Editing Peru (section)

===Ethnic groups===
{{Pie chart|thumb=right|caption=Racial groups in Peru (2017 census)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.inei.gob.pe/media/MenuRecursivo/publicaciones_digitales/Est/Lib1539/libro.pdf|title=2017 Peruvian census|access-date=27 September 2018|archive-date=11 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211135110/https://www.inei.gob.pe/media/MenuRecursivo/publicaciones_digitales/Est/Lib1539/libro.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
|label1 = [[Mestizo]]
|value1 = 60.20
|color1 = #CBA481
|label2 = [[Indigenous peoples of Peru|Indigenous]]
|value2 = 25.75
|color2 = #AD5135
|label3 = [[White Peruvians|White]]
|value3 = 5.89
|color3 = #FBC5A7
|label4 = [[Black Peruvians|Black]]
|value4 = 3.57
|color4 = #55382A
|label5 = [[Asian Peruvians|East Asian]]
|value5 = 0.16
|color5 = #FAD6A5
|label6 = Others
|value6 = 4.42
|color6 = Lightgray
}}

Peru is a [[Multiethnic society|multiethnic nation]] formed by successive waves of different peoples over five centuries. [[Indigenous Peoples in Peru|Amerindians]] inhabited Peruvian territory for several millennia before the [[Spanish conquest of Peru|Spanish conquest]] in the 16th century; according to historian [[Noble David Cook]], their population decreased from nearly 5–9 million in the 1520s to around 600,000 in 1620 mainly because of [[Infectious disease|infectious diseases]].<ref>[[Noble David Cook|Cook, Noble David]] (1982) ''Demographic collapse: Indian Peru, 1520–1620''. Cambridge University Press. p. 114. {{ISBN|0521239958}}.</ref>

The 2017 census for the first time included a question on ethnic self-identification. According to the results, 60.2% of the people identified themselves as [[mestizo]], 22.3% identified themselves as [[Quechua people|Quechua]], 5.9% identified themselves as [[White Peruvians|white]], 3.6% identified themselves as [[Afro-Peruvians|black]], 2.4% identified themselves as [[Aymara people|Aymara]], 2.3% identified themselves as other ethnic groups, and 3.3% did not declare their ethnicity.<ref>{{cite web |title=Perú: Perfil Sociodemográfico |url=https://www.inei.gob.pe/media/MenuRecursivo/publicaciones_digitales/Est/Lib1539/libro.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211135110/https://www.inei.gob.pe/media/MenuRecursivo/publicaciones_digitales/Est/Lib1539/libro.pdf |archive-date=11 February 2020 |access-date=27 September 2018 |website=Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática |page=214}}</ref>  In the different stages of Peru's history, ethnic composition has varied, with a continuous decline in the Amerindian proportion, due to multiple socioeconomic and sociocultural factors, birth controls, high mortality rates, exclusion, among others. The country tends towards a slow generalized miscegenation of all ethnic segments that began from the beginning of the colonial period to the present day. Because the majority of the Peruvian population has become mestizo, some feel a superiority complex towards the natives of the mountains and the jungle, either because they do not pronounce a word properly, or simply because they do not know how to read a text well, leading to a kind of [[racism]] towards them.

During the [[Viceroyalty of Peru]], Spaniards and Africans arrived in large numbers, mixing widely with each other and with the native population, mainly on the coast (the mountains and the jungle maintained a very little mixed indigenous majority). After independence there was European immigration from Spain, Italy, England, France, and Germany, along with the Middle East.<ref>Vázquez, Mario (1970) "Immigration and mestizaje in nineteenth-century Peru", pp. 79–81 in ''Race and class in Latin America''. Columbia Univ. Press. {{ISBN|0-231-03295-1}}</ref> Peru freed its black slaves in 1854.<ref>"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8384853.stm Peru apologises for abuse of African-origin citizens] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719114642/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8384853.stm|date=19 July 2018}}". BBC News. 29 November 2009</ref> Chinese and Japanese arrived in the 1850s as laborers following the end of slavery, and have since become a major influence in Peruvian society.<ref>Mörner, Magnus (1967), ''Race mixture in the history of Latin America'', p.&nbsp;131.</ref> The first Croatian immigrants came to Peru in 1573 from Dubrovnik.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peru izabrao predsjednicu peruansko-hrvatskog prijateljstva |url=https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/peru-izabrao-predsjednicu-peruanskohrvatskog-prijateljstva/2587838.aspx |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=www.index.hr |language=hr |archive-date=21 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240921142859/https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/peru-izabrao-predsjednicu-peruanskohrvatskog-prijateljstva/2587838.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Local-truck-transit-market-chinchaypujio.jpg|thumb|Quechua travelers in the Andes]]

In recent decades, Peruvian emigration figures have shown a marked growth and currently more than 10% of Peruvians are residing outside the country. This migratory movement has been accentuated since the year 2000, the official figure of Peruvian emigrants is 2,444,634 from 1990 to 2011. This without considering the descendant population, and the illegal floating population that is essentially found in neighboring countries. It is estimated that in the last 82 years, more than 3.5 million Peruvians emigrated from the country. With respect to the main countries of destination for Peruvian emigrants between 1990 and 2011, these were: the United States (31.5%), Spain (16%), Argentina (14.3%), Italy (10.1%), Chile (8.8%), Japan (4.1%) and Venezuela (3.8%). 75% of Peruvian emigrants are between 19 and 49 years old, with a slight majority of women. For the most part, Peruvian emigration is a labor migration.

Throughout its history, Peru has received migrations from Europe (mainly Spain and Italy; and to a lesser extent from France, United Kingdom, and from other Central European countries and Southern), sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia (China and Japan). It currently receives a large number of Venezuelan immigrants, who are escaping the economic crisis that their country is suffering.

From 2016, the flow of Venezuelans to Peru increased, going from 6615 residents in that year to around 820,000 until mid-June 2019, being the most important migratory wave of the 21st century in the country. Peru is home to the second largest number of Venezuelan immigrants after Colombia.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-06-14 |title=Miles de venezolanos ingresan a Perú antes que entre en vigencia requisito de visa humanitaria {{!}} Mundo {{!}} Gestion |work=Gestion |url=https://gestion.pe/mundo/miles-venezolanos-ingresan-peru-vigencia-requisito-visa-humanitaria-270196 |access-date=2024-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614190654/https://gestion.pe/mundo/miles-venezolanos-ingresan-peru-vigencia-requisito-visa-humanitaria-270196 |archive-date=14 June 2019 |last1=Ap |first1=Agencia }}</ref>