The departments of Peru (), informally called regions (), are the first-level administrative subdivisions of the country. According to the Organic Law of Regional Governments, each department is administered by a regional government and a legislature responsible for administration, economic planning, and public services. These governments operate with autonomy while still coordinating with national authorities. Each department is led by a regional governor, who is elected by popular vote for a four-year term, and is responsible for implementing regional policies, managing budgets, and overseeing infrastructure projects. The governor is supported by a regional legislative council, composed of elected representatives from different provinces within the department. This council approves budgets, monitors public investments, and ensures government accountability.
There are 24 departments in total, as well as two provinces that operate under a special regime: Callao and Lima. The former does not belong to any department since 1836, but is nevertheless administered by a regional government of its own. The latter is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima, which is equal in status to a regional government.
Each department is further divided into provinces, which are governed by provincial municipalities. These municipalities are led by a mayor and a council, also elected by the population. They manage local services such as urban planning, transportation, and sanitation. Within the provinces, there are district municipalities, responsible for more localized governance, including community development, minor public works, and social programs. This three-tiered structure—regional, provincial, and district—ensures that governance reaches all levels, from large cities to rural villages.
Although the departments have autonomy, they still follow national laws and policies set by the central government. The National Decentralized Secretariat (), under the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, oversees regional governments to ensure efficiency and compliance. Departments also coordinate with national ministries for education, health, transportation, and security, receiving funding and technical support. This structure allows departments to manage their own affairs while maintaining a connection to the broader national development strategy.
History After declaring its independence in 1821, Peru was divided into departments (), which grew in number from four in 1821 to eleven in 1822 and to twenty-four in 1980:
Amazonas Áncash Apurímac Arequipa Ayacucho Cajamarca Cuzco Huancavelica Huánuco Ica Junín La Libertad Lambayeque Lima Loreto Madre de Dios Moquegua Pasco Piura Puno San Martin Tacna Tumbes Ucayali
As political and economic power increasingly concentrated in Lima, the capital city, several administrations attempted to decentralize the country with little success.Schönwälder, Linking civil society, p. 94. The 1979 Peruvian Constitution contained provisions for the decentralization of power through the creation of autonomous regions, but they were not implemented.O'Neill, Decentralizing the State, p. 197.
1989 regions
During the later years of the 1985–1990 presidency of Alan García, the government faced the prospect of losing the 1990 presidential elections because of a widespread economic crisis and faltering public support. As a way of creating an alternative source of power, the regime established twelve autonomous regions on January 20, 1989, in the hope of winning some elections at this level.O'Neill, Decentralizing the State, p. 199. However, due to the haste of their creation, these regional governments were not provided with fiscal resources of their own, so they depended on the goodwill of the central government for funding.O'Neill, Decentralizing the State, p. 199. Formation of another region was delayed by the reluctance of the Constitutional Province of Callao to merge with the Lima Department. Originally San Martín and La Libertad Regions formed the sole region of San Martín-La Libertad but later were split.
RegionDepartments forming the RegionAmazonasLoretoAndrés Avelino CáceresHuánuco, Pasco and JunínArequipaArequipaChavínAncashGrauTumbes and PiuraInca/InkaCuzco, Madre de Dios and ApurímacLa LibertadLa LibertadLos Libertadores-HuariIca, Ayacucho and HuancavelicaJosé Carlos MariáteguiMoquegua, Tacna and PunoNororiental del MarañónLambayeque, Cajamarca and AmazonasSan MartínSan MartínUcayaliUcayali
Later history The 1990 presidential elections were marked by the discrediting of political parties as evidenced in the election of Alberto Fujimori, an independent candidate. Fujimori withheld financial transfers to regional governments and then, on December 29, 1992, replaced them with government-designated Transitory Councils of Regional Administration (). Having dissolved Congress in the 1992 Peruvian constitutional crisis, Fujimori called an election for a Constitutional Assembly which drafted the 1993 Constitution. This new text included provisions for the creation of regions with autonomous, elected governments, but they were not carried out. A framework law on decentralization () issued on January 30, 1998, confirmed the permanence of transitory councils, now under the supervision of the Ministry of the Presidency.Schönwälder, Linking civil society, pp. 195–196.
Fujimori was forced to resign in November 2000 under accusations of authoritarianism, corruption, and human rights violations.BBC News, "Fujimori: Decline and fall". Retrieved on December 1, 2007. After an interim government led by Valentín Paniagua, Alejandro Toledo was elected president for the 2001–2006 period on a platform that included creating regional governments. The New York Times, "Opposition Party Makes Strong Showing in Peru Election". Retrieved on December 1, 2007. The new administration laid out the legal framework for the new administrative subdivisions in the Decentralization Bases Law (), issued on July 17, 2002, and the Organic Law of Regional Governments () issued on November 19, 2002. New regional governments were elected on November 20, 2002, one in each of the former departments and the former Constitutional Province () of Callao. The province of Lima, containing the capital, was excluded from the process; thus, it is not part of any region.
In the 2002 elections, most regional governments went to parties in opposition, with twelve going to the APRA of Alan García and only one each to Possible Peru, the party of president Alejandro Toledo and ally Independent Moralizing Front of Fernando Olivera.Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales, Resultados regionales . Retrieved on February 28, 2008. The combination of a strong opposition and a weak government led to concerns about an impending political crisis. However, this did not turn out to be the case as the new regional governments were absorbed by local problems and showed little initiative in national politics.Monge, "Los gobiernos regionales", p. 34. As the territorial circumscriptions that regional governments inherited from the former departments are considered too small, the Decentralization Bases Law provides for mergers between departments after a majority of the populations involved express their approval up to become a formal region.Ley Nº 27783, Ley de Bases de la Descentralización, Articles Nº 29. The first referendum of this kind was carried out on October 30, 2005, with the following proposals being put to the ballot:
Apurímac, Cuzco Arequipa, Puno, Tacna Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Ica Ancash, Huánuco, Junín, Lima, Pasco Lambayeque, Piura, Tumbes
These proposals were rejected by the electorate of all departments involved except for Arequipa. Thus, no merger was carried out.Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales, Referendum para la Integracion y Conformacion de Regiones 2005 . Retrieved on March 2, 2008.
New elections for regional governments were held on November 19, 2006; most regions went to local political movements rather than to national parties. The APRA, which had won the presidential elections held on June 4, 2006, only won in two regions, all other national parties achieved even less.Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales, Elecciones Regionales y Municipales 2006 . Retrieved on March 2, 2008.
Government
According to the Organic Law of Regional Governments, the responsibilities of regional governments include planning regional development, executing public investment projects, promoting economic activities, and managing public property.Ley Nº 27867, Ley Orgánica de Gobiernos Regionales, Article Nº 10. Regional governments are composed of a president and a council, elected for a four-year term; additionally, there is a coordination council integrated by provincial mayors and representatives of the civil society.Ley Nº 27867, Ley Orgánica de Gobiernos Regionales, Article Nº 11. The Regional President is the head of government; his functions include proposing and enforcing the budget, appointing government officials, issuing decrees and resolutions, executing regional plans and programs, and administering regional properties and rents.Ley Nº 27867, Ley Orgánica de Gobiernos Regionales, Article Nº 21. The Regional Council debates and votes upon bills proposed by the regional president, it also oversees all regional officials and can remove the president, its vice president, and any council member from office.Ley Nº 27867, Ley Orgánica de Gobiernos Regionales, Article Nº 15. The Regional Coordination Council has a consultancy role in planning and budget issues, and it has no executive or legislative powers.Ley Nº 27867, Ley Orgánica de Gobiernos Regionales, Article Nº 11B.
The Organic Law of Regional Governments stipulates the gradual transfer of functions from the central government to the regions, provided they are certified as capable of undertaking these tasks.Ley Nº 27867, Ley Orgánica de Gobiernos Regionales, Articles Nº 81, 84. To oversee this process, the Decentralization Bases Law created a National Council of Decentralization (). Ley Nº 27783, Ley de Bases de la Descentralización, Articles Nº 23, 24. However, this institution was criticized for being bureaucratic and ineffective by the government of Alan García, former president of Peru. Thus, on January 24, 2007, the council was abolished and replaced by the Decentralization Secretariat (), a dependency of the Prime Minister office. Decreto Supremo Nº 007-2007-PCM, Articles Nº 1, 3. Two months later, the regional presidents gathered in the city of Huánuco established a National Assembly of Regional Governments () as an alternative coordinating institution, independent from the Central Government.Declaración de Huánuco, Articles Nº 1, 2.
Regions Area and population information on the following list has been retrieved from official data by the Peruvian National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (, INEI).Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática. Banco de Información Distrital. . Retrieved on November 30, 2007. Areas are rounded to the nearest whole unit. Demographic data is based on the 2025 Census. Population density is given to one decimal place in persons per square kilometer. UBIGEO numbers are codes used by INEI to identify national administrative subdivisions.