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, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

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:
27,925,628 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 31.5% (male 4,479,278/female 4,323,356)
15-64 years: 63.3% (male 8,891,785/female 8,776,343)
65 years and over: 5.2% (male 685,179/female 769,687) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 24.95 years
male: 24.69 years
female: 25.21 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.36% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
20.87 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)