A new IOM study reveals that more than 1.5 million Peruvians have
left the country in the past 15 years.



This first official study on the Peruvian diaspora confirms that
1,665,850 Peruvians left the country between 1990 and 2005 and have
not returned.  Of this number, 45.7 per cent migrated after
2000. The majority or 67.4 per cent are between 20 and 49 years
old. Women make up 51.7 per cent of that total.



The study reports that the largest Peruvian diaspora community of
514,491 lives in the United States, followed by Spain with
238,990.  In the region, Argentina is host to the largest
number of Peruvians with 210,642 while in Asia, Japan is the
preferred destination with 63,229 Peruvians currently residing
there.



IOM and its partners, the National Migration and Naturalization
Directorate (Spanish acronym DIGEMIN) and the National Statistics
Institute (Spanish acronym INEI) researched official data on the
number of departures and entries by nationals. The data was
obtained from the Andean Migration Card, a form that must be
completed by all travelers entering and exiting the country. 
For purposes of this study, it was assumed that any Peruvian not
returning to the country within six months had travelled with the
intention of establishing residence abroad.



This research, funded by IOM’s 1035 Facility which provides
special support to IOM developing Member States and Member States
with economies in transition, is part of a programme
“Strengthening the Policy of Involvement of Peruvians Living
Abroad” that began in November 2005. It includes a pilot
survey on the characterization of Peruvians living abroad and the
software development of a Consular registration system with the
support of IOM experts in Guatemala.



The report is available in Spanish at: "paragraph-link-no-underline" href=
"http://www.peruanosenelexterior.org.pe" target="_blank" title=
"">www.peruanosenelexterior.org.pe.



For more information contact:

Oscar Sandoval

IOM Lima

Tel: +51 1 221 7209

E-mail "mailto:osandoval@iom.int">osandoval@iom.int 

Jorge Del Castillo

IOM Lima

Tel: +51 1 221 7209

E-mail "mailto:jdelcastillo@iom.int">jdelcastillo@iom.int