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Argentina Background

Argentina is the second largest country in Latin America after Brazil and eighth largest country in the world, occupying a continental surface of 1,068,302 sq mi between the Andes mountain range in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east and south. It is the third most populated country in Latin America with an estimated population of 39 million and it’s the only Latin American nation with net positive migration.

Argentina is a melting pot of ethnicity with citizens of European decent making up 97% of the population. After the Spanish colonists, waves of European settlers migrated to Argentina from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries of mostly Italian, Spanish and French decent. The official language is Spanish, but English, Italian, German and French are also spoken.

Argentina enjoys a literacy rate of 97%, equal to that of the United States, the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in Latin America and the highest Human Development Index in Latin America, the worldwide measure of well-being and quality of life. The largest metropolitan area in Argentina is Greater Buenos Aires with a population of approximately 12 million, making it one of the largest urban conglomerates in the world. Buenos Aires is also widely considered to be the most European city in Latin America and the country’s cultural capital.