Homelessness statistics

79 out of 189 in Human Development Index rankings (UNDP 2020) 

Average salary per person $11,500 (World Bank 2020) 

20% of the 33 million population live below the poverty line (World Population Review 2021) 

Despite promising growth since the 2000s, due largely to mining extraction, the country suffers vast inequality between urban and rural areas and a succession of corrupt governments ignoring social investment. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen poverty rebound to levels nearer 30% rather than 20% pre-pandemic, and this climbs to 40% in rural communities Reuters 2022. 

Peru’s capital Lima, having reached over 11million people in 2022, holds one third of its population. Mass migration from the country’s poorer rural areas for the last few decades, together with refugees from neighbouring countries, has pushed its housing crisis to the limit.  

According to World Socialist, Peru’s inability to manage the economic fallout from the pandemic, left thousands of working class and poor families without jobs or roofs over their heads. Evicted illegally by the police, more than 10,000 were forced to seek land elsewhere and erect makeshift homes on the outskirts of Lima and other Peruvian cities. 

To compound the national homelessness problems, Peru has seen a massive influx of immigrants fleeing the Venezuelan economic crisis – more than 1million according to UNHCR 2021. This has fueled discontent amongst a poor population already fighting over scarce land and housing. 

A further re-occurring challenge relates to climate crisis, with natural disasters having devastating effects on people’s homes. During 2017, relief agencies  estimated that 700,000 people in Peru were made homeless due to landslides and floods caused by unusually heavy rains (LATimes, 2017)