Peru: People & Society#
| Population | 30,741,062 (July 2016 est.) |
|---|---|
| Nationality | noun: Peruvian(s) adjective: Peruvian |
| Ethnic groups | Amerindian 45%, mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 37%, white 15%, black, Japanese, Chinese, and other 3% |
| Languages | Spanish (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.) |
| Religions | Roman Catholic 81.3%, Evangelical 12.5%, other 3.3%, none 2.9% (2007 est.) |
| Demographic profile | Peru'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 structure | 0-14 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 ratios | total dependency ratio: 53.2% youth dependency ratio: 42.7% elderly dependency ratio: 10.5% potential support ratio: 9.6% (2015 est.) |
| Median age | total: 27.7 years male: 26.9 years female: 28.4 years (2016 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 0.96% (2016 est.) |
| Birth rate | 18 births/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Death rate | 6 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Net migration rate | -2.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Population distribution | approximately 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 |
| Urbanization | urban population: 78.6% of total population (2015) rate of urbanization: 1.69% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.) |
| Major urban areas - population | LIMA (capital) 9.897 million; Arequipa 850,000; Trujillo 798,000 (2015) |
| Sex ratio | at 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 birth | 22.2 note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2013 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 68 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 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 birth | total population: 73.7 years male: 71.7 years female: 75.9 years (2016 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 2.15 children born/woman (2016 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 75.5% (2012) |
| Health expenditures | 5.5% of GDP (2014) |
| Physicians density | 1.13 physicians/1,000 population (2012) |
| Hospital bed density | 1.5 beds/1,000 population (2012) |
| Drinking water source | improved: 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 access | improved: 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 rate | 0.33% (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 66,200 (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 1,600 (2015 est.) |
| Major infectious diseases | degree 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 rate | 20.4% (2014) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 3.1% (2014) |
| Education expenditures | 3.9% of GDP (2015) |
| Literacy | definition: 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 5-14 | total number: 2,545,855 percentage: 34% note: data represents children ages 5-17 (2007 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 8.8% male: 8.3% female: 9.3% (2013 est.) |