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Argentina

The digital economy in Argentina has been steadily growing, driven by a tech-savvy population and a robust entrepreneurial spirit. Argentina boasts a vibrant startup scene, especially in Buenos Aires, which is often considered the Silicon Valley of South America. The country has produced several unicorns—startups valued at over $1 billion—including MercadoLibre, an e-commerce giant, and Globant, an IT and software development company.

Internet governance

In Argentina, the safeguarding of personal data is primarily regulated under the Law on Personal Data Protection, enacted in 2000. This legislation mandates that any entity aiming to collect and process personal data must first gain the informed consent of data subjects. Additionally, data controllers are required to register with the National Registry of Personal Databases. The law emphasizes adherence to key principles such as lawfulness and purpose limitation, ensuring that personal data is handled appropriately and transparently.

Data subjects in Argentina enjoy several rights under this law, including the ability to access, rectify, and update their personal information. Moreover, the law protects individuals from being compelled to provide sensitive personal data, bolstering privacy and personal integrity.

Beyond its borders, Argentina adopts a progressive approach to internet governance, advocating strongly for principles like net neutrality, which aims to keep the internet as an open and accessible platform for all. The country plays an active role in international forums dedicated to internet governance, such as the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), where it contributes to global dialogues on these critical issues.

Supporting a multi-stakeholder model, Argentina’s strategy involves various sectors including government, the private sector, civil society, and academia. Furthermore, Argentina is home to the South School on Internet Governance, an initiative focused on educating future leaders about the complexities of internet governance. This school places a special emphasis on the Latin America and Caribbean region, aiming to enhance regional expertise and leadership in the digital domain.

Digital strategies

Argentina is actively pursuing digital transformation strategies to enhance connectivity, modernize public administration, and improve educational opportunities through technology. These initiatives are part of a broader commitment to ensure that internet access is a basic right for all its citizens, focusing on expanding digital access and literacy.

País Digital Initiative: This program is central to Argentina’s effort to ensure widespread internet connectivity, particularly focusing on rural and underserved areas. The initiative aims to democratize access to digital technologies, enabling citizens nationwide to participate more fully in the digital economy.

Plan Federal de Internet: A key component of the national strategy involves the expansion of fiber-optic networks to enhance the quality and affordability of internet services across Argentina. This plan is especially focused on reaching remote areas, thereby reducing the digital divide and ensuring that more citizens can access fast and reliable internet.

Aprender Conectados: This educational program integrates digital skills training into the curriculum from an early age. It offers programming and robotics classes in kindergartens and schools, aiming to equip the next generation with essential digital competencies.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity in Argentina is undergoing significant advancements and challenges. In response to escalating cyber threats, the Argentine government has implemented the Second National Cybersecurity Strategy. This strategy, updated from the first enacted in 2019, aims to strengthen the security of IT infrastructures and enhance protections for state administration, essential services, and the public.

To support these efforts, Argentina has ratified CoE Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) and has also become a signatory to the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which enhances international cooperation on cybercrime and electronic evidence.​

On the ground, Argentina faces a real and growing threat from cyberattacks, with a significant number of these attacks targeting mobile devices due to high mobile internet penetration in the region​. Recognizing the critical nature of these threats, Argentina, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), has launched a $30 million Cybersecurity Program for Critical Information Infrastructures. This initiative aims to reduce the costs of cyberattacks through early detection and enhanced protective measures for public institutions and technological infrastructures​​.

The CERT.ar serves as the National Computer Emergency Response Team of Argentina. It is the central authority for coordinating cybersecurity efforts across various sectors, providing guidance, support, and incident response services to both public and private entities.

AI strategies and policies

The AI landscape in Argentina is evolving with significant developments in both the legal framework and guidelines for AI development and usage. In June 2023, Argentina introduced a comprehensive legal framework to Congress specifically aimed at regulating AI. This proposed legislation mandates AI developers to register their systems and adhere to fundamental ethical principles such as human dignity, privacy, transparency, responsibility, and fairness. It emphasises implementing robust security measures and establishes a risk-based approach for assessing AI systems. This approach categorises systems based on their potential risk levels: unacceptable, high, limited, or insignificant. The proposal also outlines the creation of an AI Supervisory Authority, which would oversee compliance, issue risk-based requirements, and specify AI systems that should be banned due to their potential to violate human rights, engage in unfair discrimination, or pose serious security threats. This initiative follows a previous unsuccessful attempt to establish a Federal AI Council, which would have promoted AI awareness and research in the country.

Beyond legislative efforts, the Department for Information Technologies adopted non-binding recommendations in June 2023. These recommendations guide AI developers in ensuring the quality and adequacy of the data used in AI systems, as well as enhancing the safety and transparency of these technologies.

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General profile

Official name: Argentine Republic

Source: Wikipedia

National internet domain: AR

Source: Wikipedia

Area: 2,780,400 km2

Source: Wikipedia

Capital: Buenos Aires

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 46.23 million

Source: Wikipedia

Population growth: 0.95

Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.
Source: World Bank Open Data

Life expectancy at birth: 75.39

Total years (2020year) Source: databank.worldbank.org

Rule of law estimate: -0.46

Rule of Law captures perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Source: databank.worldbank.org

Regulatory quality estimate: -0.57

Regulatory Quality captures perceptions of the ability of the government to formulate and implement sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Source: databank.worldbank.org

Political stability: -0.11

Political Stability and Absence of Violence / Terrorism: measures perceptions of the likelihood that the government will be destabilized or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including politically-motivated violence and terrorism. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Source: databank.worldbank.org

Economic info

Currency: Argentine peso

Source: Wikipedia

Unemployment: 6.8

Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) Source: databank.worldbank.org

GDP (current US$): 631 billion

Source: databank.worldbank.org

GDP growth (annual %): 5.0,

Source: databank.worldbank.org

GDP per capita (current US$): 10,729.23

Source: databank.worldbank.org

Inflation, consumer prices (annual %): No data

Source: databank.worldbank.org

GNI (current US$): 619 billion

The Gross National Income, GNI, formerly referred to as gross national product (GNP), measures the total domestic and foreign value added claimed by residents, at a given period in time, usually a year, expressed in current US dollars using the World Bank Atlas method. GNI comprises GDP plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from non-resident sources. Source: databank.worldbank.org

Ease of doing business score: 58.96

The ease of doing business score benchmarked economies concerning their proximity to the best performance in each area measured by Doing Business for the year 2019. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from0 = lowest performance to 100 = best performance Source: databank.worldbank.org
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Digital profile

Internet and social media penetration:

Individuals using the internet, total (%): 88.4 (2022)

Source: www.itu.int

Social media statistics: 31.30 million

Estimate for 2024
Source: datareportal.com

Male internet users: 75.2 (2017)

Male internet users as a % of total male population
Source: www.itu.int

Facebook users: 28.75 million

Estimate for 2024
Source: datareportal.com

Female internet users: 73.5 (2017)

Female Internet users as a % of total female population
Source: www.itu.int

Instagram users: 27.85 million

Estimate for 2024
Source: datareportal.com

Households with internet access at home (%): 92.1 (2022)

Source: www.itu.int

Linkedin users: 13.00 million

Estimate for 2024
Source: datareportal.com

Fixed broadband subscriptions: 24.63 (2022)

Total fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) refers to fixed subscriptions to high-speed access to the public internet (a TCP/IP connection), at downstream speeds equal to, or greater than, 256 kbit/s.
Source: www.itu.int

Twitter users: 8.47 million

Estimate for 2024
Source: datareportal.com

Mobile infrastructure and access:

Mobile ownership: 76.23

Mobile phone ownership as a % of total population (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Mobile Infrastructure: 63.5

Mobile Infrastructure index: High-performance mobile internet coverage availability. It includes parameters such as network coverage, performance, quality of supporting infrastructure and amount of spectrum assigned to mobile network operators (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Male mobile ownership: 89.4 (2022)

Male mobile phone ownership as a % of total male population
Source: www.itu.int

Mobile Affordability: 46.5

Mobile Affordability index : The availability of mobile services and devices at price points that reflect the level of income across a national population. It includes parameters such as mobile tariffs, headset prices, taxation and inequality (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Female mobile ownership: 89.2 (2022)

Female mobile phone ownership as a % of total female population
Source: www.itu.int

Cybersecurity Index: 50.12

Cybersecurity Index (Estimate for 2021): ITU cybersecurity value
Source: www.itu.int

Network performance: 48.4

Network performance index: Quality of mobile services measured by download speed, upload speed and latencies (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Mobile download speeds: 22.7

Mobile download speeds: Average download speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2022)
Source: Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence

Mobile uploads speeds: 39.3

Mobile uploads speeds: average uploads speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2022)
Source: Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence

Mobile Latencies: 83.2

Mobile Latencies: Average latency for mobile users (originally in milliseconds) (Estimate for 2022)
Source: Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence

Speedtest-Broadband: 42.14

Speedtest-Broadband: The value is expressed in Mbps (Estimate for 2021)
Source: https://www.speedtest.net/global-index

Network coverage: 86.6

Network coverage (% of total population) (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

2G Coverage: 98.8

Coverage % of population
Source: www.itu.int

3G Coverage: 96.0

Coverage % of population
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

4G Coverage: 95.0

Coverage % of population
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

5G Coverage: 4.0

Coverage % of population
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Operating system and browser market share estimate:

Operating system market share (%):

Desktop, Tablet & Console Operating System Market Share: Estimate for 2024
Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/

Browser market share (%):

Browser Market Share Worldwide: Estimate for 2024
Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/

Android: 55.7

Chrome: 83.7

Windows: 33.4

Safari: 5.4

iOS: 6.4

Edge: 2.7

OS X: 1.4

Firefox: 2.0

Linux: 1.2

Samsung Internet: 3.1


The UN E-Government Survey 2022:

The UN E-Government Survey is the assessment of the digital government landscape across all UN member states. The E-Government Survey is informed by over two decades of longitudinal research, with a ranking of countries based on the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies.
Source:https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2022

E-Government Rank: 41

Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies. Estimate gives the country's rank.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

E-Government Index: 0.82

The EGDI is a composite measure of three important dimensions of e-government, namely: provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity and human capacity. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

E-Participation Index: 0.65

The E-Participation Index (EPI) is derived as a supplementary index to the United Nations E-Government Survey. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

Online Service Index: 0.81

The online services index was developed by the UN to evaluate the scope and quality of government online services. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-cente

Human Capital Index: 0.92

The Human Capital Index (HCI) quantiï¬_x0081_es the contribution of health and education to the productivity of the next generation of workers. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

Telecommunication Infrastructure Index: 0.73

Telecommunication Infrastructure Index- Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII) Composite Indicator that measures the countries' Telecommunication infrastructure readiness to adopt the opportunities offered by Information and Communication Technology as to enhance their competitiveness. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

ICT information:

ICT skills

Information economy indicators

Individuals with basic ICT skills (%): No data

Source: www.itu.int

Share of ICT goods, % of total exports (value) 0.03 (2021)

Source: https://unctadstat.unctad.org/

Individuals with standard ICT skills (%): No data

Source: www.itu.int

Share of ICT goods, % of total import (value): 9.09 (2021)

Source: https://unctadstat.unctad.org/

Individuals with advanced ICT skills (%): No data

Source: www.itu.int

Most visited website: mercadolibre.com.ar

The survey conducted in 2022 excluded global dominant sites (e.g., YouTube, Facebook, and Google) and search engines (e.g., Yahoo, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Naver, and Yandex) to level the playing field and discount middle-man visits. Likewise, it did not include adult, betting, illegal streaming/downloading services, and malicious websites.
Source: https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/the-most-visited-website-in-every-country

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