Argentina 🇦🇷
Argentina is a country in South America with a population of 46,234,830. Its capital is Buenos Aires. The official currency is ARS, and the main languages are Spanish.
Quick facts
- Capital: Buenos Aires
- Continent: South America
- Population: 46,234,830
- Area: 2,780,400 km²
- Density: 16.6 people per km²
- Currency: ARS
- Languages: Spanish
- ISO code: AR
Where Argentina sits
Argentina 🇦🇷 is one of 12 countries in South America, with its capital at Buenos Aires. It covers 2,780,400 square kilometres — 8th in the world — and is home to about 46,234,830 people, 33rd globally.
The countries it shares a continent with include Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Chile. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.
How Argentina compares
Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Argentina sits closest to Sudan and Uganda. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Kazakhstan and Algeria.
At 16.6 people per square kilometre it is about 3.6 times below the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by area than by population, so it is more spacious than its population alone suggests.
Spanish is an official language in 20 countries here, among them Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica, and 15 others. The ARS is used by Argentina and no one else.
To see Argentina next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.
How to remember Argentina
Buenos Aires is named after the 'fair winds' (buen ayre) that Spanish sailors prayed for. It lies on the southwest shore of the Río de la Plata. For the flag, picture a smiling sun peeking out between two strips of blue sky.
The flag of Argentina: sky blue, white and yellow
🇦🇷 The flag is three horizontal stripes of sky blue, white and sky blue, with a yellow sun with a face, the Sun of May, in the centre. The colours are said to stand for the clear skies and snow of the Andes. The Sun of May remembers 25 May 1810, when the sun broke through the clouds at the first big gathering for independence.
Region and neighbours
Argentina is a large country in southern South America, between the Andes in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east, stretching south to Tierra del Fuego. It shares land borders with 5 countries: Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay.
- Chile 🇨🇱 — capital Santiago
- Bolivia 🇧🇴 — capital Sucre
- Paraguay 🇵🇾 — capital Asunción
- Brazil 🇧🇷 — capital Brasília
- Uruguay 🇺🇾 — capital Montevideo
Three facts about Argentina
- Aconcagua is the highest mountain outside of Asia and the highest point in the Southern Hemisphere.
- Argentina is the second-largest country in South America, after Brazil, and the eighth-largest in the world.
- Buenos Aires was first founded as the City of Our Lady Saint Mary of the Fair Winds.
Sources: Wikipedia: Argentina, Wikipedia: Flag of Argentina, Wikipedia: Buenos Aires, CIA World Factbook.
Quiz yourself on Argentina
- South American capitals quiz — match Argentina to Buenos Aires
- South American flags quiz — spot the Argentina flag among its neighbours
Quizzes that include Argentina
Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Argentina those are:
- South America map quiz — place it on a blank map
- South America flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
- South America capitals quiz — match it to Buenos Aires
- Argentina capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Argentina
- Daily Map Challenge — five countries to find on a blank world map, the same five for everyone each day
Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.
Read more about Argentina
- Capital of Argentina: Buenos Aires — the capital in detail, with size and density rankings
- All 12 countries of South America
Nearby countries
- Bolivia 🇧🇴 — capital Sucre
- Brazil 🇧🇷 — capital Brasília
- Chile 🇨🇱 — capital Santiago
- Colombia 🇨🇴 — capital Bogotá
- Ecuador 🇪🇨 — capital Quito
- Guyana 🇬🇾 — capital Georgetown
- Paraguay 🇵🇾 — capital Asunción
- Peru 🇵🇪 — capital Lima
- Suriname 🇸🇷 — capital Paramaribo
- Uruguay 🇺🇾 — capital Montevideo
- Venezuela 🇻🇪 — capital Caracas
Frequently asked questions
What are the colours of the Argentina flag?
The flag of Argentina is three horizontal stripes of sky blue, white and sky blue, with a yellow sun with a face, the Sun of May, in the centre. The colours are said to stand for the clear skies and snow of the Andes. The Sun of May remembers 25 May 1810, when the sun broke through the clouds at the first big gathering for independence.
Which countries border Argentina?
Argentina shares land borders with Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay.
How can I remember the capital of Argentina?
Buenos Aires is named after the 'fair winds' (buen ayre) that Spanish sailors prayed for. It lies on the southwest shore of the Río de la Plata. For the flag, picture a smiling sun peeking out between two strips of blue sky.