Country · Americas
Peru
Republic of Peru
Peru is a country in South America. Its capital city is Lima. About 32 million people live there, in an area of 1 285 216 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Thomas Fuhrmann (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Arabsalam (CC BY-SA 4.0) · [email protected] (CC BY 3.0) · JulioKuLu (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Ciudades (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Peru?
Peru lies in South America, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 1 113 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 2 414 km long.
It shares a border with 5 countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador.
How big is Peru?
Peru covers 1 285 216 square kilometres.
That is about 12 times the size of Iceland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 19th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 24.9 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Peru?
About 32 million people live in Peru.
That is the 43rd biggest population in the world.
People here speak Aymara, Quechua and Spanish.
They pay with the Peruvian sol (S/.).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 70 years.
The land of Peru
The land in Peru sits on average 1 555 metres above sea level — high enough that much of it counts as mountain country.
Its coast runs for about 2 414 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 121 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Peru different?
A dish the country is known for: Ceviche.
Websites from here often end in .pe.
Peru and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 4 live in Peru.
It takes up about 0.96 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas it is the 6th largest of 35 countries, and the 7th most populated.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Peru and its neighbours
Brazil, its largest neighbour, is about 6.6 times bigger.
Brazil has more people: 209.5 million against 32 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 4 live wild in Peru: Jaguar, Llama, Alpaca and Scarlet macaw. The longest river is the Amazon, running 6 400 km from source to mouth. And one of the wonders of the world stands here: Machu Picchu.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Peru?
The capital of Peru is Lima. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Peru?
About 32 million people live in Peru, which makes it the 43rd most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Peru?
Peru borders Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador — 5 neighbours in total.
How big is Peru?
Peru covers 1 285 216 square kilometres, making it the 19th largest country in the world. That is about 12 times the size of Iceland.
Which continent is Peru in?
Peru is in Americas, in the part called South America.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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