The capital of Peru is located in the department of Lima and it has the largest number of people in the country who identify themselves as indigenous.
According to data from the Ministry of Culture, cited by Sputnik News, the number of indigenous people in Lima surpasses 1.3 million, based on information from the 2017 census.
“Lima is the department with the largest population that identifies itself as indigenous or native to the country, with an exact total of 1,346,399 inhabitants,” the Ministry of Culture said after processing information provided in the 2017 National Census, the first that included questions on the ethnic origins of the population.
The capital city is followed by Puno with more than 800,000 people identified as indigenous. Lima, however also has the largest number of individuals that speak Aymara, Quechua and Shipibo-Konon.
This data is considered surprising since the city is located on the coast and consists of an entirely urban population, where it is more common to hear indigenous languages in rural areas.
“Peru has a total population of more than 32 million people, of which 3.7 million speak Quechua, and 444,389 are Aymara speakers”, Sputnik News said, adding that in total, the country has 48 indigenous languages and 21 of them are considered to be in danger of extinction.
