Page last modified 16 August 2023

Peru

Community

Area 1,285,216 square kilometres, including a portion of Lake Titicaca (land area 1,279,996 square kilometres)

Population,

9,000,000 (1530)

1,500,000 (1570)*

2,400,000 (1850)

2,700,000 (1876)

3,500,000 (1900)

7,023,111 (1940)

7,650,000 (1950) +8.9%

10,155,000 (1960) +32.7%

13,460,000 (1970) +32.5%

17,550,000 (1980) +30.4%

22,070,000 (1990) +25.8%

26,460,000 (2000) +19.9%

29,030,000 (2010) +9.7%

32,970,000 (2020) +13.6%

*Indigenous population decimated by European diseases such as smallpox and typhus.

Ethnicity and Religion, %

	African	American Indian	Mixed Race	White	Christian Protestant	Christian R C
1900		57.0	23.0
1950		45.9		52.0
1960			46.0	52.0
1980						95.0
1990	3.0	47.0			2.0	91.0
2009		45.0	37.0	15.0	12.5	81.3

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1940							36.3
1950			159.0		41.6	3.3	35.5
1958		31.0 (+20.0)		11.0
1960	6.9	47.2 (+28.5)	135.6	18.7	43.7	3.4	46.8
1970	6.3	42.3 (+28.1)	104.0	14.2	44.4	3.5	57.4
1980	5.0	36.0 (+26.0)	83.0	10.0	42.3	3.6	64.6
1990	3.9	30.0 (+22.7)	56.0	7.3	38.5	4.0	68.9
2000	2.8	23.7 (+17.9)	30.0	5.8	34.4	4.9	73.0
2010	2.5	20.9 (+15.6)	15.7	5.6	29.4	6.2	76.9
2015	2.3	19.6 (+14.0)	12.4	5.6	27.9	6.8	77.4
2017	2.3	18.1 (+12.4)	11.5	5.7
2018			11.1		25.8	8.1	77.9

Life expectancy,

47.7 (1960); 46.5 (M), 49.0 (F)

53.5 (1970); 51.9 (M), 55.1 (F)

60.0 (1980); 58.1 (M), 62.1 (F)

65.5 (1990); 63.2 (M), 68.0 (F)

70.5 (2000); 68.0 (M), 73.2 (F)

73.7 (2010); 71.0 (M), 76.4 (F)

76.8 (2020); 74.2 (M), 79.6 (F)

Population of principal cities, 1,000s MA = Metropolitan Area

	Arequipa	Callao^1	MA	LIMA^2	MA	Trujillo	MA
1614				25
1775				54
1796	37
1812				64		12
1876	31			101		8
1896		48
1901	35			115
1906	46	75
1913				141
1940	81	84		522		35	53
1950	97	100		947
1959	124	132				63
1961	157	161		1,716		100
1970	300			2,500
1982	447		441	3,968		355
1993	620	370		5,780		509
1998	710	424	638	6,465		604
2007	794			8,473		683
2009				8,769
2015	920 MA	877	10,852	9,752	12,140	788	950

¹Callao was founded by the Spanish in 1537; it is now a major Pacific port.� It suffered a devastating earthquake in 1746.

²Lima was founded in 1535 by the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro.� It was one of the last Spanish strongholds to fall to the South American nationalists when Peru gained independence.

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1948	662	0.30	82	5.38
1955	1,050	0.29
1960	2,572	0.47	255	8.48
1965	5,167	0.69	445	11.62
1970	7,432	0.71	557	10.62
1975	16,877	1.03	1,110	14.19
1980	18,135	0.65	1,045	8.29
1985	16,550	0.39	845	4.63
1990	26,410	0.46	1,210	5.05
1995	53,313	0.72	2,220	7.38
2000	51,745	0.52	1,995	5.47
2005	76,060	0.58	2,755	6.22
2010	147,530	0.99	5,020	10.38
2015	189,200	1.05	6,030	10.73
2016	192,100	1.03	6,050	10.53

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1960		52.0				28.0
1980	8.0	40.0	23.4	11.7	68.0	48.0
1990	12.0	35.1	39.7	16.4	47.2	47.0
2000	10.0		35.0		55.0
2010	10.0	25.8	35.0	17.4	55.0	56.8
2016	7.6		34.7		57.7

Communications

Language� Official, Aymara, Quecha, and Spanish,

	Aymara	Quecha	Spanish
1990	3.0	27.0	68.0
2003	2.3	16.4	79.8
2007	1.8	13.2	83.9
2013	1.7	13.0	84.1

Literacy

61.0% (1960)

72.5% (1980); 83.3% (M), 61.8% (F)

84.5% (1985); 91.0% (M), 78.0% (F)

88.7% (1995); 94.5% (M), 83.0% (F)

90.2% (2000); 94.8% (M), 85.7% (F)

92.9% (2010); 96.4% (M), 89.4% (F)

94.2% (2015); 97.2% (M), 94.3% (F)

Physical communications � roads

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles
1400	40,000*
1938	22,660
1943	33,060
1944			29,296	15,774	12,244
1950				31,945	23,978
1955			103,500	54,400
1957	39,119	3,942
1962	41,500			85,000	70,000
1966	45,549	4,547	315,629	178,152	95,402
1974				266,910	139,950
1976	56,940
1977				300,400	166,200
1983	64,000	7,100	570,000	359,000	196,013
1990	69,942	7,564
1996	73,776	8,565	936,051	483,413	317,000
2002	77,000	12,000		791,862	400,015
2007			1,705,000	917,100	480,900
2010	102,887		2,100,000
2012		18,699	2,878,000	2,000,000

*The Inca Empire�s road network, centred on what is now Peru (but ruling a considerably larger territory), extended to ca. 40,000 km, and enabled the ruling elite in Cuzco to enjoy fresh fish caught just two days earlier in the Pacific.

Railways; First railway opened 1851

Length, kilometres, (% electrified)

103 (1860)

254 (1870)

2,027 (1880)

1,595 (1890)

1,797 (1900)

2,900 (1910)

3,603 (1920)

4,207 (1930)

2,771 (1940)

3,135 (1950)

2,564 (1960)

2,125 (1976)

1,628 (1980)

1,672 (1986)

1,992 (1996)

2,121 (2002)

2,020 (2010)

1,184 (2014) (2.9% e)

Urban metro systems, kilometres

Lima, (opened 2011)

21.4 (2011)

34.6 (2015)

Electronic communications, TV broadcasting began 1958

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1938	25,981		25,000
1941	35,151
1950			500,000
1958				5,000
1960	98,000		1,100,000	55,000
1962	113,218			82,000
1970	175,000
1974				520,000
1976			2,068,000	600,000
1980	303,000
1990	564,500	1,650	5,420,000	2,080,000
1995		73,500	6,100,000	2,500,000	350,000
1997			6,650,000			48,000
2000	1,717,100	1,275,000		3,800,000	1,050,000	797,253
2002						2,500,000
2005		5,580,000		4,000,000	2,800,000	4,000,000
2010	3,166,000	29,115,000				9,500,000
2016	3,074,464	36,933,000				13,975,000

Tourism: Visitors to Peru,

113,532 (1968)

279,000 (1984)

305,000 (1986)

316,871 (1990)

479,000 (1995)

828,000 (2000)

1,571,000 (2005)

2,299,000 (2010)

3,456,000 (2015)