10 Facts about Argentina You Didn’t Imagine

Leer en español

As promised in my previous article about Argentina, I will share with you some interesting facts about this country. Let’s start!

1- With over 3,700,000 km², Argentina is the largest Spanish-speaking country[1]. It also stretches nearly 3,700 km from north to south.

2- The Aconcagua, in the Andes mountain range, is the highest mountain in the American continent, with 6,960.8 m.

3- There is a population of more than 44 million people. If we consider 2,700,000 km² of mainland, the population density is 16.3 per km². In contrast, Bangladesh has a population density of 1,278.1 per km². So yes, we have some land to spare.

4- If we talk about Argentine national sport, you would probably think of soccer. But that would be wrong. A 1953 decree established pato as the national sport. It was formerly played with a live duck (pato in Spanish), which is where its name comes from. Of course, in practice, we are passionate soccer fans.

5- Tango is known worldwide as an Argentine dance. This is indeed its origin; however, most Argentines cannot even dance tango. I think you would be more successful if you ask an Argentine to dance a chacarera or a chamamé, which are some forms of folklore music, than if you ask them to dance tango.

6- Argentina has the largest number of psychologists per person. According to a 2014 research, there are 198 psychologists every 100,000 people. The US, for example, has only 29 psychologists every 100,000 people.

7- Five Argentines have been granted the Nobel Prize: Carlos Saavedra Lamas (1936, Peace); Bernardo Houssay (1947, Medicine); Luis Federico Leloir (1970, Chemistry); Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (1980, Peace); César Milstein (1984, Medicine).

8- Some interesting inventions come from Argentina, such as the use of fingerprints to identify people, disposable syringes, ballpoint pens, and bypass surgery.

9- Seven Argentine movies were nominated for an Oscar in the Foreign Language Film category. Two of them have won: The Official Story (1985) and The Secret in Their Eyes (2009).

10- Finally, I cannot help a word on languages. Ethnologue lists 28 individual languages for Argentina. Of those, 15 are living indigenous languages.

What do you think? Did you know these facts about Argentina? Is there anything else you would like to know? Leave your comments below!

Your opinions and suggestions are welcome! Did you enjoy the article? Like it and share it with your friends!

Click here to find out how I can help you meet your linguistic needs.