Total fertility rate of Peru 1900-2020
In 1900, the total fertility rate of Peru was approximately 6.8 children per woman, meaning that women born in Peru at this time could expect to have just under seven children on average over the course of their reproductive years. Fertility gradually declined in Peru throughout the early 20th century, as modernization and declines in child mortality would continue in the country. However, Peru's fertility rate then gradually increased from the 1930s until the 1960s, due to a thriving economy and a series of populist policies implemented in this period, along with the global baby boom that followed the Second World War.
From the 1960s onwards, this trend would see a rapid reversal, as increased access to contraception, combined with an increasingly modernizing and urbanizing society, would lead to a sharp decline in fertility in the country. As a result, fertility would halve in just the last quarter of the 20th century alone, falling from six children per woman in 1975 to just three by 2000. This decline has continued steadily in recent decades, as Peru continues to undergo demographic shifts; as a result, the average woman born in Peru in 2020 can expect to have approximately 2.3 children over the course of her reproductive years, which is slightly above replacement level.
From the 1960s onwards, this trend would see a rapid reversal, as increased access to contraception, combined with an increasingly modernizing and urbanizing society, would lead to a sharp decline in fertility in the country. As a result, fertility would halve in just the last quarter of the 20th century alone, falling from six children per woman in 1975 to just three by 2000. This decline has continued steadily in recent decades, as Peru continues to undergo demographic shifts; as a result, the average woman born in Peru in 2020 can expect to have approximately 2.3 children over the course of her reproductive years, which is slightly above replacement level.
