Peru is a multiethnic country, with people from different cultures and historical background. Peru’s population is over 31 million people, with an even separation between males and females. The largest metropolitan cities in Peru are Trujillo, Chiclayo, Arequipa and Lima, the capital.
Lima is the home for almost a third of the population of Peru. The large metropolitan cities of Peru that have more than 900,000 people are Lima, Trujillo, and Chiclayo. The majority of the people in Peru are between the ages 15-65, accounting for 65% of the people, followed by 0-15 28%, then the 65+ 7%. For the past 60 years, the population of Peru has shown a trend of an increasing population of the elderly. In 1950, the population age group of 65+ grew by 4%. The younger generation of people ages 0-15 showed a trend of decreasing in the population by almost 15%. All this data comes from the United Nations Demographics of Peru (http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/).
Cultural Groups
Peru is a multiethnic country; several races came together after the Spanish conquest. After the Spanish conquest, the native population decreased from 9 million to 600 000 from 1520 to 1620. Spaniards arrived in large numbers after the colonization. They also brought Africans as slaves to work in the farms.
After independence immigrants from Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, Croatia, and Spain and Polynesians also came to the country to work in the Guano islands during the years of this commodity (1860s).
Chinese workers came in the 1850s to replace the previous slave workers. The Chinese population became very influential in Peru. Other immigrant groups include Arabs, South Asians, Japanese, and Americans from the United States. Most of Peru’s population lives in the coastal area(50%), 36% live in the Andes cordillera, and 12% in the Amazon rain forest. Almost one-third of the population lives in Lima, the capital city and state.