  Quantum entanglement of pure states of a bipartite system is defined as the
amount of local or marginal ({\em i.e.}referring to the subsystems) entropy.
For mixed states this identification vanishes, since the global loss of
information about the state makes it impossible to distinguish between quantum
and classical correlations. Here we show how the joint knowledge of the global
and marginal degrees of information of a quantum state, quantified by the
purities or in general by information entropies, provides an accurate
characterization of its entanglement. In particular, for Gaussian states of
continuous variable systems, we classify the entanglement of two--mode states
according to their degree of total and partial mixedness, comparing the
different roles played by the purity and the generalized $p-$entropies in
quantifying the mixedness and bounding the entanglement. We prove the existence
of strict upper and lower bounds on the entanglement and the existence of
extremally (maximally and minimally) entangled states at fixed global and
marginal degrees of information. This results allow for a powerful, operative
method to measure mixed-state entanglement without the full tomographic
reconstruction of the state. Finally, we briefly discuss the ongoing extension
of our analysis to the quantification of multipartite entanglement in highly
symmetric Gaussian states of arbitrary $1 \times N$-mode partitions.
