Argentina
Argentina. From the Puna to Antarctica, from the roar of Iguazú to the silence of the glaciers, from Aconcagua to the Argentine Sea. Twenty-four provinces, each with its own landscape, its microclimates, its accent and its flavor. Rainforests, deserts, mountains, the endless pampa and a unique Patagonia. Mate and wine to share, the asado that brings people together, tango and chacarera. A passionate people, made of Indigenous peoples and immigrants from all over the world. Argentina cannot be explained: it must be lived. Argentina is a country that embraces you.
The territory
Geography, scale, extremes
Continental Argentina covers 2,780,400 km², excluding Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands, and is organized into 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is the largest, with 307,571 km², followed by Santa Cruz; Tucumán, with 22,524 km², is the smallest.
It is a country of extremes. In Mendoza rises Aconcagua, 6,960 meters high, the highest mountain in the Americas. In Catamarca, Ojos del Salado is the highest volcano in the world. In Santa Cruz, the Southern Patagonian Ice Field is the largest continental ice reserve in the southern hemisphere outside Antarctica. And CABA faces the Río de la Plata, the widest estuary in the world.
Twelve sites in the country are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, five of them natural. The profiles also record 39 national parks and 24 wetlands of international importance. Details in Natural wealth.
Sources: INDEC / IGN (area) · UNESCO, World Heritage List · National Parks Administration · Ramsar Sites Network · the atlas’s provincial profiles.
The people
Who makes it today
Argentina has 45,892,285 inhabitants, according to the 2022 National Census. The province of Buenos Aires is home to four in ten, with 17,523,996; Tierra del Fuego is the least populated, with 185,732. Density ranges from 15,608.5 inhabitants per km² in CABA to 1.4 in Santa Cruz.
1,306,730 people identify as Indigenous or as descendants of Indigenous or native peoples. In Jujuy and Salta they are one in ten inhabitants, and in Formosa, 86.9% of them speak or understand the language of their people. On that root, immigrants from all over the world founded colonies, cities and traditions. Details in Human wealth.
Source: INDEC, 2022 National Population, Household and Housing Census, final results. Indigenous peoples: population in private dwellings.
What it produces
Economic structure and exports
Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Córdoba together account for 67.5% of the country’s goods exports: USD 31,684, 16,190 and 10,913 million in 2025. Santa Fe is the heart of Argentina’s oilseed complex and Córdoba an agro-industrial engine with an automotive hub.
Each region adds its own: the wine of Mendoza, the yerba mate and tea of Misiones, the rice of Corrientes, the sugar and lemons of Tucumán, the fruit of the Alto Valle, South Atlantic fishing and the energy of Neuquén, today the country’s leading oil and gas producer. The full ranking is in Productive wealth.
Source: INDEC, Provincial origin of exports. Goods. 2025 (provisional data). Mining and hydrocarbon data are included for informational purposes only; Explora Nuestras Provincias y sus Riquezas does not promote extractive activity.
What it thinks
Culture, science, letters
Argentine science has its main hubs in CABA, with 76 CONICET research units, Buenos Aires (75), Córdoba (41), Santa Fe (29) and Tucumán (17). Bernardo Houssay and César Milstein won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1947 and 1984. Santa Fe developed the HB4 technology, the basis of the world’s first approved drought-tolerant wheat, and in Bariloche INVAP has built satellites and research nuclear reactors for other countries.
In letters, Jorge Luis Borges, Ernesto Sabato and Tomás Eloy Martínez; in graphic humor, Quino, creator of Mafalda; in music, Mercedes Sosa; in tango, Astor Piazzolla and Homero Manzi, author of "Sur" and "Malena". Tango was born in Buenos Aires, Santiago del Estero is the cradle of chacarera and Corrientes, the land of chamamé.
Everyone who gave something to the world, from Nobel Prizes to sport and salsa golf, in Argentines who gave to the world.
Sources: CONICET, Management Report 2025 · INVAP · National Atomic Energy Commission · the atlas’s provincial profiles.