Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Peru
Peru: Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents was 30.6% in 2020. ▲ Rising
Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Peru, 1950–2020
Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Peru recorded 30.6% for share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in 2020. That is the highest value across all 15 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 4.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Peru peaked at 30.6% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 14.7%, in 1950.
Peru ranks 36th of 180 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 15 years of available data.
Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Peru, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 14.7% | — |
| 1955 | 16.2% | +9.9% |
| 1960 | 17.7% | +9.5% |
| 1965 | 19.4% | +9.3% |
| 1970 | 21.3% | +10.0% |
| 1975 | 23.0% | +7.8% |
| 1980 | 24.2% | +5.6% |
| 1985 | 24.6% | +1.5% |
| 1990 | 24.9% | +1.4% |
| 1995 | 25.8% | +3.4% |
| 2000 | 26.3% | +2.0% |
| 2005 | 27.8% | +5.6% |
| 2010 | 29.3% | +5.7% |
| 2015 | 30.5% | +4.0% |
| 2020 | 30.6% | +0.2% |
Peru compared with similar countries
- Peru's 30.6% is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 19.8%, 1.5× the median. (48 countries reporting)
- Peru's 30.6% is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 25.6%, 1.2× the median. (27 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 15.4% | 14.7% | 16.2% | 2 |
| 1960s | 18.5% | 17.7% | 19.4% | 2 |
| 1970s | 22.1% | 21.3% | 23.0% | 2 |
| 1980s | 24.4% | 24.2% | 24.6% | 2 |
| 1990s | 25.3% | 24.9% | 25.8% | 2 |
| 2000s | 27.0% | 26.3% | 27.8% | 2 |
| 2010s | 29.9% | 29.3% | 30.5% | 2 |
| 2020s | 30.6% | 30.6% | 30.6% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Peru
More reference data data for Peru
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 1.15 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 4.39 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 7.94 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.3808 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 7.94 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 3.84 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 1.94 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 18.98 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 35.25 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 2.07 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Peru?
- Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Peru was 30.6% in 2020, according to European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents recorded in Peru?
- The highest recorded value was 30.6% in 2020.
- What is the lowest share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents recorded in Peru?
- The lowest recorded value was 14.7% in 1950.
- How does Peru rank for share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents?
- Peru ranks 36th out of 180 countries with data for 2020.
- Is share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents rising or falling in Peru?
- Over the last ten years it is up 4.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Peru data come from?
- The figures come from European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 15 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage of the total population living in cities with 1 million or more people. City boundaries are defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data.