The Immigrant Population | Argentina | bpb.de

The latest national census of 2010 shows the dominance of Latin American immigration in recent years. More than 75 percent of Argentina’s foreign-born population came from the neighboring countries alone (including Peru), Europeans follow with about 16 percent. In total terms, 4.5 percent of the country’s population was born outside Argentina. In total numbers, the biggest groups are Paraguayans with 550,713 people, Bolivians with 345,272 individuals, Chileans with 191,147, followed by Peruvians with 157,514.

Importantly, Argentina also participates in the globally observable "feminization of migration". The 2010 census reveals that 53.9 percent of the foreign-born population is female, which contrasts to the general ratio of 51.2 percent of the Argentine born population. The data also reveals a strong urban bias in settlement patterns: 73.2 percent of the foreign-born population resides in the city of Buenos Aires and the strongly urbanized province of Buenos Aires. 13.5 percent of the residents of the city of Buenos Aires were born abroad, in contrast to only 0.3 percent in the peripheral province of Santiago del Estero. About a third of foreign-born residents in Argentina arrived between 2001 and 2010, highlighting the continuing relevance of immigration for the country (see Figure 4).

This text is part of the Interner Link: country profile Argentina.