Peruvians

Peruvians (Spanish: Peruanos) are the citizens of the Republic of Peru or their descendants abroad. Peru is a multiethnic country formed by the combination of different groups over five centuries, so people in Peru usually treat their nationality as a citizenship rather than an ethnicity. Amerindians inhabited Peruvian territory for several millennia before Spanish Conquest in the 16th century; according to historian David N. Cook their population decreased from an estimated 5–9 million in the 1520s to around 600,000 in 1620 mainly because of infectious diseases.Spaniards and Africans arrived in large numbers under colonial rule, mixing widely with each other and with indigenous peoples. During the Republic, there has been a gradual immigration of European people (specially from Spain and Italy, and in a less extent from France, the Balkans, Great Britain and Germany). Japanese and Chinese arrived in large numbers at the end of nineteenth century.

With about 29.5 million inhabitants, Peru is the fourth most populous country in South America. Its demographic growth rate declined from 2.6% to 1.6% between 1950 and 2000; population is expected to reach approximately 42 million in 2050. As of 2007, 75.9% lived in urban areas and 24.1% in rural areas. Major cities include Lima, home to over 8 million people, Arequipa, Trujillo, Chiclayo, Piura, Iquitos, Cusco, Chimbote, and Huancayo, all of which reported more than 250,000 inhabitants in the 2007 census.

Demographics of Peru

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Peru, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Peru is a multiethnic country, which means that it is home to people of many different historical backgrounds. Therefore, it is a multicultural country as well. Since it is a multiethnic society, Peruvian people usually treat their nationality as a citizenship instead of an ethnicity. The Peruvian census does not contain information about ethnicity so only rough estimates are available.

Population

According to the 2015 revison of the World Population Prospects the total population was 31,377,000 in 2010, compared to only 7,728,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 27.9%, 65.3% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 6.8% was 65 years or older .

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (01.07.2013) (Estimates based on the 2007 Population Census) :