Regions of Peru

The regions (Spanish: regiones) of Peru are the first-level administrative subdivisions of Peru. Since its 1821 independence, Peru had been divided into departments (Spanish: departamentos) but faced the problem of an increasing centralization of political and economic power in its capital, Lima. After several unsuccessful decentralization attempts, the legal figure of region became official and regional governments were elected to manage the departments on November 20, 2002 until their planned fusion into real regions.

Under the new arrangement, the former 24 departments plus the Callao Province has become regional circumscriptions. The province of Lima has been excluded from this process and does not form part of any region. Unlike the earlier departments, regions have an elected government and have a wide array of responsibilities within their jurisdiction. Under the 2002 Organic Law of Regional Governments (Spanish: Ley Orgánica de Gobiernos Regionales), there is an ongoing process of transfer of functions from the central government to the regions. A 2005 referendum for the merger of several departments failed to get the necessary electoral support.

Peruvian regions and departments are subdivided in provinces and districts.

After declaring its independence in 1821, Peru was divided into departments (Spanish: departamentos), which grew in number from eleven in 1822 to twenty-four in 1980:

As political and economic power increasingly concentrated in Lima, the capital city, several administrations tried to decentralize the country with little success. The 1979 Peruvian Constitution contained provisions for the decentralization of power through the creation of autonomous regions, but they were not implemented. 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. 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.

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