Editing Demographics of Peru (section)

== Language ==
{{bar box
|title=Languages of Perú<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.inei.gob.pe/media/MenuRecursivo/publicaciones_digitales/Est/Lib1539/libro.pdf |title=Perú: Perfil Sociodemográfico |page = 197 |website = Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática}}</ref>
|titlebar=#ddd
|left1=Languages
|right1=percent
|float=left
|bars=
{{bar percent|[[Spanish language|Spanish]]|Blue|82.6}}
{{bar percent|[[Quechua language|Quechua]] |Orange|13.9}}
{{bar percent|[[Aymara language|Aymara]]|Yellow|1.7}}
{{bar percent|Other indigenous language|Blue|0.8}}
}}

{{More footnotes needed|date=March 2009}}
{{main|Languages of Peru}}
[[File:MANTEQUILLA and ROY MASON 236x272.jpg|thumb|left|[[Peruvian Paso]]]]
According to the [[Peruvian Constitution]] of 1993, Peru's official languages are Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, and other indigenous languages in areas where they predominate. Today, Spanish is spoken by some 83.9% of the population.  It is used by the government and the media and in education and commerce. Amerindians who live in the Andean highlands speak Quechua and [[Aymara language|Aymara]] and are ethnically distinct from the diverse indigenous groups who live on the eastern side of the Andes and in the tropical lowlands adjacent to the Amazon basin.

Peru's distinct geographical regions are mirrored in a socioeconomic divide between the coast's Hispanic mestizo culture and the more diverse, traditional Andean cultures of the mountains and highlands. The indigenous populations east of the Andes speak various languages and dialects. Some of these groups still adhere to traditional customs, while others have been almost completely assimilated into the Hispanic mestizo culture.
[[File:Baby got Back.jpg|thumb|250 px|right|Amerindian woman with child]]

According to official sources, the use of Spanish has increased while the knowledge and use of indigenous languages have decreased considerably during the last four decades (1960–2000). At the beginning of the 1960s some 39% of the total Peruvian population were registered as speakers of indigenous languages, but by the 1990s the figures show a considerable decline in the use of Quechua, Aymara, and other indigenous languages, when only 28% is registered as Quechua-speaking (16% of whom are reported to be bilingual in Spanish) and Spanish-speakers increased to 72%.

For 2017, government figures place Spanish as being spoken by 82.6% of the population, but among Amerindian languages, another decrease is registered. Of the indigenous languages, Quechua remains the most spoken, and even today is used by some 13.9% of the total Peruvian population or a third of Peru's total indigenous population. The number of speakers of Aymara and other indigenous languages is placed at 2.5%, and those of foreign languages at 0.2%.

The drastic decline in use and knowledge of indigenous languages is largely attributed to recent demographic factors. The urbanization and assimilation of Peru's Amerindian plurality into the Hispanic mestizo culture, as well as new socioeconomic factors associated with class structure, have given privilege to the use of Spanish at the expense of the Amerindian languages which were spoken by the majority of the population less than a century ago.

The major obstacle to a more widespread use of Quechua is the fact that multiple varieties of this language exist. Quechua, along with Aymara and the minor indigenous languages, was originally and remains essentially an oral language. As a result, there is a lack of modern media which use it, such as books, newspapers, software, magazines, and technical journals. However, non-governmental organizations, as well as state-sponsored groups, are involved in projects to edit and translate major works into Quechua; for instance, in late 2005 a version of [[Don Quixote]] was presented in the language. There has also been an increasing and organized effort to teach Quechua in public schools in the areas where it is spoken.

The percentage of native speakers of Quechua who are illiterate was decreasing as of 2008,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3tAqIU0dPsC&q=Peru+Quechua+literacy+rate&pg=PA202|title=One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost|last=Austin|first=Peter|date=2008|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520255609|pages=202|language=en}}</ref> as 86.87% of the Peruvian population is literate. More encouraging, nationwide literacy rate of youth aged 15 to 24 years is high and considered an achievement in Peruvian educational standards.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/profiles/Peru/Education|title=Peru Education Facts & Stats|website=www.nationmaster.com|access-date=2018-05-30}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=April 2023}}

As part of the recent push in Peru to recognize and integrate indigenous people into national life, the government of [[Pedro Pablo Kuczynski]] supported the use of [[indigenous languages in Peru]], with the state-run TV station starting to broadcast in December 2016 a daily news program in [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]] and in April 2017 one in [[Aymara language|Aymara]]. The President's state-of-the-union address was simultaneously translated into Quechua in July 2017.<ref name="Peru’s indigenous-language push">{{cite news | url=https://www.economist.com/news/americas/21727092-president-european-roots-gives-quechua-and-aymara-boost-perus-indigenous-language-push | title=Peru's indigenous-language push - News they can use | newspaper=[[The Economist]] | date=August 26, 2017 | access-date=December 7, 2017 | location=Lima}}</ref> {{as of|2016}}, government figures show about 4 million (13 percent) of the population speak Quechua fluently, while up to 10 million – around a third of the population – understand some of the language.<ref name="Humanosphere">{{cite web | url=http://www.humanosphere.org/human-rights/2016/12/peru-airs-news-in-quechua-to-fight-marginalization-of-countrys-indigenous/ | title=Peru airs news in Quechua to fight marginalization of country's indigenous | publisher=Humanosphere | date=December 15, 2016 | access-date=December 7, 2017 | author=Nikolau, Lisa | archive-date=December 7, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207015416/http://www.humanosphere.org/human-rights/2016/12/peru-airs-news-in-quechua-to-fight-marginalization-of-countrys-indigenous/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>