Facts about Peru

Geographical information

Peru is located in west-central South America . It borders with Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Chile to the south, Bolivia and Brazil to the east, with the Pacific ocean constituting its natural western boundary.

The Capital of Peru is Lima, located towards the south on the pacific coast line.
Temperatures along the coast are pleasant (14 to 28 degrees Celsius). The highlands are cool and dry (averaging 9 to 18 degrees Celsius). The rainforest, by contrast, is quite hot (26°C to 40°C).

Peru 's 1997 population estimate was 25 million, with a growth rate of 1.8%. It is reckoned that slightly over 8 million people are economically active. Urban dwellers account for 72.5% of the total. Lima has 8 million inhabitants, almost a third of the population.

Peru 's official languages are Spanish and Quechua. Aymara is also spoken, in addition to the dialects found among 50 different ethnic groups living in the rainforest regions.

 

Government

Peru is a democratic republic with a presidential system of government.

Power is vested in an executive branch headed by the President, a single-chamber legislative branch embodied by the Congress, and the judiciary.

Direct presidential and legislative elections are held every five years, local elections every three.

President Alan Garcia Perez was elected in 2006

 

Education

Peru 's illiteracy rate has fallen dramatically. Whereas 57.6% of the population could not read or write in 1940, the ratio had dropped to 38.9% by 1961, 11.7% by 1994 and 8% in 2005.

 

Trade & exports

Mining exports are the most important, although the non-traditional such as textiles, fruit, vegetables, canned and frozen fish, steel and metals, doubled between 1994 and 2003 to US$ 2.6 billion. Between 2001 and 2004 they have grown 73%, exports grew 65% and the portion of this sector in the GDP went from 12.6% to 19.1%. In 2004 our export potential had presence in more than 170 markets and has created more than 1300 new export companies. Exports have created more than 400 000 jobs, both directly and indirectly.