Many of them make a bare living farming. Other Peruvian's work for low wages in the cities or are unemployed. The People Peru has a population of about 21 million people. It is estimated that as many as 8 million Peruvians are Indians. The rest of the country's population consists mainly of people of mixed Indian and white ancestry.
Whites make up only a small part of Peru's total population.
About two-thirds of the people live in cities or towns. The rest live in rural areas. The largest city is the capital, Lima, with about 4 million people. It is the largest, busiest and most modern city in Peru. Calleao and Arequipa, each with about 300 thousand people, rank next in size.