Population 1997 est. 35,672,997

Age structure. (July 1995, est.)

0-14 years: 25%
15-64 years: 62%
65 years and over: 10%

Population growth rate: (1995 est.) 1.11%

Birth rate: 19.52 births/1,000 population

Death rate : 8.62 deaths/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate : 28.8 deaths/1,000 live births

Total fertility rate : 2.65 children born/women

Life expectancy at birth.

total population: 71.51 years
male: 68.22 years
female: 74.97 years

The main causes of death are heart disease, brain strokes and malign tumors.

Education

Public education is free from pre-primary to university level and compulsory at primary level (ages 5 to 12)

According to the latest census in 1991:

6,8 million students were enrolled in pre-primary schools

2,2 million in secondary levels
over one million attending universities or tertiary level education
Argentina’s literacy rate of about 95 percent is one of the highest in Latin America.

Argentina has 25 national universities and many private universities. The principal institution is the University of Buenos Aires (1821). Other major national universities are the Catholic University of Argentina (1958), National Technological University (1959), National University of Córdoba (1613), and other universities located in Bahía Blanca (1956), La Plata (1905), Mendoza (1939), San Miguel de Tucumán (1914), and Rosario (1968).

Employment

In the early 1990s the total labor force numbered about 12.3 million. Most of Argentina’s 1100 labor unions are affiliated with the Confederación General del Trabajo (General Labor Confederation), known as the CGT. The labor force participation, measured in twenty-five urban centers, reached 40.2% in October 1992. .