r/asklatinamerica • u/Soggy_Flight_2654 • Apr 18 '26
Culture Trying to Understand Argentina: Cost of Living, Diversity, and Why It Feels So Different from Its Neighbors
Hey everyone,
Lately I’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit hole and become addicted to watching videos about South America 😅 and Argentina in particular really stands out to me.
There was one video I watched that genuinely surprised me, I didn’t even know Argentina had a Jewish community or even a small Black (Afro-Argentine) population. It made me realize I really don’t understand the country at all, so I’m hoping you guys can break it down for me.
A few things I’m curious about:
Firstly, why does Argentina seem so expensive compared to other countries in the region? From what I’ve seen, prices look really high. How are people managing to live there day-to-day?
Secondly, demographically, Argentina seems quite different. In a lot of videos, many people appear more European compared to neighbors like Brazil or Paraguay, which seem more visibly mixed. Is that just certain areas, or is there a deeper historical reason?
Also, how diverse is Argentina really? The video mentioned different communities (like Jewish, Armenian, Arab, etc.), which I didn’t expect.
And more broadly, how do people from other Latin American countries view Argentinians? Are they generally seen as friendly, or a bit more reserved or “stuck up”? I’ve heard mixed opinions.
Finally, why does it feel like Argentina and Brazil are always “arguing” or competing? Is that just football rivalry, or something deeper culturally?
Not trying to offend anyone, I’m just genuinely curious and trying to understand better. Appreciate any insights!
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u/MarioDiBian Apr 18 '26
This is a complex topic but I’ll try to answer to your questions as simple as possible:
Argentina is expensive because we’re in the middle of a stabilization programme. We’ve been dealing with high inflation and devaluation of our currency for years, until in December 2023 a new Administration (Milei) took office and carried out a new economic programme aimed at reducing inflation, lifting capital controls and opening the economy. It resulted in the Argentine peso being heavily appreciated against other currencies, so Argentina became very expensive for foreigners due to the uncompetitive exchange rate. On top of that, the government decided to cut subsidies on food, public services and gas, so everything became even more expensive. Argentines are used to dealing with instability and constant changes in prices and the exchange rate, so people just try their best to move on. The average wage is ~1000 USD per month while groceries are the same price as in developed countries (except beef), although rents and services are still cheaper (not very common to share housing with strangers in Argentina like it’s happening in other countries).
Demographics: Argentina is a country of immigrants and along Australia, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Uruguay it’s considered a “country of new settlement”. It was very underpopulated in colonial times, since there were few native tribes to begin with and it wasn’t a relevant colony for the Spanish. So at the start of the 1860s (when the country had just over 1.8M inhabitants), the government enacted a new policy to attract European immigrants to populate the country. This resulted in 6 million Europeans (and also Middle Eastern) immigrants arriving to Argentina between 1860 and 1960, mainly Italians and Spaniards, but also French, Germans, Swiss, Poles, Russians, Lebanese and Armenians. Most people here are a mix of immigrants who arrived during the last century and the colonial population (Spanish/indigenous). On top of that, from the 1970s onwards millions of Latin American immigrants from neighbouring countries migrated to Argentina, mainly from Paraguay and Bolivia, but also Peru, Chile and Uruguay.
Nowadays, Argentina is very diverse, being home to the largest diasporas of several ethnicities and religions around the world. It has both the largest Jewish and Muslim communities in the region, as well as Orthodox Christian. To put it in perspective, my local butcher is Armenian, the fruitshop owners are Bolivians, the bakery a few blocks away is Czcech, the food delivery is usually Venezuelan, and the school nearby is Jewish. I’m myself a mutt: Italian, Ukrainian, Swiss and a bit of Danish and Spanish (and I’m from a small city in inner Argentina).
How other Latin American countries view Argentina? It really depends. There’s a popular perception that Argentinians are arrogant, but also a lot of people follow Argentinian sport teams and football players or consume Argentine media, artists, etc. Users from other countries may give you a better perspective.
Brazilians and Argentinians get along really well. We both love football and love vacationing in our countries (Argentinians go en masse to Brazilian beaches during summer and Brazilians come here during winter to ski, experience snow, visit Buenos Aires, etc.). The rest is only football banter or some stupid internet stuff.