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:
Argentine Republic
conventional short form:
Argentina
local long form:
Republica Argentina
local short form:
Argentina
Digraph:
AR
Type:
republic
Capital:
Buenos Aires
Administrative divisions:
23 provinces (provincias, singular - provincia), and 1 federal
district* (distrito federal); Buenos Aires; Catamarca; Chaco; Chubut;
Cordoba; Corrientes; Distrito Federal*; Entre Rios; Formosa; Jujuy; La
Pampa; La Rioja; Mendoza; Misiones; Neuquen; Rio Negro; Salta; San
Juan; San Luis; Santa Cruz; Santa Fe; Santiago del Estero; Tierra del
Fuego, Antartida e Islas del Atlantico Sur; Tucuman
note:
the US does not recognize any claims to Antarctica or Argentina's
claims to the Falkland Islands
Independence:
9 July 1816 (from Spain)
National holiday:
Revolution Day, 25 May (1810)
Constitution:
1 May 1853
Legal system:
mixture of US and West European legal systems; has not accepted
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state and head of government:
President Carlos Saul MENEM (since 8 July 1989); Vice President
(position vacant); election last held 14 May 1989 (next to be held
summer 1995); results - Carlos Saul MENEM was elected
cabinet:
Cabinet; appointed by the president
Legislative branch:
bicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional)
Senate:
elections last held May 1989, but provincial elections in late 1991
set the stage for indirect elections by provincial senators for
one-third of 48 seats in the national senate in May 1992; seats (48
total) - PJ 30, UCR 11, others 7
Chamber of Deputies:
elections last held NA October 1993 ( next to be held October 1995);
elections are held every two years and half of the total membership is
elected each time for four year terms; seats—(257 total) PJ 128, UCR
81, MODIN 7, UCD 5, other 36
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (Corte Suprema)
Political parties and leaders:
Justicialist Party (PJ), Carlos Saul MENEM, Peronist umbrella
political organization; Radical Civic Union (UCR),Raul ALFONSIN,
moderately left-of-center party; Union of the Democratic Center (UCD),
Jorge AGUADO, conservative party; Intransigent Party (PI), Dr. Oscar
ALENDE, leftist party; Dignity and Independence Political Party
(MODIN),
