Despite its immense population, Buenos Aires is surprisingly homogenous in its ethnic and racial composition.
People of European origin dominate the city’s population. Most of these, perhaps three-fourths of the total population, are descendants of Italian and Spanish immigrants, millions of whom came to Argentina between the 1880s and 1930s and settled in Buenos Aires. These Italian and Spanish immigrants strongly influenced the culture of the city.
A smaller part of the population, perhaps 5 percent, is also of European ancestry, including Irish, British, Swiss, French, and Russian. Although most of these groups have assimilated into the city’s culture, Anglo-Argentines remain a distinct ethnic group and are an important economic force in the city.
Many in the Anglo-Argentine community descend from wealthy immigrant entrepreneurs who arrived from Britain about 100 years ago.
The city also is home to Latin America’s largest Jewish community as well as to a diverse Arab community of both Christians and Muslims, many of them emigrants from Syria and Lebanon.
During the last 20 years the city’s racial mix has become more diverse as mestizos (people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry) from provincial towns and rural areas have immigrated to the city.
Perhaps up to 15 percent of the metropolitan population is mestizo, primarily from Argentina’s northwestern provinces as well as Bolivia and Paraguay.
The remainder of the metropolitan area’s population includes a diverse mix of ethnic and racial groups and people from other countries. Especially notable in the 1990s was the arrival of Asian entrepreneurs, particularly Korean and Chinese, who have specialized in retailing and the small-scale manufacture of consumer goods.
Spanish is the overwhelmingly dominant language in Buenos Aires, and the city has little linguistic diversity.
The prevalence of Italian immigrants during the first decades of the 20th century contributed to the development of a local vernacular Spanish, known as lunfardo.
Apart from the languages of recently arrived Asian immigrants, few foreign languages are spoken regularly.
Historically, the elite and educated classes learned French as a second language, but English is now largely the second language of choice.
Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion in Buenos Aires, as it is in the rest of Argentina. As much as 85 percent of the city’s population is Catholic.
Protestant religious denominations have increased in the city in the last 50 years, and many synagogues serve the city’s Jewish community.
People of European origin dominate the city’s population. Most of these, perhaps three-fourths of the total population, are descendants of Italian and Spanish immigrants, millions of whom came to Argentina between the 1880s and 1930s and settled in Buenos Aires. These Italian and Spanish immigrants strongly influenced the culture of the city.
A smaller part of the population, perhaps 5 percent, is also of European ancestry, including Irish, British, Swiss, French, and Russian. Although most of these groups have assimilated into the city’s culture, Anglo-Argentines remain a distinct ethnic group and are an important economic force in the city.
Many in the Anglo-Argentine community descend from wealthy immigrant entrepreneurs who arrived from Britain about 100 years ago.
The city also is home to Latin America’s largest Jewish community as well as to a diverse Arab community of both Christians and Muslims, many of them emigrants from Syria and Lebanon.
During the last 20 years the city’s racial mix has become more diverse as mestizos (people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry) from provincial towns and rural areas have immigrated to the city.
Perhaps up to 15 percent of the metropolitan population is mestizo, primarily from Argentina’s northwestern provinces as well as Bolivia and Paraguay.
The remainder of the metropolitan area’s population includes a diverse mix of ethnic and racial groups and people from other countries. Especially notable in the 1990s was the arrival of Asian entrepreneurs, particularly Korean and Chinese, who have specialized in retailing and the small-scale manufacture of consumer goods.
Spanish is the overwhelmingly dominant language in Buenos Aires, and the city has little linguistic diversity.
The prevalence of Italian immigrants during the first decades of the 20th century contributed to the development of a local vernacular Spanish, known as lunfardo.
Apart from the languages of recently arrived Asian immigrants, few foreign languages are spoken regularly.
Historically, the elite and educated classes learned French as a second language, but English is now largely the second language of choice.
Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion in Buenos Aires, as it is in the rest of Argentina. As much as 85 percent of the city’s population is Catholic.
Protestant religious denominations have increased in the city in the last 50 years, and many synagogues serve the city’s Jewish community.
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