Peru is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different races, ethnicity, and national backgrounds.

60.2% of the people identified themselves as mestizo, 22.3% identified themselves as Quechua (indigenous people), 5.9% identified themselves as white, 3.6% identified themselves as black, 2.4% identified themselves as Aymara(indigenous people), 2.3% identified themselves as other ethnic groups, and 3.3% didn’t declare their ethnicity.

Mestizos traditionally denotes Amerindian (mostly Quechua ancestry) and European ancestry (mostly Spaniard ancestry). Amerindians constitute mainly two major indigenous or ethnic groups Quechuas and Aymaras.

White people are mainly of Spanish, English, French, Germans, and Italian ancestry.  Afro-Peruvians, a legacy of Peru’s history as an importer of slaves during the colonial period. Today mulattos (mixed African and European) and zambos (mixed African and Amerindian) also constitute an important part of the population.

Asians mostly Chinese and Japanese arrived in the 1850s as laborers following the end of slavery, and have since become a major influence in Peruvian society.  Other immigrant groups include Arabs (namely from Levant/West Asian countries), South Asians, Americans and Colombians 

The racial composition is as follows

Source: 2017 Peru Census