Peru Area Code

+51 is the dialing code for Peru.

Peru, at the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century, was the center of the mighty Incarceration, which comprised almost a third of South America. The colonizers became rich in huge silver deposits and the mining industry has continued to be central. Fighting between the Maoist guerrillas Sendero Luminoso and the military claimed nearly 70,000 lives in the 1980s and 1990s. Corruption accusations led President Alberto Fujimori to flee the country in 2000 and he was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for human rights violations.

  • Abbreviationfinder: Brief profiles of Peru, including geography, history, politics, economics as well as common acronyms about this country.

Geography and climate

Peru Area Code

Peru is almost three times the size of Sweden and the third largest state in South America. The Andes mountain range extends from north to south and divides the country into three geographical zones: the coast, the highlands and the rainforest. The climate varies widely between different parts of the country.

The coastal region towards the Pacific (La Costa) is desert-like. Over 50 smaller rivers the coastal plain passes towards the sea, and along some of these the earth is more fertile. The coastal region is often covered by moist fog clouds from the sea but normally does not receive any rainfall at all. The temperature is constant around the clock and all year round.

Less than 15 miles inside the coast, the plain is broken by the slopes that are the beginning of the highlands (La Sierra). Between the mountain ranges with snow-covered, often volcanic peaks over 6,000 meters above sea level, river valleys, mountains and barren plains spread between 2000 and 4000 meters in height. The highlands have a cool climate with abundant rainfall during the winter season (October – April). The temperature varies greatly with the height above the sea as well as between day and night.

Country Facts

Geography

Cultivated land 18.8 %
Land area 1285216 km 2

Population and health

Population development 0.97 ‰
Urban population (Urbanization) 78.6 %
Death rate 6.01 per 1000 residents
Life expectancy: Women 75.6 years
Life expectancy: Men 71.45 years
Birth rate 18.28 births per 1000 residents
HDI index 0.734
Population 30444999
Infant mortality 19.59 deaths / 1000 births

Population Graph Source: Countryaah.com

Energy

Electricity, production 39070 million kWh
Energy consumption per resident 719.6 kg. oil per resident
Natural gas, production 12200 million cubic meters
Crude oil, production 5 million tons

Infrastructure

Internet users 40.9 per 100 residents
Mobile subscriptions 105 per 100 residents
Passenger cars 73 per 1000 residents

Business and economics

Unemployment 6.1% of the workforce
GDP 12200 per resident
Primary occupations 0.7 %
Secondary profession 23.8 %
Tertiary professions 75.5 %

East of the forests of the Andes, the Amazon rainforest spreads (La Selva). There, Peru’s longest rivers merge with the Amazon River. The eastern slopes of the Andes and the rainforest occupy almost two-thirds of the country’s surface, but only house about ten percent of the population. On the eastern slopes of the Andes the climate is almost subtropical and transitions to the lowlands in the northeast in tropical climate with more or less heavy rainfall more than 200 days a year.

At the border with Bolivia in the south-east lies South America’s largest and highest lake, Lake Titicaca.

During some years, the weather changes completely in large parts of Peru. It occurs when the warm surface water from the Pacific Ocean changes direction and flows along the equator toward the coast of South America. The water pushes back the cold Humboldt stream off the coast of Peru. The changing currents and winds cause torrential rain along the western slopes of the mountains and severe drought in the southern parts of the highlands. The weather phenomenon, called El Niño, was unusually strong in 1982–1983, 1997–1998 and 2015–2016.

FACTS – GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

Surface

1 285 216 km2 (2018)

Time

Swedish –6 hours

Adjacent country (s)

Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile

Capital with number of residents

Lima 8 617 000

Other major cities

Arequipa (861 100 residents), Trujillo (788 200), Chiclayo (594 750), Piura (413 300), Cuzco (420 100) 2

Highest mountain

Huascarán (6768 m asl)

Important rivers

Ucayali, Marañón

Largest lake

Lake Titicaca

Average Precipitation / year

Lima 40-50 mm 3

Average / day

Lima 24 °C (Feb), 16 °C (Aug) 4

  1. estimate 2013
    2. estimate 2014
    3. Cuzco 800 mm
    4. Cuzco 13 °C (Jan), 10 °C (July)Sources

2014

December

The Minister for the Environment receives recognition at the UN meeting

The UN is holding a two-week climate summit in Lima. The final document sets out how the countries will report on their climate commitments ahead of the big climate summit in Paris in December 2015. Peru and Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar Vidal receive some recognition that there will be no agreement at all on the complex issue.

October

Regional movements take place in elections

The large national parties are doing poorly when regional and local elections are held. In most places, regional anchored movements are progressing strongly. Many of them are critical of existing systems and opponents of mining.

September

Activists are murdered

Four environmental activists belonging to the ashaninka people are murdered while on their way to a meeting in Brazil on illegal logging. Shortly thereafter, the government decides to set up a commission to investigate the extensive illegal activities along the border, including land rights. The World Bank has estimated that 80 percent of the timber exported by Peru comes from illegal logging.

Humala’s last original minister resigns

Finance Minister Luis Miguel Castilla resigns, the last to remain in the government since Humala was elected. Castilla is a technocrat and helped to reassure foreign investors who, upon Humala’s entry, worried about possible nationalizations. However, the business community seems to give the thumbs up to his replacement, Alonso Segura Vasi.

July

Another new chief minister is appointed

Humala once again undertakes a refurbishment in the government. Ana Jara has been appointed as the sixth chief minister since the president took office. However, Congress did not approve of her in the third attempt, in August. This is done with hardly any conceivable margin; the President may cast his vote. The Minister of the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Communications is also replaced. Only since the start is there only the Minister of Finance.

April

Suspected guerrilla members are arrested

The police arrest 28 members of the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights (Movadef) and the government says they have evidence that the group is the guerrilla Sendero Luminoso’s political arm. Movadef was founded in 2009 and calls itself Marxist-Leninist-Maoist. The arrests come after two years of mapping, says Interior Minister Walter Albán. Among the arrested are a cousin of the president.

February

New refurbishment in the government

Chief Minister César Villanueva resigns after failing to overcome widespread criticism of a decision by the government to raise ministerial salaries as part of the ongoing restructuring of the state apparatus. Villanueva is replaced by Housing Minister René Cornejo. Seven other ministers are also replaced and several posts are occupied by technocrats.

January

Court decides boundary dispute at sea

The International Court of Justice decides on a lengthy dispute about where the border should go in the fishing waters between Peru and Chile (see Foreign Policy and Defense). The verdict results in a compromise: most of the disputed area goes to Peru while Chile may retain a smaller, but more fishy, ​​portion.