Peru: People & Society#

Population30,741,062 (July 2016 est.)
Nationalitynoun: Peruvian(s)
adjective: Peruvian
Ethnic groupsAmerindian 45%, mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 37%, white 15%, black, Japanese, Chinese, and other 3%
LanguagesSpanish (official) 84.1%, Quechua (official) 13%, Aymara (official) 1.7%, Ashaninka 0.3%, other native languages (includes a large number of minor Amazonian languages) 0.7%, other (includes foreign languages and sign language) 0.2% (2007 est.)
ReligionsRoman Catholic 81.3%, Evangelical 12.5%, other 3.3%, none 2.9% (2007 est.)
Demographic profilePeru's urban and coastal communities have benefited much more from recent economic growth than rural, Afro-Peruvian, indigenous, and poor populations of the Amazon and mountain regions. The poverty rate has dropped substantially during the last decade but remains stubbornly high at about 30% (more than 55% in rural areas). After remaining almost static for about a decade, Peru's malnutrition rate began falling in 2005, when the government introduced a coordinated strategy focusing on hygiene, sanitation, and clean water. School enrollment has improved, but achievement scores reflect ongoing problems with educational quality. Many poor children temporarily or permanently drop out of school to help support their families. About a quarter to a third of Peruvian children aged 6 to 14 work, often putting in long hours at hazardous mining or construction sites. Peru was a country of immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but has become a country of emigration in the last few decades. Beginning in the 19th century, Peru brought in Asian contract laborers mainly to work on coastal plantations. Populations of Chinese and Japanese descent - among the largest in Latin America - are economically and culturally influential in Peru today. Peruvian emigration began rising in the 1980s due to an economic crisis and a violent internal conflict, but outflows have stabilized in the last few years as economic conditions have improved. Nonetheless, more than 2 million Peruvians have emigrated in the last decade, principally to the US, Spain, and Argentina.
Age structure0-14 years: 26.62% (male 4,164,681/female 4,019,436)
15-24 years: 18.63% (male 2,868,743/female 2,859,476)
25-54 years: 39.91% (male 5,892,065/female 6,377,681)
55-64 years: 7.62% (male 1,135,938/female 1,205,579)
65 years and over: 7.21% (male 1,049,409/female 1,168,054) (2016 est.)
Dependency ratiostotal dependency ratio: 53.2%
youth dependency ratio: 42.7%
elderly dependency ratio: 10.5%
potential support ratio: 9.6% (2015 est.)
Median agetotal: 27.7 years
male: 26.9 years
female: 28.4 years (2016 est.)
Population growth rate0.96% (2016 est.)
Birth rate18 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Death rate6 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Net migration rate-2.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Population distributionapproximately one-third of the population resides along the desert coastal belt in the west, with a strong focus on the capital city of Lima; the Andean highlands, or sierra, which is strongly identified with the country's Amerindian population, contains roughly half of the overall population; the eastern slopes of the Andes, and adjoining rainforest, are sparsely populated
Urbanizationurban population: 78.6% of total population (2015)
rate of urbanization: 1.69% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
Major urban areas - populationLIMA (capital) 9.897 million; Arequipa 850,000; Trujillo 798,000 (2015)
Sex ratioat birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.92 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.9 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2016 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth22.2
note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2013 est.)
Maternal mortality rate68 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
Infant mortality ratetotal: 19 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 21.1 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 16.7 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.)
Life expectancy at birthtotal population: 73.7 years
male: 71.7 years
female: 75.9 years (2016 est.)
Total fertility rate2.15 children born/woman (2016 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate75.5% (2012)
Health expenditures5.5% of GDP (2014)
Physicians density1.13 physicians/1,000 population (2012)
Hospital bed density1.5 beds/1,000 population (2012)
Drinking water sourceimproved:
urban: 91.4% of population
rural: 69.2% of population
total: 86.7% of population
unimproved:
urban: 8.6% of population
rural: 30.8% of population
total: 13.3% of population (2015 est.)
Sanitation facility accessimproved:
urban: 82.5% of population
rural: 53.2% of population
total: 76.2% of population
unimproved:
urban: 17.5% of population
rural: 46.8% of population
total: 23.8% of population (2015 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate0.33% (2015 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS66,200 (2015 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths1,600 (2015 est.)
Major infectious diseasesdegree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and Bartonellosis (Oroya fever)

note: active local transmission of Zika virus by Aedes species mosquitoes has been identified in this country (as of August 2016); it poses an important risk (a large number of cases possible) among US citizens if bitten by an infective mosquito; other less common ways to get Zika are through sex, via blood transfusion, or during pregnancy, in which the pregnant woman passes Zika virus to her fetus (2016)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate20.4% (2014)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight3.1% (2014)
Education expenditures3.9% of GDP (2015)
Literacydefinition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 94.5%
male: 97.3%
female: 91.7% (2015 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)total: 13 years
male: 13 years
female: 14 years (2010)
Child labor - children ages 5-14total number: 2,545,855
percentage: 34%

note: data represents children ages 5-17 (2007 est.)
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24total: 8.8%
male: 8.3%
female: 9.3% (2013 est.)