MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

160,000 Chileans reside in Argentina

Just over 200,000 Chileans actually reside in Central and South America according to the latest poll of registered Chileans overseas taken by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in collaboration with the National Statistics Office.

Of the 201,021 voluntary statements, 80,2% (160,000) live in Argentina; 6,2% in Venezuela; 3,6% in Brazil; 2,5% in Ecuador and 1,7% in Peru.

In Central America numbers are insignificant.

Of the total polled, 41,2% left Chile for economic reasons; 31,8% personal reasons and 8,9% alleged political reasons.

However 36,2% are planning to return to Chile in the near future of which 14% in the next three years and 21,3% in the next ten years.

The second stage of the report will be referred to United States, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa, and should be ready for releasing next September.

According to the Chilean Statistics Office it is estimated that 628.188 Chileans reside overseas. This number only includes those actually born in Chile meaning the final figure could considerably increase if children born overseas are also added.