Demographics & population — Peru
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Demographics & population at a glance
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators. Key figure for Peru: 32,600,249
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Population overview
- Population
32,600,249
- Population Growth Rate
0.48%
- 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
- Urban Population
- urban population: 78.9%
- of total population rate of urbanization: 1.33% annual rate of change
- Population in Major Urban Areas
11.204 million LIMA (capital), 959,000 Arequipa, 904,000 Trujillo
- Population: Male/Female
- male: 15,952,556
- female: 16,647,693
Age & family
- Age Structure
- years: 25.8% (male 4,293,229/female 4,119,269) 15-64
- years: 66.2% (male 10,546,502/female 11,041,106) 65
- years and over: 8% (male 1,112,825/female 1,487,318)
- Median Age
- total: 30.2
- years male: 29.1
- years female: 31.3 years
- Birth Rate - births/1,000 population
17
- Death Rate - deaths/1,000 population
10.9
- Total Fertility Rate - children born/woman
2.15
- Gross reproduction rate
1
- Child Marriage
- women married by age 15: 2%
- women married by age 18: 14.1%
- Contraceptive Prevalance Rate - female 12-49
77.4%
- Contraceptive Prevalence Rate - female 12-49
77.4%
- Currently married women (ages 15-49)
51.2%
- Mean Age for Mother's First Birth (age 25-49)
21.9
- Mother's mean age at first birth
21.9
- Sex Ratio at Birth - male/female
- at birth: 1.05
- male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.04
- male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.96
- male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.75
- male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female
Migration
- Net Migration Rate - migrant(s)/1,000 population
-1
- 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.
Ethnicity & language
- Ethnic Groups
Mestizo (mixed Indigenous and White) 60.2%, Indigenous 25.8%, White 5.9%, African descent 3.6%, other (includes Chinese and Japanese descent) 1.2%, unspecified 3.3%
- Language Note
Spanish (official) 82.9%, Quechua (official) 13.6%, Aymara (official) 1.6%, Ashaninka 0.3%, other native languages (includes a large number of minor Amazonian languages) 0.8%, other (includes foreign languages and sign language) 0.2%, none 0.1%, unspecified 0.7%
- Nationality Noun
- Peruvian(s) adjective: Peruvian
Education
- Literacy - total population
94.5%
- Literacy - male
97%
- Literacy - female
92%
- Literacy Definition
age 15 and over can read and write
- Education Expenditures - percent of GDP
4%
- Total School Life Expectancy - (primary to tertiary)
- total: 15
- years male: 15
- years female: 15 years
Health & living conditions
- Life Expectancy at Birth
- total population: 68.9
- years male: 65.4
- years female: 72.7 years
- Infant Mortality Rate
- total: 10.8 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 11.9 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 9.7 deaths/1,000 live births
- Infant Mortality Rate - total deaths/1,000 live births
- total: 10.8 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 11.9 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 9.7 deaths/1,000 live births
- Maternal Mortality Rate - deaths/100,000 live births
69
- Physicians Density - physicians/1,000 population
1.37
- Hospital Bed Density - beds/1,000 population
1.6
- Health Expenditures - percent of GDP
6.3%
- Major Infectious Diseases - degree of risk
- very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A,
- and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, Bartonellosis (Oroya fever),
- and sexually transmitted diseases: hepatitis B
- Obesity - adult prevalence rate
19.7%
- Tobacco Use
- total: 8.1%
- male: 13.2%
- female: 3%
- Alcohol consumption per capita
- total: 5.74
- liters of pure alcohol beer: 3.01
- liters of pure alcohol wine: 0.46
- liters of pure alcohol spirits: 2.26
- liters of pure alcohol other alcohols: 0.01 liters of pure alcohol
- Drinking Water Source - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 97.2%
- of population rural: 82.4%
- of population total: 94%
- urban: 2.8%
- of population rural: 17.6%
- of population total: 6% of population
- Sanitation Facility Access - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 93.6%
- of population rural: 65.3%
- of population total: 87.4%
- urban: 6.4%
- of population rural: 34.7%
- of population total: 12.6% of population
- Underweight - percent of children under five years
2.1%