Greater Buenos Aires

Gran Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires
Satellite image of Greater Buenos Aires at night
Country	Argentina
Cities	List of cities in Greater Buenos Aires
Area
• Metro	3,830 km2 (1,480 sq mi)
Population (INDEC 2010 Census)	12,801,365 (24 partidos, plus Federal District)
• Metro	13,641,973 (including partidos not yet conurbated)
• Metro density	3,342.39/km2 (8,656.8/sq mi)

 Argentina

Greater Buenos Aires (Spanish: Gran Buenos Aires; GBA) is the urban agglomeration comprising the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the adjacent 24 partidos (districts) over the Province of Buenos Aires. Thus, it does not constitute a single administrative unit. The conurbation spreads south, west and north of Buenos Aires city. To the east, the River Plate serves as a natural boundary.

Urban sprawl, especially between 1945 and 1980, created a vast conurbation of 9,910,282 inhabitants in the 24 conurbated partidos, as of 2010, and a total of 12,801,365 including the City of Buenos Aires, a third of the total population of Argentina and generating more than half of the country's GDP.

The term Gran Buenos Aires ("Greater Buenos Aires") was first officially used in 1948, when Governor of Buenos Aires Province Domingo Mercante signed a bill delineating as such an area covering 14 municipalities surrounding the City of Buenos Aires. The term is also related to other expressions that are not necessarily well-defined: the "Buenos Aires' conurbation" (Conurbano Bonaerense), the "Greater Buenos Aires Agglomeration" (Aglomerado Gran Buenos Aires), and the "Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires" (Área Metropolitana Buenos Aires, AMBA).

The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) has defined Greater Buenos Aires. There are three main groups within the Buenos Aires' Conurbation. The first two groups (24 partidos) comprise the traditional conurbation, or the "conurbation proper". The third group of six partidos is in process of becoming fully integrated with the rest.