Chubut
Chubut, where Patagonia meets the sea. In Península Valdés, southern right whales arrive in its gulfs every winter, and in Punta Tombo thousands of penguins return to their colony. Puerto Madryn and Puerto Pirámides open a window onto that marine world. In the Andes, thousand-year-old alerce trees and La Trochita, in Esquel. A Welsh land of tea and black cake, of merino wool, oil and wind. Chubut is not watched: it is discovered. Chubut is the ocean that changes your life.
- Capital
- Rawson
- Region
- Patagonia
- Area
- 224,686 km²
- Population · 2022 Census
- 592,621 inhabitants · 2.6 hab/km²
- Women · Men
- 50.8 % · 49.2 %
- Median age
- 33 years
- By age
- 0 to 14 years: 22.4 % · 15 to 64 years: 67.5 % · 65 years and over: 10.1 %
- Climate
- Arid and semi-arid on the plateau; cool temperate and humid in the Andes; windy on the coast.
- Demonym
- chubutense
- Founding of the capital
- 15 September 1865
- World Heritage (UNESCO)
- Península Valdés (1999) · Parque Nacional Los Alerces (2017)
Sources: INDEC, 2022 National Census (final results) · INDEC / IGN (area). World Heritage: UNESCO, World Heritage List.
Natural wealth
The territory that defines it
Chubut runs from the Andes to the ocean in the heart of Patagonia. To the west, forests, lakes and mountains: Los Alerces National Park, a World Heritage Site, with alerce trees more than two thousand years old, and Lago Puelo National Park. In the center, the immense plateau, a land of sheep, guanacos and wind. And to the east, one of the coasts with the richest marine wildlife on the planet, from Península Valdés to Punta Tombo and the San Jorge Gulf, traveled by Route 1 and coves such as Cabo Raso.
- Parque Nacional Lago Puelo (1937)
- Parque Nacional Los Alerces (1937)
Source: Argentine National Parks Administration (SIB-APN).
- Humedales de Península Valdés (2012) · 42,695 ha
Source: Argentine Undersecretariat of Environment, Ramsar Sites Network. Official year of designation and area.
- Península Valdés · a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999; every year, between June and December, southern right whales arrive in its gulfs to breed
- Puerto Pirámides · the only town on the peninsula, the starting point for boat whale watching
- Puerto Madryn · the city of the Nuevo Gulf, capital of diving and whale watching, with the Ecocentro and beaches where whales can be seen from the shore
- Punta Tombo · the largest continental colony of Magellanic penguins in South America
- Sea lions and elephant seals, orcas and dolphins · inhabit the coasts of the peninsula; the orcas of Punta Norte are famous for beaching themselves to hunt
- Southern right whale · a National Natural Monument since 1984
Sources: UNESCO · Argentine National Parks Administration · Government of Chubut.
- Esquel · gateway to Los Alerces and the La Hoya ski center; home of La Trochita, the Old Patagonian Express, a narrow-gauge steam train
- Trevelin · a Welsh town at the foot of the Andes, with its mill and tulip fields
- Los Alerces · turquoise lakes and forests of ancient alerce trees, a World Heritage Site since 2017
Sources: UNESCO · Argentine National Parks Administration · Government of Chubut.
Patagotitan mayorum, one of the largest animals ever to walk the Earth, was found in Chubut and is on display at the Egidio Feruglio Paleontological Museum in Trelew, one of the most important paleontology centers in South America.
Sources: Egidio Feruglio Paleontological Museum · CONICET.
Human wealth
The living figures
Chubut is Welsh Patagonia: its settlers left chapels, the Welsh language that is still taught, and the Eisteddfod, a poetry and music festival held since the 19th century. The teahouses of Gaiman serve Welsh black cake. To that heritage were added Tehuelche and Mapuche culture, the oil workers of Comodoro and immigrants from half the world. At the table, Patagonian lamb, shrimp, seafood from the gulf and Welsh cake.
- Before the conquest · the Tehuelche and Mapuche roam the plateau and the valleys
- 1865 · the Welsh settlers arrive aboard the sailing ship Mimosa and found Rawson, today the capital, and later Trelew, Gaiman, Dolavon and Trevelin
- 1907 · while drilling for water in Comodoro Rivadavia, oil is discovered: the Argentine oil industry is born
- 20th century · Boer, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Chilean immigrants, among others, arrive and build modern Patagonia; Juana Sosa, mother of Juan Domingo Perón, spent her last years in Comodoro Rivadavia, where she died in 1953
- 1955 · Chubut becomes a province
Sources: Government of Chubut · National Petroleum Museum.
46,670 people identify as Indigenous or as descendants of Indigenous or native peoples: 7.9 % of the province's population. They belong to 48 different peoples, and 7,266 (15.6 %) speak or understand the language of their people. The five largest peoples are:
- Mapuche · 23,559
- Mapuche Tehuelche · 7,566
- Tehuelche · 4,858
- Quechua · 1,045
- Guaraní · 727
Source: INDEC, 2022 National Population, Household and Housing Census, final results. Population in private dwellings.
Productive wealth
What it produces and exports
Chubut is an energy, industrial and fishing province: oil from the San Jorge Gulf, aluminum from Puerto Madryn, shrimp and hake fishing, merino wool from the plateau and one of the largest wind power developments in the country. The United States is today its main export destination.
USD 3,966 million, 12.9 % more than in 2024: 4.6 % of the national total and 31.4 % of Patagonia.
- Fuels and energy · USD 2,135 M
- Manufactures of industrial origin · USD 1,073 M
- Primary products · USD 667 M
- Manufactures of agricultural origin · USD 91 M
Main destinations: United States (USD 1,671 M, 42.1 %), Chile (USD 615 M), European Union (USD 496 M) and Brazil (USD 373 M). Main products: crude oil (USD 2,129 M), base metals and their manufactures (amount withheld for statistical confidentiality), unprocessed fish and seafood (USD 627 M) and processed wool (USD 69 M).
Source: INDEC, Provincial origin of exports. Goods. Year 2025 (provisional data) and annex tables.
Chubut is the country's second oil-producing province, with the San Jorge Gulf basin. Crude oil was its leading export in 2025, with USD 2,129 M.
Sources: Argentine Secretariat of Energy · INDEC, Provincial origin of exports 2025.
Patagonia's constant winds have made Chubut one of the leading provinces in wind power, with large wind farms in Puerto Madryn, Rawson and Comodoro Rivadavia.
Sources: Wholesale Electricity Market Administration Company (CAMMESA) · Government of Chubut.
Aluar, Argentina's only primary aluminum producer, operates in Puerto Madryn. Base metals and their manufactures are its second export category.
Sources: Aluar · INDEC, Provincial origin of exports 2025.
Unprocessed fish and seafood —shrimp, hake and squid— accounted for USD 627 M in exports in 2025, through the ports of Rawson, Puerto Madryn and Comodoro Rivadavia.
Source: INDEC, Provincial origin of exports 2025.
Private sector · according to the Argentine Wool Federation, Chubut is the country's leading wool province: it holds a quarter of the national sheep stock and about a third of the wool produced, mostly fine merino. Processed wool accounted for USD 69 M in exports in 2025.
Sources: Federación Lanera Argentina · INDEC, Provincial origin of exports 2025.
CONICET has nine research units in the province, among them the National Patagonian Center (CENPAT), in Puerto Madryn, a benchmark in marine sciences, together with the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco.
Source: CONICET, 2025 Management Report.
Data on mining and hydrocarbons is included for information purposes only, as part of the province's productive profile. Explora Nuestras Provincias y sus Riquezas does not promote extractive activity.
Space to embed one or more 45s–1min capsules about the province.
To experience it on the ground — restaurants, hotels, events, geolocation — the app.
Open the Argentina al Mundo app