|
6 - Other
sectors
Income distribution in Argentina is totally unequal
and underlines the absence of a middle class. The
structure of household consumption shows the degree
of developement of the country : the main part of
the household budget is still allocated to food.
Less than one household out of two owns a fridge
and a washing machine and only one out of three own
a car. The weekly average expenditure of a family
in a supermarket is 450 FF.
In Buenos
Aires 80% of the consumers do their shopping in
super or hyper-markets, especially younger people
with a high socio-cultural level. For the moment
large scale distribution is concentrated in the
capital and some of the other larger towns.
Elsewhere the lack of concentration of population
makes it difficult to set up new outlets.
A new type of shop has started opening up :
'convenience stores', little self-services which
are open 24 hours a day. Also specialized
distribution is starting to appear.
All categories together, there are 474 sales points
in Argentina. The market is dominated by 11 big
groups which alone have 240 of these sales points
and represent 95% of the large scale distribution
turnover.
Franchising
:
Franchising represents a turnover of about 800
billion dollars a year, approx. 140 franchising
companies and 4,400 franchises in domaines as
varied as fast food, the hotel business, beauty
salons, automobile servicing, express cleaning and
bakeries.
7 -
Population
There are 36,125,000 inhabitants in Argentina, the
population density is 13 inhabitants per square
km.
The working age population is 22 million, of which
14 million are working (89% in industry and
services).
0-14 year
olds : 28.16%
15-64 year olds : 62.29%
65 years and over : 9.55%
life expectancy : 73.34 years
urban population : 89.30%
Ethnic composition : Europeans (86%), Criollos or
Mestizon (Créoles or Halfcastes), American
Indians
demographic
growth 1997-2015 (%) : +1.0
infant mortality (%) : 2.2
energy consumption per capita TOE : 1.67
population without drinking water (% pop) : 29
population without sanitary installations (% pop) :
32
n° of doctors per 1000 inhabitants : 2.7
n° of telephone lines per 1000 inhabitants :
191
n° of mobile phones per 1000 inhabitants :
56
n° of private cars per 1000 inhabitants :
127
n° of computers per 1000 inhabitants :
39.2
adult illiteracy (%) : 3
secondary schooling/age group (%) : 77
graduates/age group (%) : 42
8 -
Language
The official language is Spanish. Guarani is also
spoken.
Some American Indian dialects are still used in
certain regions of the Andes.
French is not spoken much, except in some middle
class communities, English (for business) and
Italian are more widely used.
9 - Religion
The country is 89% Roman Catholic (of which less
than 20% are practising RCs), 3% Protestant and
there is a big Jewish community (2%) centred in
Buenos Aires.
10 - Weights, measures and
.......voltages
Electricity : 220 Volts or sometimes still 110
Volts (you will need an adapter for American flat
pronged plugs).
11 - Money
The currency is the Peso, 1 Peso = 1 US dollar
1 peso = approx. 7,25 FF (May 2001)
It is better to have dollars with you than French
Francs. The exchange rate varies a lot and it is
not always easy to change francs.
Be careful :
avoid large dollar bills, they are often refused as
there is a large counterfeit traffic.
All
international credit cards are accepted.
12 - Main towns
The main towns are :
Buenos Aires (which has nearly 13 million
inhabitants)
Buenos Aires was founded in 1536. It was built on
the edge of the Pampa on the right bank of the Rio
de la Plata. It is an important port of call and
plays a triple role of industrial, commercial and
financial capital. It is also an artistic and
cultural centre, both for theatre and music,
particularly pertaining to tango and tango songs,
created in 1917 by Carlos Gardel. The centre of
Buenos Aires was designed during the period of
great prosperity that the country knew from 1880 to
1930, an epoch when Europe was the reference for
local architects, so the architecture of the
buildings look like those in Madrid, the
cafés like those in England, the Opera like
the Scala in Milan.... There are not actually very
many historic buildings, the main ones are the
Presidential Palace, the Casa Rosada, and the
opera, the Theatre Colon. Buenos Aires is a town
where it is pleasant to stroll, particularly in the
evening on the wide avenues in the centre of
town.
On the north side of town are the chic districts,
on the south side the working class areas,
strongholds of Peronist movements. The further you
go from the centre the more Buenos Aires becomes
Latin-American. The inhabitants of Buenos Aires,
the 'Portenos' are recognizable from other
Argentinians both by their accent and their
superiority complexes!
Cordobá (1.2 million inhabitants)
Founded in 1573, at an altitude of 387 m, Cordoba
is situated at the foot of the « Sierras de
Cordobá ». It is a tourist and cultural
town and also an industrial centre, particularly
car manufacturers.
La Plata : situated at 19 m above sea-level, to
the south east of Buenos Aires, La Plata is an
industrial and port town. It specializes in petrol
refining and in foodstuffs and cattle
industries.
Bahia Blanca is another refinery town, situated
650 kms from Buenos Aires. It is also a port on the
Atlantic Ocean.
Rosario (1.1 million inhabitants) (25 m above
sea-level) is an industrial complex and a river
port on the Rio Parana.
Other main towns are Mendoza (0,8 million
inhabitants), Santa Fé, San Juan, Santa
Rosa, La Rioja, Santa Luis, Formosa, Tucuman,
Ushuaia.
13 - Climate
Argentina has a southern temperate zone and a great
variety of climates : a humid tropical climate, a
hot sub-tropical climate in the north (with very
hot summers and dry regions), a temperate and cold
climate in the south and a Mediterranean temperate
climate.
The best
seasons to visit Argentina are
- for Buenos Aires, the end of September to the
beginning of December (spring)
- for the rest of the country, from December to
March
The seasons
are inversed compared to Europe.
Winter is from July - September : it can freeze
In summer the climate is hot and humid.
Temperature averages (max/min)
|
|
Buenos
Aires
|
Cordobá
|
Puerto
Madryn
|
Ushuaia
|
|
J
|
29/17
|
31/16
|
27/13
|
14/5
|
|
F
|
28/17
|
30/16
|
27/13
|
14/5
|
|
M
|
26/16
|
28/14
|
24/11
|
13/3
|
|
A
|
22/12
|
24/11
|
21/8
|
9/1
|
|
M
|
18/8
|
21/7
|
16/4
|
6/-
2
|
|
J
|
14/5
|
18/3
|
12/2
|
4/-
3
|
|
J
|
14/6
|
18/3
|
12/1
|
4/-
4
|
|
A
|
16/6
|
21/4
|
14/2
|
6/
- 3
|
|
S
|
18/8
|
23/7
|
17/4
|
8/-
1
|
|
O
|
21/10
|
25/11
|
19/7
|
11/2
|
|
N
|
24/13
|
28/13
|
23/8
|
12/2
|
|
D
|
28/16
|
30/16
|
26/12
|
13/4
|
Sea
temperatures : monthly average
|
|
Mar
Del Plat
(Province of B.A.)
|
Puerto
Madryn
|
Ushuaia
|
|
J
|
18
|
15
|
7
|
|
F
|
19
|
16
|
8
|
|
M
|
18
|
15
|
7
|
|
A
|
17
|
14
|
7
|
|
M
|
15
|
12
|
6
|
|
J
|
13
|
10
|
5
|
|
J
|
11
|
8
|
3
|
|
A
|
10
|
8
|
3
|
|
S
|
11
|
8
|
4
|
|
O
|
13
|
9
|
5
|
|
N
|
15
|
12
|
6
|
|
D
|
17
|
14
|
6
|
14 -
Insects & Animals In the north of the
country and around Buenos Aires in the Rio Parana
delta there are mosquitoes, especially in the rainy
seasons.
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