How Many Afro-Descendant People Are There Today in Argentina/Buenos Aires?

The 2010 census in Argentina was the first census to address the question of the Afro-descendant population on a national level since 1778, which means it had not been addressed in over two hundred years (“Censo Nacional De Población, Hogares Y Viviendas 2010” 2012 295). According to the 2010 census, the Afro-descendant population in Argentina consists of 149,493 individuals, of which 76,064 are men, 73,429 are women (298), and make up 0.4% of the total population of Argentina. Of these, almost 50% live in the province of Buenos Aires, while 10% of the total Afro-descendant population of Argentina lives in the Federal Capital Buenos Aires. In contrast to these results, a test census, commissioned and conducted by the World Bank in 2005, estimated a total Afro-descendant population of 4% to 6% of the total Argentine population, an equivalent to two million individuals (La Universidad Nacional De Tres De Febrero 11).

In contrast to Uruguay, the Argentine census does not use specific parameters to determine whether someone is of African ancestry or not. The Argentine census solely relies on self-identification. Considering the stigmatization and discrimination Afro-descendants have been facing in Argentina for centuries, it is questionable if individuals questioned about their racial heritage would always reveal their African ancestry voluntarily. Alejandro Frigerio reports a number of cases where families have concealed their African ancestry (Frigerio, “’Negros’ y ‘Blancos’”, 7f.). Not only does this mean that Afro-descendants would consciously hide their ancestry when asked about it, but it also means that some, if not many Afro-descendants, may not know of their African ancestors, which would consequently mirror in the 2010 census numbers.

Further, the respective question concerning African ancestry was not included in every cencus questionnaire, but only in the extensive version which was only used in every tenth interview conducted (Censo Nacional De Población, Hogares Y Viviendas 2010” n.d. 2), and probably further skewed the actual number of Afro-descendants in Argentina.

Present day migration of Africans and Afro-descendants from the rest of Latin America could be considered another factor influencing the number of Afro-descendants in the 2010 census. Desarée Williams remarks though that “only a small percentage of black immigrants actually register in Argentina” (55) and it is questionable if all those people were actually taken into consideration in the 2010 census, especially considering the state most likely did not know of their existence in the first place.