As teams and fans prepare for the final World Cup match of the tournament, Social Explorer takes a look at the ancestry groups of Germany and Argentina.  We use Census and American Community Survey data to look at these top two contending team heritages in the US, today and in prior championship years.  

These two teams faced off in the World Cup finals in 1986, when Argentina won and 1990, when Germany won (called the West Germany team at the time).  Rather than sports stats or papal affiliations, we'll use demographics to analyze the teams' chances.

Focusing on data from 1990 and the present, we'll see how the ancestry groups for Germany and Argentina compare in terms of size and growth.

 Germany vs.  Argentina

German has always been one of the largest ancestry groups in the US (as we discussed in our earlier World Cup coverage).  In the 1990 census, 45,583,932 people claimed German ancestry.  The most current detailed data (from the 2008-12 American Community Survey) reveal that though the community remains large at 33,666,142 people, it has decreased by 11,917,790 or 35.4 percent.

Meanwhile, in 1990, there were 102,561 Argentineans.  (This number, calculated from the census long form survey, comes from the detailed Public Use Microdata Sample for 1990 Census Bureau data, retrieved from IPUMS.)  Today, more than double that number American residents claim Argentinean ancestry (234,436), an increase of 131,875 or 128.6 percent.

While German Americans may be greater in number, Argentinean Americans are on the rise.  Good luck to both teams and all World Cup fans this weekend.

Get ready for the game and find out where German and Argentinean Americans live by exploring more of these communities in the following maps:

Germans in the US (American Community Survey 2008-12)

Argentineans in the US (American Community Survey 2008-12)