Environment—current issues: erosion results from inadequate flood controls and improper land use practices; irrigated soil degradation; desertification; air pollution in Buenos Aires and other major cities; water pollution in urban areas; rivers becoming polluted due to increased pesticide and fertilizer use
Environment—international agreements:
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life
Conservation
Geography—note: second-largest country in South America (after
Brazil); strategic location relative to sea lanes between South
Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle
Channel, Drake Passage)
People
Population: 36,737,664 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 27% (male 5,124,087; female 4,932,060)
15-64 years: 62% (male 11,457,399; female 11,469,346)
65 years and over: 11% (male 1,553,158; female 2,201,614) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.29% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 19.91 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 7.64 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.65 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)