Peru's rich and varied heritage includes the ancient Incan capital of Cuzco and the lost city of Machu Picchu. The country boasts spectacular scenery, including Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake.

It is rich in copper, silver, lead, zinc, oil and gold. Despite this, Peru's progress has been held back by corruption and the failure of successive governments to deal with social and economic inequality.

Our partners in Lima, Peru where we have helped to set up a Red Alert project, estimate that:

Around 3% of children living on the streets in Lima are under 6 years old. 250,000 children are working on the city's streets. In San Juan de Lurigancho and Cercado de Lima districts, over 25,000 children are considered to be at very high risk of taking to a life on the streets

Issues facing Peruvian street children:

Urbanisation: Children - and sometimes whole families - migrate from rural areas to cities in search of work and/or a better quality of life. This trend is increasing and leads to overcrowding, unemployment and homelessness in Peru's cities.

Violence: One research project found that 73% of the street children they interviewed cited family violence and child mistreatment as reasons for taking to the streets (Consortium for Street Children, 1999).

Poverty: Due to the high and persistent levels of poverty, Peruvian children are often sent out by their parents to earn money on the streets. This might be by selling sweets or crafts, begging, performing acrobats, or in one of many other ways.

The Consortium for Street Children's State of the World's Street Children: Violence report (2007) states that:

Sexual abuse, violence, and emotional neglect exist at all levels of society, but children who live in maternal deprivation and in fragmented communities may feel they have nowhere to turn but the street. (p.17)

The report also suggests that most street-living boys in Peru are children who had become 'scapegoats' in their family; blamed for causing conflict and stress, and maltreated when their families were going through a crisis (p.17).

Peru - Facts and Figures

• Population: approx. 29,180,900 (CIA July 2008)
• Population living below the poverty line: 44.5% (2006)
• Official language: Spanish and Quechua
• Other languages: Aymara, and many Amazonian languages
• Life expectancy: 69 years (men), 74 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 nuevo sol = 100 centimos
• Main exports: Fish and fish products, copper, zinc, gold, crude petroleum and by-products, lead, coffee, sugar, cotton, Guinea-Pigs
• External debt: $32.83 billion (CIA 2006 estimate)
• Environmental issues: earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, landslides, mild volcanic activity

Read more:

Why there are street children
Street children facts
Street children in Guatemala
Street chidlren in Bolivia