Peru

Profile

Capital

Lima

Area

1.285.215,6 km²

Population

30.380.000 inhab.

Population density

24 inhab/km²

Government

Democratic, Social, Independent and Sovereign Republic

Language

Spanish. 47 indigenous languages

Currency

Nuevo Sol

HDI

0,737 (2013)

Rural Data

Rural Popullation

7.258.000 inhab.

Nº rural communities

85.000

Peru is located in the center-west of South America, south of the Equator. It shares its northern border with Ecuador and Colombia; in the east is Brazil, southeast is Bolivia, while in the south it shares a border with Chile and to the west is the Pacific Ocean. Its landscape is diverse: valleys, plateaus and high peaks due to the presence of the Andes Cordillera. Peru is very uneven, relatively flat along the coast and jungle, and abrupt and rugged in the mountains and outer edge of the jungle.

Peru is a country with a diversity of water sources: glaciers, wetlands, rivers, aquifers, lakes and lagoons, which also help to regulate the country’s climate. Surface waters are split between three big river basins: those flowing into the Pacific Ocean, Lake Titicaca and Atlantic Ocean.