Peru's Richest 1 Percent Captured 42 Percent of All New Wealth, Poorest Half Got Just 1.4 Percent: Oxfam

The top 1 percent in Peru captured 42 percent of all new wealth generated between 2019 and 2025, an analysis by the nonprofit group Oxfam has found. The report lays bare the depth of inequality in the South American country.

The report, released on Tuesday, says just 1.4 percent of the new wealth created in the same period went to the poorest 50 percent of the population. The stark gap raises questions about how the government is addressing deepening social divisions.

Oxfam said the 42 percent figure represents an increase from the 2000 to 2019 period, when the top 1 percent captured about 39 percent of all new wealth. The richest are taking an even bigger share than before.

‘Economic inequality in Peru has remained stubbornly high for decades. And when people feel that the same people always win, that nothing changes and nothing can change, inequality starts to look less like an injustice and more like the natural order of things,’ said Alejandra Alayza, the executive director of Oxfam in Peru.

‘That is a dangerous kind of fatalism, and we must tear it down,’ Alayza said, arguing that inequality is not a force of nature but the result of political choices — and that different choices can build a different Peru.

Oxfam worked with the Institute for Peruvian Studies, a think tank in Lima, to publish a report this month on Peruvians' perceptions of inequality. The groups found that 84 percent of Peruvians believe their country is governed by powerful interests that shape politics to their benefit.

More than 75 percent also said wealthy corporations and individuals avoid paying their fair share of taxes. About 70 percent of respondents said they want the government to do more to reduce inequality, which a majority felt had limited access to services such as healthcare, employment, education and justice.

‘The undeniable scale of public support for action to reduce inequality leaves no room for complacency,’ Alayza said. Experts warn the trend bodes poorly for public faith in government and democratic institutions.

Peru's rising inequality has been accompanied by a period of political turmoil, particularly in the presidential palace. A stream of probes, scandals and impeachments has led to Peru being governed by nine presidents in the last 10 years.

The latest, right-wing President Keiko Fujimori, was sworn into office in July after a narrow race that saw voting delays and heated recriminations among the leading candidates.

‘It's sort of a paradox. How can you have such a rotation among elites but still have a relatively narrow political-criminal-business elite that holds a lot of power? I think both things are true in Peru,’ Will Freeman, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said. He added that the groups themselves are unstable and fluid, yet wield outsized influence in defence of their own commercial interests or political power.

Part of the upheaval has come from clashes between the presidency and Peru's powerful Congress, which can impeach executive leaders on the basis of ‘moral incapacity’, an ambiguous term. In December 2022, then-President Pedro Castillo announced he would illegally dissolve Congress; his removal and arrest prompted widespread protests, and the government of his successor, Dina Boluarte, ran a months-long crackdown that rights groups say included widespread abuses with little accountability.

In the years since, the Peruvian government has also taken steps to weaken judicial oversight and hollow out anticorruption watchdogs. Freedom House ranked Peru as ‘free’ in 2022, but dropped it to ‘partly free’ the following year — a rating maintained in its 2026 report, citing in part the denial of full political rights to certain groups including Indigenous peoples. ‘High-profile corruption scandals have eroded public trust in government, and the weakening of judicial independence has impacted the country's governing bodies,’ the nonprofit said.