Expats-Welcome
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1 - Political status
2 - Geographical situation
3 - Economy
4 - Agriculture
5 - Industry
6 - Other sectors
7 - Population
8 - Language
9 - Religion
10 - Weights, measures & voltage
11 - Money
12 - Main towns
13 - Climate
14 - Insects
15 - Working
16 - Formalities
17 - Health
18 - Transport
19 - Time differences
20 - Telephone
21 - Airport
22 - Car rental
23 - Hotels and restaurants
24 - Your suitcase
25 - Banks
26 - Schools
27 - Guides
28 - Observations

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)

Sea temperatures : monthly average

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.