Peru

Economy & income

Currency

• Peruvian Sol (PEN, S/)
• ~3.5 per USD (mid-2026, range 3.34–3.52)

GDP per capita

• ~$8,450 nominal (2024, World Bank)
• ~$15,900 PPP (2025, IMF WEO)

Average salary

• ~$600/mo national avg gross (S/~2,200; wage.is 2026)
• Lima Metro ~2x higher
• net Numbeo Lima not captured (rate-limited)

Median salary

~$350/mo (S/~1,300; wage.is 2026) — average lifted by Lima/high earners

Minimum wage

• RMV S/1,130/mo (~$320/mo) since Jan 2025 (+10.2% YoY)
• paid 14x/yr with 2 mandatory bonuses

Cost of living

Low — Lima ~58% cheaper than Los Angeles excl. rent, rent ~79% lower (Numbeo, Jun 2026, ~84 contributors — thin sample)

Digital landscape

Population

34.4 million (Jan 2025)

Internet users

79.5% (~27.3M users)

Social media users

71.2% (~24.5M identities)

Mobile connections

39.4M mobile connections = 115% of population

Devices

mobile ~36.3% / desktop ~63.0% / tablet ~0.7% (StatCounter page-views, Jun 2026)

Ad spend

• ~$1.15B total ad market (2025, +5.5% YoY)
• digital ~$477M (41.6%, +11.9% YoY)
• programmatic ~$403M, in-app ~$133M

Top social platforms

Facebook ~24.5M ad reach, 71% of pop

TikTok ~24.4M adults — near-universal

YouTube ~19.1M, 55%

Instagram ~10.5M, 30%

LinkedIn ~11.0M ad reach

X/Twitter ~2.3M

Messengers

• WhatsApp (dominant — near-universal, primary chat & social commerce)
• Facebook Messenger (~12.9M reach)
• Telegram (growing, secondary)
• Instagram Direct

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Yape (BCP mobile wallet; ~15M users, ~54% of in-person tx) — dominant mobile money via QR/phone number
• Plin (BBVA/Interbank/Scotiabank interbank wallet; ~34% of in-person tx)
• Debit/credit cards (Visa, Mastercard — moderate penetration)
• Cash / Cash-on-delivery (still core for e-commerce, esp. outside Lima)
• PagoEfectivo (cash-voucher / bank-transfer gateway)
• Bank transfers (interbank CCE)

E-wallets

• Yape
• Plin
• PagoEfectivo
• Mercado Pago
• Culqi / PayU (gateways)
• Falabella wallet

Cash on delivery

• High — low card/financial penetration (~54% of payments still cash, lowest financial inclusion in LatAm alongside Mexico)
• COD essential to convert cold buyers, widely used for e-commerce & COD nutra offers

E-commerce

• Growing fast — e-commerce ~US$16B (2024), ~20% CAGR
• mobile-commerce leads
• Mercado Libre, Falabella, Ripley top players

Notes

• Yape + Plin now >50% of all cashless tx and are interoperable (~120M+ tx/month, Dec 2024)
• integrate wallets + COD together for best conversion

Audience & culture

Languages

• Spanish (~82.6%, official)
• Quechua (~13.9%, co-official where predominant)
• Aymara & other Amazonian/indigenous (~2.5%)

Religion

Catholic ~76%, Protestant/Evangelical ~14%, none ~5.1%, other ~4.9% (2017 census)

Median age

30.2 years (DataReportal, Jan 2025)

Key seasons

• Fiestas Patrias (28–29 Jul — independence; July gratificación bonus fuels spending)
• Christmas & New Year (Dec — 2nd bonus; peak retail)
• Southern-hemisphere summer (Dec–Mar — beach/travel; back-to-school Mar)
• Cyber Wow / Cyber Days (Feb, May, Jul, Nov — CAPECE online-sale events)
• Día de la Madre (2nd Sun May — big gifting)
• Inti Raymi & Andean fiestas (Jun, Cusco)

Cultural notes

• Mobile-first, highly price-sensitive
• distrust drives COD preference
• football (national team) is a massive engagement lever
• WhatsApp-based social commerce
• large informal economy (~70%)
• Lima-vs-provinces and Andean/Amazonian/Afro-Peruvian identities matter

Where to find creators

• TikTok
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Kick/Twitch (streaming)

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Luciana Fuster ~5M Instagram

InstagramModel & TV host; Miss Grand International 2023, Miss Universe Peru 2025 — top female influencer, beauty/fashion brand deals

Flavia Laos ~5M Instagram

InstagramActress, singer & influencer — fashion/beauty/lifestyle, strong Gen-Z reach

K

Katy Esquivel (Whatthechic) ~5.4M YouTube

YouTubePioneer beauty/lifestyle creator — makeup, fashion, tutorials

P

Pía Copello ~4.6M Instagram

InstagramFamily & lifestyle influencer, ex-MTV VJ — mom/household brand fit

Natalie Vértiz ~4M Instagram

InstagramModel & TV host (Estás en Todas); Miss Peru 2011 — fashion/beauty

M

Mario Hart ~4M Instagram

InstagramTV personality, race-car driver & singer — mass-market, auto/lifestyle

J

Josi Martínez ~8M TikTok

TikTokTikTok comedian/entertainer — huge Gen-Z reach, viral formats

Celebrities

Paolo Guerrero ~4M Instagram

Footballer — Peru national-team captain & all-time top scorer

Gian Marco ~2M Instagram

Singer-songwriter — 3× Latin Grammy winner

Gastón Acurio ~1.3M Instagram

Celebrity chef — Astrid y Gastón; global Peruvian-cuisine ambassador

Claudio Pizarro ~2M Instagram

Retired footballer — Bundesliga all-time top foreign scorer

Magaly Medina ~2M Instagram

TV host — Magaly TV La Firme (top farándula/entertainment show)

Susana Baca ~150K Instagram

Afro-Peruvian singer — 3× Latin Grammy; ex-Minister of Culture

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• Nutra (COD — weight-loss, joints, potency)
• iGaming / sports betting (post-regulation, football-driven)
• Sweepstakes / prize
• Finance & micro-loans / crypto leadgen
• E-commerce / dropshipping (COD)
• Dating

Active networks

• AdCombo (COD nutra)
• ShakesPro (nutra)
• Dr.Cash (nutra CPA)
• iGaming programs (1win/Mostbet-style partners)
• Hotmart / Mercado Libre / Falabella (mainstream CPS)
• Admitad / Involve Asia-style CPS

Payouts

• Tier-3 lower payouts — nutra COD ~$8–18 CPA
• iGaming FTD ~$25–80 CPA or revshare
• leadgen/CPL ~$1–6
• sweeps low. Cheap traffic offsets low payouts

Competition

• Moderate — smaller than Brazil/Mexico but rising
• less saturated, cheaper CPMs
• Spanish creatives reusable across LatAm

Seasonality

Peaks around Fiestas Patrias (Jul) & Christmas (Dec) bonuses, Cyber Days, and national-team football fixtures (betting spikes)

Traffic sources

• Facebook & Instagram Ads
• TikTok Ads
• Google / YouTube
• Push & in-page push (RichAds/PropellerAds)
• Popunder
• Native
• WhatsApp/Telegram funnels

Good to know

Capital

Lima

Major cities

• Lima
• Arequipa
• Trujillo
• Chiclayo
• Piura
• Cusco
• Huancayo
• Iquitos

Time zones

Single time zone — Peru Time (PET), UTC−5, no DST

Android vs iOS

82% 18%

Android 82% iOS 18%

Phone brands

• Samsung (Android leader)
• Xiaomi
• Motorola
• Apple (~18%)
• Huawei
• Honor

Top e-commerce

• Mercado Libre
• Falabella
• Ripley
• Linio (Falabella)
• Platanitos
• Plaza Vea / Real Plaza
• Oechsle
• Amazon (cross-border)

Peak activity

Evenings ~7–11pm local (UTC−5) for social/video; lunch 12–2pm secondary; Sundays high (family, football)

Creative taboos

• Chronic political instability (frequent presidential changes) — avoid partisan framing
• historic Chile rivalry (War of the Pacific)
• classism/racism toward Andean, Amazonian & Afro-Peruvian communities
• Venezuelan-migration tensions
• respect indigenous culture (avoid caricature)

Also worth knowing

• Integrate Yape/Plin at checkout — >50% of cashless volume
• keep COD for cold e-commerce & nutra (only ~half of payments cashless, low card use)
• ~70% informal economy = high price sensitivity
• national-team football is the single strongest engagement & betting hook