Land use: arable land: 2.85% permanent crops: 0.38% other: 96.77% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land:
11,950 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, landslides, mild volcanic activity
Environment - current issues: deforestation (some the result of illegal logging); overgrazing of the slopes of the costa and sierra leading to soil erosion; desertification; air pollution in Lima; pollution of rivers and coastal waters from municipal and mining wastes
Environment - international agreements: party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note:
shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake,
with Bolivia; a remote slope of Nevado Mismi, a 5,316 m peak, is the
ultimate source of the Amazon River
People Peru
Population:
28,409,897 (July 2003 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 33.5% (male 4,828,531; female 4,678,008)
15-64 years: 61.5% (male 8,794,799; female 8,689,072)
65 years and over: 5% (male 652,375; female 767,112) (2003 est.)
Median age:
total: 23.5 years
male: 23.2 years
female: 23.7 years (2002)