Argentina is the second largest country in South America. It has a total area of 2.8 million square Kilometers. This country is the eighth largest in the world. Its climate is varied and is mainly temperate with the extremes ranging from sub-Atlantic in the south to subtropical in the far north. The major cities in the country include Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Córdoba, La Plata, and Mar del Plata among others.
Buenos Aires is the capital city of the country and has a population of 3 million people. It covers an area of 203 square kilometers. Córdoba is the capital city of the province of Córdoba and has a population of about 1.3 million people.
Moreover, La Plata is the capital city of the province of Buenos Aires and has a population of about six hundred thousand people. Mar del Plata is located in the province of Buenos Aires and has a population of about six hundred thousand people (Argentina.gov, 2011).
Argentina has a total population of 41.77 million people. Those aged between 15 to 64 years form 63.6 % of the total population. Those aged between 0 and 14 years form 25.4 percent and those above 65 form 11 percent of the total population. The birth rate is 17.54 births/1000 population, basing on the 2011 estimates. The death rate is 7.38 deaths/1000 population.
The urban population is 92 percent of the total population, basing on the 2010 estimates. The rate of urbanization is 1.1 percent annual rate of change. The sex ratio of the total population is 0.97 males/female (U.S Department of State, 2011).The annual population growth rate is 1.01 percent. The ethnic groups mainly consist of the Europeans mostly of the Italian and Spanish origin, forming 97 percent.
The other 3 percent of the population consists of such groups as Amerindian, Mestizo and other non-whites. The languages spoken in Argentina include; Spanish, Italian, English, German, and French. Looking at the level of literacy in the country, the people who are15 years and above are able to read and write.
Considering religions in the country, the Roman Catholic form 92 percent of the population, the Protestants form 2 percent, the Jewish form 2 percent, and the rest form 4 percent (Indexmundi.com, 2011).
Considering the economy, Argentina benefits from its rich natural resources, a population having high literacy levels, the globally competitive agricultural sector, and the industrial base which is diversified (U.S Department of State, 2011).
The measures that were taken following the 2001 – 2002 crisis to have; a more “flexible exchange rate regime” together with a sustained regional and global growth, an increase in domestic aggregate demand through the monetary policy as well as the income distribution and fiscal policies, and favorable world commodity price and the trends in the interest rates, were driving factors in promoting 5 consecutive years of higher than eight percent annual gross domestic product between the years 2003 and 2007.
The recovery made it possible for the government to build up substantial official reserves of more than fifty one million U.S dollars as at the end of 2010 (Travel Documents Systems, 2011).
A combination of reserves and the absence of new borrowing from the wolrd capital markets assisted in insulating the economy from the external shocks. A bigger tax burden as well as improved tax collection efforts, and the great impact of the recovery on the income supported by the successful efforts of the government to ensure there is maintaining of the basic fiscal impulses beginning from the year 2003.
The constitution was made in 1853 and was revised in the year 1994. The constitution “mandates a separation of power into executive, legislative, and judicial branches at the national and provincial level” (U.S Department of State, 2011, para 18). Every individual province has as well put in place its own constitution, roughly imitating the structure of the national one.
There is direct electing of the vice president and the president to a term of four years. The two are limited to a maximum of two terms and they are given permission by the constitution to run for the third term or even more after an interval of a minimum of a single term. The cabinet ministers are appointed by the president.
There are two major oldest political parties in Argentina; the Justiciliast Party and the Union Civica Radical (Radical Civic Union). The Justiciliast Party was founded in the year 1945 by Juan Domingo Peron and the Radical Civic Union was founded in 1891. Fresh political forces and alliances tend to come up in the course of each and every election cycle.
Some examples in the recent times can be given of the Civic Coalition and the Republican Proposal parties. These two parties concentrate in the urban areas and they work to set up national party structures.
The Republican Proposal Party is based majorly in the city of Buenos Aires. The party leader emerged as a winner in the mayoral election in this city that were held in 2007 and he also won most votes in the first round election which was conducted in this year (2011).
References
Argentina. 2011. Major cities. Web.
Indexmundi. 2011. Argentina religions. Web.
Travel Documents Systems., 2011. Argentina: Economy. Web.
U.S Department of State., 2011. Background Note: Argentina. Web.