Demographics ofArgentina
Population pyramid ofArgentina in 2024
Population	46,735,004 (2025)[1]
Density	16.80873/km2
Growth rate	0.23% (2023 est.)
Birth rate	9.9 births/1,000 population (2023)[2]
Death rate	7.6 deaths/1,000 population (2023)[2]
Life expectancy	78.8 years
• male	75.8 years
• female	82.0 years (2024 est.)[3]
Fertility rate	1.16 children born/woman (2024)[4]
Infant mortality rate	8.0 deaths/1,000 live births (2023)[2]
Net migration rate	−0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)[3]
Age structure
0–14 years	20.1% (male 4,812,709/female 4,636,022)
15–64 years	67.7% (male 15,923,617/female 15,914,994)
65 and over	12.2% (male 2,441,497/female 3,279,977) (2025)[1]
Sex ratio
Total	0.98 male(s)/female (2023 est.)[3]
At birth	1.07 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.06 male(s)/female
15–64 years	1.01 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.74 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Argentine
Major ethnic	White (N/D) European (N/D) Italian (N/D) Spanish (N/D) French (N/D) German (N/D) Other (N/D) Arab (N/D) Lebanese (N/D) Syrian (N/D) Other (N/D) Armenian (N/D) Turkish (N/D) Afrikaner (N/D) Other (N/D)
Minor ethnic	Mestizo (N/D) Native (2.83%)[5] Mapuche (0.32%) Guaraní (0.29%) Diaguita (0.19%) Toba (0.17%) Qulla (0.15%) Wichí (0.15%) Other (1.56%) East Asian (N/D) Chinese (N/D) Japanese (N/D) Korean (N/D) Other (N/D) Black (0.66%)[5] Angolan (N/D) Cape Verdean (N/D) Senegalese (N/D) Other (N/D) Indian (N/D)
Language
Official	Spanish (96.8%)[6]
Spoken	Italian (1.7%) Quechua (0.4%) Others (1.1%)

This is ademography of Argentina includingpopulation density,ethnicity,economic status, age and other aspects of the population.

As of the 2022census[INDEC],Argentina had a population of 46,044,703^[7] - a 15.3% increase from the 40,117,096 counted in the 2010census[INDEC].^[8]

Argentina ranks third inSouth America in total population and 33rd globally. The country's population density is of 16.9 people per square kilometer of land area - well below the world average of 62 people. Argentina's population growth rate in 2023 was estimated to be 0.23% annually, with a birth rate of 9.9 per 1,000 inhabitants and a mortality rate of 7.6 per 1,000 inhabitants.

The proportion of people under 15, at 20%, is well below the world average (25%), and the cohort of people 65 and older is relatively high, at 12%.^[7] The percentage ofsenior citizens in Argentina has long been second only to Uruguay inLatin America and well above the world average, which is currently 9.8%.

The median age is approximately 34 years,^[1] andlife expectancy at birth is of 78 years.^[9] 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), 9.3% speak Portuguese^[10] and 5.9% speak Italian.^[11]

Sources: Pantelides andNational Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina^[13]

Argentina is highly urbanized,^[9] 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 including suburbanGreater Buenos Aires the metropolitan area totals around 14 million - making it one of the 15 largest urban areas in the world.^[14] The metropolitan areas ofCórdoba andRosario have around 1.3 million inhabitants each,^[14] and six other cities (Mendoza,Tucumán,La Plata,Mar del Plata,Salta andSanta Fe)^[14][15] have at least half a million people each.

The population is unequally distributed amongst the provinces, with 61% living in the Pampa region (21% of the total area), including 17.5 million people inBuenos Aires Province, 4 million inCórdoba Province, and over 3 million each inSanta Fe Province and theAutonomous City of Buenos Aires. Eight other provinces each have over one million people: Mendoza, Tucumán, Salta, Entre Ríos, Misiones, Corrientes, Chaco, and Santiago del Estero. Tucumán is the most densely populated (with 75 inhabitants/km², the only Argentine province more densely populated than the world average), while the southern province of Santa Cruz has just 1.4 inhabitant/km².^[16]

In the mid-19th century, a large wave ofimmigration started to arrive to Argentina due to new constitutional policies that encouraged immigration, and issues in the countries the immigrants came from such as wars, poverty, hunger, famines, pursuit of a better life, among other reasons. The main immigration sources were from Europe, the countries from theNear and Middle East, Russia and Japan. In fact, the immigration torrent was so strong that Argentina eventually received the second-largest number of immigrants in the world, second only to the US and ahead of such immigrant receptor countries such as Canada, Brazil, Australia, etc.^[17][18]

Most of theseEuropean 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.^[19]

Urban areas reflect the influence of European immigration, and most of the larger ones feature boulevards and diagonal avenues inspired by theredevelopment of Paris. Argentine cities were originally built in a colonial Spanishgrid style, centered on a plaza overlooked by a cathedral and important government buildings. Many still retain this general layout, known as adamero, 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 byPedro Benoit, combines the checkerboard layout with added diagonal avenues at fixed intervals, and was the first in South America with electric street lighting.^[20]

Flag	Province/District	Capital	Population (2023)[7]	Rank	Density(/km2)[7]	Avg. growth from 2010 census[8][7]	Births(2023)[2]	Rate	Deaths(2023)[2]	Rate	Infant mortality (2022)[2] [Units?]
	Buenos Aires City	–	3,083,770	4	15,372.5	0.64	23,988	7.8	29,489	9.6	5.5
	Buenos Aires Province	La Plata	18,039,509	1	57.1	0.98	162,380	9.0	144,605	8.0	7.6
	Catamarca Province	San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca	425,885	20	4.2	1.30	4,248	10.0	2,775	6.5	8.7
	Chaco Province	Resistencia	1,238,989	11	11.5	0.67	16,769	13.5	9,235	7.5	9.5
	Chubut Province	Rawson	649,330	18	2.7	1.42	5,434	8.4	3,607	5.6	5.2
	Córdoba Province	Córdoba	3,872,830	2	24.1	1.55	38,126	9.8	30,461	7.9	7.5
	Corrientes Province	Corrientes	1,148,631	10	13.6	1.58	14,253	12.4	7,580	6.6	11.6
	Entre Ríos Province	Paraná	1,423,136	8	18.1	1.20	14,073	9.9	10,856	7.6	9.5
	Formosa Province	Formosa	619,240	17	8.4	1.12	8,250	13.3	3,993	6.4	10.2
	Jujuy Province	San Salvador de Jujuy	795,539	14	15.0	1.43	7,365	9.3	4,787	6.0	7.2
	La Pampa Province	Santa Rosa	367,207	22	2.6	1.15	3,238	8.8	2,679	7.3	9.0
	La Rioja Province	La Rioja	408,760	21	4.3	1.19	4,184	10.2	2,457	6.0	10.3
	Mendoza Province	Mendoza	2,049,411	5	13.5	1.23	20,036	9.8	14,062	6.9	5.8
	Misiones Province	Posadas	1,301,723	9	43.0	1.27	18,932	14.5	7,498	5.8	8.8
	Neuquén Province	Neuquén	688,850	16	7.7	2.33	6,891	10.0	3,811	5.5	7.0
	Río Negro Province	Viedma	775,610	15	3.8	1.48	7,375	9.5	4,984	6.4	7.1
	Salta Province	Salta	1,476,539	7	9.3	1.43	16,974	11.5	8,538	5.8	9.8
	San Juan Province	San Juan	805,830	13	9.1	1.54	9,795	12.2	5,365	6.7	8.9
	San Luis Province	San Luis	527,023	19	7.0	1.89	4,963	9.4	3,446	6.5	6.0
	Santa Cruz Province	Río Gallegos	392,904	23	1.4	1.65	3,139	8.0	1,711	4.4	11.5
	Santa Fe Province	Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz	3,616,227	3	26.7	0.90	37,635	10.4	30,409	8.4	8.6
	Santiago del Estero Province	Santiago del Estero	1,007,830	12	7.7	1.57	11,871	11.8	6,669	6.6	8.3
	Tierra del Fuego Provincea	Ushuaia	186,285	24	8.8	3.43	1,440	7.7	702	3.8	8.3
	Tucumán Province	San Miguel de Tucumán	1,753,523	6	75.6	1.36	18,537	10.6	12,215	7.0	8.8

^a Not including claims to theIslas Malvinas (Falkland Islands) andSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

• Population pyramid of each province in 2022
• 
  National pyramid
• 
  Buenos Aires
• 
  Córdoba
• 
  Santa Fe
• 
  Buenos Aires City
• 
  Misiones
• 
  Chaco
• 
  Santiago del Estero
• 
  Neuquén
• 
  Formosa
• 
  Santa Cruz
• 
  Tierra del Fuego

According to the 2022 revision of theWorld Population Prospects^[21][22] the total population was 45,276,780 in 2021 - double the number in 1966 (for a 1.27% average annual growth rate in that period). The population below the age of 15 in 2022 was 22%, 66% was between 15 and 64, while 12% was 65 or older.^[3]

The table below gives an overview of the number of birth and deaths in Argentina during the past century. Several sources were combined to compile the table.^{[25][26][27][28]}

The number of births in 2023 (460,902) was 41% below the record set in 2014, while the number of deaths was 353,428.^[2] As the population of Argentina showed a five-fold increase during the past century, the birth rate in 2023 (9.9) was a record low - now comparable to most European countries.

Death rates declined rapidly in the half century until around 1940 - then more gradually as the country's population aged. The death rate in 2023 (7.6) was near historic lows after having briefly risen in 2021 to the highest rate (9.5) since 1947 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

Birth rates were relatively stable from 1934 through 1980,^[25] and after declining stabilized from 1995 to 2015 - before again declining sharply since then.^[27]

Notable events in Argentine demographics:

• 2018 –Argentine monetary crisis

Total fertility rate (TFR) in Argentina byprovince as of 2023:

2023

province	TFR
Misiones	1.82
Formosa	1.71
Chaco	1.69
San Juan	1.62
Corrientes	1.59
Santiago del Estero	1.48
Salta	1.47
Santa Fe	1.43
Neuquén	1.37
Tucumán	1.36
Entre Ríos	1.35
Mendoza	1.34
Argentina	1.33
Córdoba	1.33
Catamarca	1.32
Río Negro Province	1.30
La Rioja Province	1.26
San Luis Province	1.25
La Pampa	1.24
Buenos Aires Province	1.23
Jujuy	1.21
Chubut	1.14
Buenos Aires	1.10
Santa Cruz	1.05
Tierra del Fuego	0.98

The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates of vital statistics of Argentina.^[31]

Argentina's population continues to grow but at a slower rate because of its steadily declining birth rate. Argentina's fertility decline began earlier than in the rest of Latin America, occurring most rapidly between the early 20th century and the 1930s and then becoming more gradual.^[9]

Life expectancy has been improving, most notably among the young and the poor.^[9]

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review.^[32]

• One birth every 1 minute
• One death every 1.4 minutes
• One net migrant every 111 minutes
• Net gain of one person every 3 minutes

In colonial times, the ethnic composition of Argentina was the result of the interaction of the pre-Columbian indigenous population with a colonizing population of Spanish origin and with sub-Saharan African slaves. Before the middle 19th century, the ethnic make up of Argentina was very similar to that of other countries ofLatin America.^{[33][34][35][36]} Between 1857 and 1950 Argentina was the country with the second biggest immigration wave in the world, at 6.6 million, second only to the United States in the numbers of immigrants received (27 million) and ahead of other areas of new settlement like Canada, Brazil and Australia.^[37][38] However, mass European immigration did not have the same impact in the whole country. According to the 1914 national census, 30% of Argentina's population was foreign-born, including 50% of the people in the city of Buenos Aires, but foreigners were only 2% in the provinces ofCatamarca andLa Rioja (North West region).^[34] Strikingly, at those times, the national population doubled every two decades. This belief is endured in the popular saying "los argentinos descienden de los barcos" ('Argentines descend from the ships'). Therefore, most Argentines are descended from the 19th- and 20th-century immigrants of thegreat European immigration wave to Argentina (1850–1955),^[39] with a great majority of these immigrants coming from diverse European countries, particularly Italy and Spain.^[17]

There are no officialcensus data or statistically significant studies on the precise number or percentage of hite Argentinians today, but it is known that they are by far the largest group.

However, several ethnographic estimates have attempted to address the issue. According to an ethnic estimate by theUAEM for allLatin American countries, the white population of Argentina was 85% in 2005.^[42] Another estimate published in theEncyclopædia Britannica gives 89% (of which 86% would be white Europeans and 3% of Arab descent) in the year 2000.^[43] A recent estimate by theJoshua Project, updated to 2025, estimates 36,082,000 white Argentinians in a total population of 45,473,000, which is equivalent to 79.4% of the Argentinian population. Adjusted to the 46,735,004 inhabitants estimated by RENAPER, there would be a total of 37,109,200 white people inArgentina.^[44]

According to the data ofINDEC's Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples (ECPI) 2004–2005, 600,000 officially recognized indigenous people (about 1.4% of the total population) reside in Argentina. The most numerous of these communities are theMapuches, who live mostly in the south, theKollas andWichís, from the northwest, and theGuaranis andQom, who live mostly in the northeast.^[45]In the census of 2010, 955,032 people self recognized as indigenous or descendants of indigenous peoples, thus representing 2.4% of the national population. This is notwithstanding that more than half of the population has at least one indigenous ancestor, although in most cases family memory lost that origin.

Since 2013, November 8 has been celebrated as the National Day of Afro-Argentines and African Culture. The date was chosen to commemorate the recorded date for the death ofMaría Remedios del Valle, arabona andguerrilla fighter, who served with theArmy of the North in thewar of Independence.^[46][47]

The black population in Argentina declined since the middle 19th century from 15% of the total population in 1857 (Blacks andMulatto people), to less than 0.5% at present (mainly mulattoes and immigrants fromCape Verde).

Afro-Argentines were up to a third of the population duringcolonial times; most were slaves brought from Africa to work for the criollos. The1813 Assemblyabolished slavery and led to theFreedom of Wombs Law of 1813, which automatically freed slaves' children at birth. Many Afro-Argentines contributed to the independence of Argentina such asMaría Remedios del Valle who is known asLa Madre de la Patria ('mother of the fatherland') and Sgt.Juan Bautista Cabral. Also there is a debate, among the historians, as to whether or notBernardino Rivadavia, the first president of theUnited Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Present Argentina) had African ancestors.^[48]

As with other areas of new settlement such asCanada,Australia, theUnited States,Brazil, andNew Zealand, Argentina is considered a country of immigrants.^[49] By 1914, Argentina was only second to the United States in the number of immigrants received, ahead of Canada and Australia.^[37][38]

In the last national census, based on self-identification, 952,032 Argentines (2.4% of the population) declared to be Amerindians.^[45] 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.

The majority of these European immigrants came from Spain and Italy.Thousands of immigrants also came from France, Germany, England, Portugal, Brazil, Switzerland, Wales, Scotland, Poland, Albania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria, Armenia, Greece, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.

Italian population in Argentina arrived mainly from the northern Italian regions varying betweenPiedmont, Veneto andLombardy, later fromCampania andCalabria;^[50]Spanish immigrants were mainlyGalicians andBasques.^[51][52]Thousands of immigrants also came fromFrance (notablyBéarn and theNorthern Basque Country),Germany, Switzerland, Denmark,Sweden, Norway,Greece, Portugal, Finland, Russia and the United Kingdom.^[53] TheWelsh settlement inPatagonia, known asY Wladfa, began in 1865; mainly along the coast ofChubut Province. In addition to the main colony in Chubut, a smaller colony was set up in Santa Fe and another group settled atCoronel Suárez, southernBuenos Aires Province.^[54] Of the 50,000 Patagonians of Welsh descent, about 5,000 areWelsh speakers.^[55] The community is centered on the cities ofGaiman,Trelew andTrevelin.^[56]

According to theINDEC 1,531,940 of the Argentine resident population in 2001 were born outside Argentina, representing 4.22% of the total Argentine resident population.^[58][59] In 2010, 1,805,957 of the Argentine resident population were born outside Argentina, representing 4.50% of the total Argentine resident population.^{[58][59][60][61]} As of July 2023, more than 18,500 Russians have come to Argentina after theRussian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.^[62]

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 and Ecuador.The Argentine government estimates that 750,000 inhabitants lack official documents and has launched a program calledPatria Grande ("Greater Homeland")^[63] to encourage illegal immigrants to regularize their status; so far over 670,000 applications have been processed under the program.^[64]

Rank (2022)	Country of birth	Census dates
		2022[65]	2010	2001	1991
1	Paraguay	522,598	550,713	325,046	254,115
2	Bolivia	338,299	345,272	233,464	145,670
3	Venezuela	161,495	6,379	2,774	1,934
4	Peru	156,251	157,514	88,260	15,939
5	Chile	149,082	191,147	212,429	247,987
6	Uruguay	95,384	116,592	117,564	135,406
7	Italy	68,169	147,499	216,718	356,923
8	Brazil	49,943	41,330	34,712	33,966
9	Spain	48,492	94,030	134,417	244,212
10	Colombia	46,482	17,576	3,876	2,638
11	China	18,629	8,929	4,184	2,297
12	United States	13,896	N/D	N/D	N/D
13	Ecuador	8,879	N/D	N/D	N/D
14	Dominican Republic	7,817	N/D	N/D	N/D
15	Mexico	5,833	N/D	N/D	N/D
16	South Korea	5,337	7,321	8,290	8,371
17	Germany	4,087	8,416	10,362	15,451
18	France	3,960	6,995	6,578	6,309
19	Cuba	3,921	N/D	N/D	N/D
20	Ukraine	3,486	N/D	N/D	N/D
21	Portugal	3,281	N/D	N/D	N/D
22	Taiwan	3,018	2,875	3,511	1,870
23	Japan	2,703	4,036	4,753	5,674
24	Russia	2,169	N/D	N/D	N/D
25	Syria	1,324	1,337	2,350	N/D
26	Lebanon	N/D	933	1,619	3,171
	Other countries	235,928	121,018	127,683	150,849
Total		1,933,463	1,805,957	1,531,940	1,628,210

• Distribution of ethnoracial groups in 2022
• 
  Native Argentines
• 
  Black Argentines

• Population pyramids of ethnoracial groups in 2022
• 
  Native Argentines
• 
  Black Argentines

Theofficial language of Argentina is Spanish, and it is spoken by practically the entire population in several different accents.^{[citation needed]} The most common variation of Spanish in Argentina is theRioplatense Spanish (Spanish:castellano rioplatense), and it is so named because it evolved in the central areas around theRío de la Plata basin. Its distinctive feature is widespreadvoseo, the use of thepronounvos instead oftú for thesecond person singular. Additionally, the Argentinian accent sounds identical to Portuguese in the words that begin with 'll' or 'yo', and all the words in Portuguese that begin with 'ch'. For example, the following sentence English: What is your name? Portuguese: como se chama? Spanish: Como se llama? - 'chama' & 'llama' are pronounced as though they were spelled "Shama"in both Argentinian Spanish and Portuguese. Moreover, the sound shift of all of the words in Spanish that begin with "ll" or 'y' but sound like 'sh' i.e., 'llorar' 'llama, 'llegar' & 'yo'. In Portuguese the words that begin with 'ch' always sound like 'sh'. There are many more words like these shown above. The mutual intelligibility between Spanish and Portuguese is already high, but the 'sh' sound increases the intelligibility between both languages even more.

Many Argentines also speak otherEuropean languages (Italian, German, Portuguese, French,Welsh,Swedish andCroatian, as examples) due to the vast number of immigrants from Europe that came to Argentina.^[9]

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).^[10]

There are sources of around one millionLevantine Arabic speakers in Argentina,^[66] as a result of immigration from the Middle East, mostly from Syria and Lebanon.

Standard German is spoken by around 500,000^[66][67] Argentines of German ancestry, though the number may be as high as 3,800,000 according to some sources.^[68] German is the third or fourth most spoken language in Argentina.

There is a prosperous community of ArgentineWelsh-speakers of approximately 25,000^[69] in the province ofChubut, in thePatagonia region, who descend from19th century immigrants.

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The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but until 1994 the President and Vice President had to be Catholic. The society,culture, and politics of Argentina are deeply imbued with Roman Catholicism.^[71]

Estimates for the number of Roman Catholics vary from 70% of the population,^[72] to as much as 90%.^[73] The CIA Factbook lists 92% of the country is Catholic, but only 20% are practicing regularly or weekly at a church service.^[9] The Jewish population is about 300,000 (around 0.75% of the population), 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.^[73][74]Muslim Argentines number about 500,000–600,000, or approximately 1.5% of the population; 93% of them areSunni.^[73] Buenos Aires is home to one of the largest mosques in Latin America. A study from 2010 found that approximately 11% of Argentines are non-religious, including those who believe in God, though not religion, agnostics (4%) andatheists (5%). Overall, 24% attended religious services regularly. Protestants were the only group in which a majority regularly attended services.^[75]

• 
  Population distribution by province
• 
  Built in 1906 to welcome hundreds of newcomers daily, theHotel de Inmigrantes is now a national museum.
• 
  Spanish Argentines in the parade for May 25 inTrelew,Chubut.
• 
  Italian Argentines during the opening parade of theImmigrant's Festival inOberá,Misiones.

• Argentines
• National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina
• European Argentines
• Racism in Argentina
• List of largest cities in Argentina
• Immigration to Argentina
• Great European immigration
• Languages of Argentina

• Population cartogram of Argentina

• Demographics of Argentina

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