Spanish and Italian) 97%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry), Amerindian, or other non-white groups 3%

Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 92% (less than 20% practicing), Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, other 4%

National Holiday: Revolution Day, May 25

Literacy rate: 97.2% (2001 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $523.7 billion; per capita $13,000. Real growth rate: 8.5%. Inflation: 8.5% official rate; actual rate may be double the official rate. Unemployment: 8.9%. Arable land: 10.03%. Agriculture: sunflower seeds, lemons, soybeans, grapes, corn, tobacco, peanuts, tea, wheat; livestock. Labor force: 16.1 million: note: urban areas only (2007 est.); agriculture: 1%, industry: 23%, services: 76% (2007 est.). Industries: food processing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, textiles, chemicals and petrochemicals, printing, metallurgy, steel. Natural resources: fertile plains of the pampas, lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron ore, manganese, petroleum, uranium. Exports: $54.6 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): edible oils, fuels and energy, cereals, feed, motor vehicles. Imports: $40.26 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal manufactures, plastics. Major trading partners: Brazil, Chile, U.S., China, Spain, Germany (2006).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use 9.46 million (2006); mobile cellular: 31.51 million (2006). Radio broadcast stations: AM 260 (including 10 inactive stations), FM n.a. (probably more than 1,000, mostly unlicensed), shortwave 6 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 42 (plus 444 repeaters) (1997). Internet hosts: 2.159 million (2007). Internet users: 8.184 million (2006).

Transportation: Railways: total: 31,902 km (2006). 

Highways: total: 229,144 km; paved: 68,809 km (including 734 km of expressways); unpaved: 160,335 km (2004).  

Waterways: 11,000 km (2006).  

Ports and harbors: Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, Concepcion del Uruguay, La Plata, Punta Colorada, Rosario, San Lorenzo-San Martin, San Nicolas.  

Airports: 1,272 (2007). 

International disputes: Argentina continues to assert its claims to the UK-administered Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in its constitution, forcibly occupying the Falklands in 1982, but in 1995 agreed no longer to seek settlement by force; territorial claim in Antarctica partially overlaps UK and Chilean claims (see Antarctic disputes); unruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay borders is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal narcotics trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations; uncontested dispute between Brazil and Uruguay over Braziliera/Brasiliera Island in the Quarai/Cuareim River leaves the tripoint with Argentina in question; in January 2007, ICJ provisionally ruled Uruguay may begin construction of two paper mills on the Uruguay River, which forms the border with Argentina, while the court examines further whether Argentina has the legal right to stop such construction with potential environmental implications to both countries; the joint boundary commission, established by Chile and Argentina in 2001 has yet to map and demarcate the delimited boundary in the inhospitable Andean Southern Ice Field (Campo de Hielo Sur).