Peru Profile
History, Economy, and Foreign Relations
Peru is the fifth most populouscountry in Latin America (after Brazil,Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina). Twenty-one cities havea population of 100,000 or more. Rural migration has increased the urbanpopulation from 35.4 percent of the total population in 1940 to an estimated 73percent today. Most Peruvians are eitherSpanish-speaking mestizos — a term that usually refers to a mixture ofindigenous and European/Caucasian — or Amerindians, largely Quechua-speakingindigenous people. Peruvians of European descent make up about 15 percent ofthe population. There also are small numbers of persons of African, Japanese,and Chinese ancestry. Socioeconomic and cultural indicators are increasingly important as identifiers. For…
