ths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.19 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 28.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.51 years
male: 68.22 years
female: 74.97 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.65 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Argentine(s)
adjective: Argentine

Ethnic divisions: white 85%, mestizo, Indian, or other nonwhite groups
15%

Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 90% (less than 20% practicing),
Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, other 6%

Languages: Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total population: 95%
male: 96%
female: 95%

Labor force: 10.9 million
by occupation: agriculture 12%, industry 31%, services 57% (1985 est.)

@Argentina:Government

Names:
conventional long form: Argentine Republic
conventional short form: Argentina
local long form: Republica Argentina
local short form: Argentina

Digraph: AR

Type: republic

Capital: Buenos Aires

Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (provincias, singular -
provincia), and 1 federal district* (distrito federal); Buenos Aires;
Catamarca; Chaco; Chubut; Cordoba; Corrientes; Distrito Federal*;
Entre Rios; Formosa; Jujuy; La Pampa; La Rioja; Mendoza; Misiones;
Neuquen; Rio Negro; Salta; San Juan; San Luis; Santa Cruz; Santa Fe;
Santiago del Estero; Tierra del Fuego, Antartida e Islas del Atlantico
Sur; Tucuman
note: the US does not recognize any claims to Antarctica or
Argentina's claims to the Falkland Islands

Independence: 9 July 1816 (from Spain)

National holiday: Revolution Day, 25 May (1810)

Constitution: 1 May 1853; revised August 1994

Legal system: mixture of US and West European legal systems; has not
accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state and head of government: President Carlos Saul MENEM
(since 8 July 1989); Vice President (position vacant); election last
held 14 May 1995 (next to be held NA May 1999); results - Carlos Saul
MENEM was reelected
cabinet: Cabinet; appointed by the president

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional)
Senate: elections last held May 1989, but provincial elections in late
1991 set the stage for indirect elections by provincial senators for
one-thir