The UN indicates that as of 2022, Peru’s total population was standing at 33,772,543 with an annual growth rate of 1.2 percent from the year 2020 to 2021 (United Nations Population Fund, 2022). According to Country Reports (2022), Peru’s capital city of Lima is home to 9.13 million people. CountryReports (2022) also stated that among the people of Peru, their ethnicities are; 45 percent Amerindian, 37 percent mestizo, 15 percent white, black, Japanese, and Chinese, with the most spoken language being Spanish, followed by Quechua. For the most part, Peruvian population is rather indigenus to the country, and not very diversified.
Demographics: Age, life expectancy and gender
The median age for the Andean country for 2022 is 26 years old, for women, the median is 27 years and men’s median is 26 years old (Country Reports, 2022). Life expectancy at birth for the whole population is to be approximately 77 years old. For women, this number is around 80 years old and men’s expectancy is around 74.9 years old (Worldometers, 2020). As for the population in terms of gender, females are the majority representing 50.33% of the total population and males represent the rest with 49.67% (World Bank Indicators, 2022).
Figure 4
Peru Population Density Map 2022
Geo Names, 2022. Peru Population Density Map [Map].
Figure 5
Life Expectancy in Peru from 1955 to 2020
Worldometers (2020). Life Expectancy in Peru [Graph].
Religion
Peru is not a country in many instances of conflict, its religious aspects provide freedom for many of its inhabitants. Peru’s constitution indicates freedom of religion practices (Office Of International Religious Freedom, 2021). However, Although this is also divided into different branches in Christianity, the most popular is Roman Catholicism. Other citizens also qualified as Protestants have mixed the traditional customs of Peru with Christian beliefs, for example for many the Virgin Mary is equivalent to the Peruvian Pacha otherwise known as Mama (Mother Earth) (Davies, 2022). Legally, Peru is tolerant of all religions, but most inhabitants are of a branch of christianity.
Figure 6
Peru Religion Affiliations (2017)
Davies, T. (2022, August 22). Peru Religion Affiliations (2017) [Graph]. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Income and economic status
The monthly income for Peruvians varies greatly depending on the area, if it is in the capital, Lima, there is more probability of earning more. It could vary by age, gender and economic sectors. For the year 2021, the average monthly income for women is 1330.60 Peruvian soles, and for men it is 1846.10 Peruvian soles, about 516 soles more than working women (Romero, 2022). It is important to mention that an employee of 45 years or more can earn up to 70% more than an employee of 24 years. Lastly, Peru is notably staying under 4% of unemployment rate since 2009, which makes the country position itself well and that poverty has not increased, but rather decreased (Romero, 2022). Peru is well balanced in the area of income.
Education
Education in Peru is quite similar to all of Latin America, and it has also increased. Adult literacy has changed from 40% to 90% between 1940 and 2005, according to Country Reports (2022). Education is free between the ages of 6 and 10, although in rural areas it is more common to drop out after elementary school due to the need to work and support the family (Country Reports, 2022). There are also private schools but these are much more expensive to access than not all families can afford. Peru’s school year is from April to December, with summer vacations in the hottest months (Lima Easy 2020). However, in the last ten years, education has progressed and there are already close to 8 million students throughout the country, of which 1.2 million are university students or graduates, the only thing that makes it an educational inequity, since in rural areas, poorer areas, the education is less accessible (Prado, 2022).
