s:
fertile plains of the pampas, lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron ore,
manganese, petroleum, uranium
Land use:
arable land:
9%
permanent crops:
4%
meadows and pastures:
52%
forest and woodland:
22%
other:
13%
Irrigated land:
17,600 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues:
erosion results from inadequate flood controls and improper land use
practices; irrigated soil degradation; desertification; air pollution
in Buenos Aires and other major cites; water pollution in urban areas;
rivers becoming polluted due to increased pesticide and fertilizer use
natural hazards:
Tucuman and Mendoza areas in the Andes subject to earthquakes;
pamperos are violent windstorms that can strike the Pampas and
northeast; heavy flooding
international agreements:
party to - Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Climate
Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous
Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship
Pollution, Whaling; signed, but not ratfied - Biodiversity, Law of the
Sea, Marine Life Conservation
Note:
second-largest country in South America (after Brazil); strategic
location relative to sea lanes between South Atlantic and South
Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage)

@Argentina, People

Population:
33,912,994 (July 1994 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.12% (1994 est.)
Birth rate:
19.62 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Death rate:
8.63 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Net migration rate:
0.21 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
29.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
71.35 years
male:
68.06 years
female:
74.81 years (1994 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.68 children born/woman (1994 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Argentine(s)
adjective:
Argentine
Ethnic divisions:
white 85%, mestizo, Indian, or other nonwhite groups 15%
Religions:
nominally Roman Catholic 90% (less than 20% practicing), Protestant
2%, Jewish 2%, other 6%
Languages:
Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French
Literacy:
age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total population:
95%
male:
96%
female:
95%
Labor force:
10.9 million
by occupation:
agriculture 12%, industry 31%, services 57% (1985 est.)

@Argentina, Government

Names:
conventional long form:
A