Overview in
Oberá,
Misiones. Argentina is a
multiethnic society, which means that it is home to people of many different ethnic, racial, religious, and denominational backgrounds. Argentina is a
melting pot of different peoples. In the mid-19th century a large wave of immigration started to arrive in Argentina due to new Constitutional policies that encouraged immigration, and issues in the countries the immigrants came from, such as wars, poverty, hunger, and famines. The main immigration sources were from Europe, the countries from the
Near and the Middle East, Russia, and Japan. Eventually, Argentina became the country with the second-largest number of immigrants in the period, with 6.6 million, second only to the United States with 27 million. The most common ethnic groups are
Europeans (mostly
Spanish and
Italian descent) and/or
Mestizos (mixed European and
Native American ancestry). According to Argentine government websites, it is estimated that more than 20 million Argentines, more than 46% of the total population, have Italian ancestry, wholly or in part. Argentines descend mostly from Spaniards, Italians, Native Americans and to a lesser extent from French, Germans, East Asians, and others. Immigration of recent decades includes mainly
Paraguayans,
Bolivians,
Peruvians, and
Brazilians, among other
Latin Americans, Eastern Europeans, Africans, Arabs, and Asians. • In the 1778 census,
mulattoes were included in the "Black" category despite having up to 50% White admixture.
Genetics studies Large comprehensive studies across Argentina's many regions in order to characterize the genetic admixture have been lacking. Small sample size studies give the following composition. • Homburguer et al., 2015,
PLOS One Genetics: 67% European, 28% Amerindian, 4% African and 1.4% Asian. • Olivas et al., 2017,
Nature: 84,1% European and 12,8% Amerindian. • Seldin et al., 2006,
American Journal of Physical Anthropology: 78.0% European, 19.4% Amerindian and 2.5% African. Using other methods it was found that it could be: 80.2% European, 18.1% Amerindian and 1.7% African. • Genera (2022): 85% Caucasian (74% European + 11% Middle East), 13% Amerindian and 1% African. • According to Caputo et al., 2021, the study of autosomal DIPs show that the genetic contribution is 77.8% European, 17.9% Amerindian and 4.2% African. The X-DIPs matrilineal show 52.9% European, 39.6% Amerindian and 7.5% African. • Buenos Aires Province: 76% European and 24% others. • South Zone (Chubut Province): 54% European and 46% others. • Northeast Zone (Misiones, Corrientes, Chaco & Formosa provinces): 54% European and 46% others. • Northwest Zone (Salta Province): 33% European and 67% others. • Other studies indicate that the genetic composition between regions would be: • Central Zone: 81% European, 15% Amerindian and 4% African • South Zone: 68% European, 28% Amerindian and 4% African • Northeast Zone: 79% European, 17% Amerindian and 4% African • Northwest Zone: 55% European, 35% Amerindian and 10% African • Corach et al.,. 2010,
Annals of Human Genetics: 78.5% European, 17.3% Amerindian, and 4.2% African ancestry. •
National Geographic: 61% Caucasian (52% European + 9% Middle East/North Africa), 27% Amerindian ancestry and 9% African. . A team led by Daniel Corach conducted a study in 2010, analyzing 246 samples from eight provinces and three different regions of the country. The results were as follows: the analysis of
Y-Chromosome DNA revealed a 94.1% of European contribution, and only 4.9% and 0.9% of Native American and Black African contribution, respectively.
Mitochondrial DNA analysis again showed a great Amerindian contribution by maternal lineage, at 53.7%, with 44.3% of European contribution, and a 2% African contribution. The study of 24
autosomal markers also proved a large European contribution of 78.5%, against 17.3% of Amerindian and 4.2% Black African contributions. Several studies found out that the European ancestry in Argentina comes mainly from the
Iberian Peninsula and
Italy with a much lower contribution from
Central and
Northern Europe. The Italian component appears strongest in the East and Center-West, while the Spanish influence dominates in the North East and North West.
European Argentines woman during Immigrant Day festivities in Buenos Aires, 2010 in
Rawson,
Chubut Province Argentines of total or partial European descent constitute the majority of Argentina's population. Ethnic Europeans include the Argentine descendants of colonists from Spain during the colonial period prior to 1810, and mainly of immigrants from Europe in the
great immigratory wave from the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century. No recent Argentine census has included comprehensive questions on ethnicity, although numerous studies have determined that European Argentines have been a majority in the country since 1914. Some international sources claim the European component of the population to be at around 97%. The most numerous immigrant European communities are:
Spaniards (including
Basques,
Asturians and
Galicians),
Italians (62.5% of the population have some degree of Italian descent),
Germans, Scandinavians (mainly
Danes and
Swedes), Slavs (including
Russians,
Ukrainians,
Poles,
Czechs,
Bulgarians,
Slovenes,
Serbs and
Croats),
Finns, the
French (including francophone
Basques), the
Irish,
Portuguese, the
Dutch, among others in smaller number. There are approximately 300,000
Romani descendants in Argentina. They belong to the Romani subgroups Greek,
Moldavian and Russian
Kalderash, some
Lovari and some Chilean Xoraxane. There are also Spanish Kalé and
Boyash living in Argentina.
Mixed Argentines ,
Neuquén. Within the population totals, there may be an imprecise amount of mixed population. In one of the most comprehensive genetic studies involving the population of Argentina, 441 Argentines from across the North East, Salta, Chubut and Buenos Aires (especially the urban conglomeration of Buenos Aires) of the country, it was observed that the sample population comprised on average of 65% European, followed by 31% Amerindian, and finally 4% of African ancestry; however, this study was unweighted and meant to be a representation of the diversity of Argentine DNA rather than a demonstration of the average ethnic composition of the country. It was also found there were great differences in the ancestry amongst Argentines as one traveled across the country. A study by Daniel Corach that attempted to find the average Argentine ancestry by weighing the population of various regions gave a significantly higher estimate of European ancestry at 78.5% of the average Argentine's autosomal DNA.
Indigenous Argentines ,
Salta Province Argentina has 35 officially recognized indigenous people groups. As of the , some 955,032 Argentines (2.38% of the country's population) self-identify as
indigenous or first-generation descendants of indigenous peoples. The most populous indigenous groups were the
Aonikenk,
Kolla,
Qom,
Wichí,
Diaguita,
Mocoví,
Huarpe peoples,
Mapuche and
Guarani Other studies suggest that figure could be 30%.
Jujuy Province, in the
Argentine Northwest, is home to the highest percentage of households (15%) with at least one indigenous resident or a direct descendant of an indigenous person;
Chubut and
Neuquén Provinces, in
Patagonia, have upwards of 12%.
Asian Argentines Argentines of Asian ancestry are defined as either born within
Argentina, or born elsewhere and later to become a citizen or
resident of Argentina. Asian Argentines settled in Argentina in large numbers during several waves of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 19th century, West Asian immigrants, primarily from Lebanon and Syria came as a result of the
1860 Mount Lebanon civil war. In the early 20th century, a small wave of East Asian immigrants, particularly from Japan came to the country.
East Asians Argentines . The first Argentines of East Asian descent were a small group of Japanese immigrants, mainly from the
Okinawa prefecture, which came in the period between the early and mid 20th century. In the 1960s,
Koreans began to arrive, and in the 1980s,
Taiwanese immigrants. The 1990s brought the largest wave of Asian immigration so far to Argentina, from mainland Chinese immigrants, eventually becoming the fourth largest immigrant community in 2013, after Paraguayans, Bolivians, and Peruvians. Due to the fact that many Arab countries were under control of the
Ottoman Empire by the time the large immigration wave took place, most Arabs entered the country with
Turkish passports, and so they are colloquially referred to as
los turcos. There are also 80,000 to 135,000 descendants of Armenians in Argentina, most of them in
Buenos Aires, representing one of the largest
Armenian diasporas in the world.
Black Argentines with a
masacalla, used for Argentine
candombe According to the Argentine national census of 2010, 149,493 (0.37% of the country's overall population) identified as
Afro-Argentine, although according to
gene pools studies, the Argentine population with some degree of Sub-Saharan African descent would be around 7.5%. Despite the fact that in the 1960s it was calculated that Argentina owed two thirds of the volume of its population to European immigration, over 5% of Argentines state they have at least one black ancestor, and a further 20% state they do not know whether or not they have any black ancestors. Genetic studies carried out in 2005 showed that the average level of African genetic contribution in the population of Buenos Aires is 2.2%, but that this component is concentrated in 10% of the population who display notably higher levels of African ancestry. Today there is still a notable Afro-Argentine community in the
Buenos Aires districts of
San Telmo and
La Boca. There are also quite a few African-descended Argentines in
Merlo and
Ciudad Evita, in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area.
Immigration from Cape Verde was one of the earliest African migratory flows in the post-colonial era, beginning as early as the late 19th century and well into the 20th century. Today, Cape Verdeans constitute one of the largest African immigrant communities, numbering over 15,000; they mainly live in port cities in
Buenos Aires Province, such as
Ensenada and
Dock Sud. Immigration from Senegal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Angola and other African countries in recent decades has caused a surge in the country's black population as well. ==Languages==