World

Peru’s Top 1% Grabbed 42% of New Wealth, Oxfam Report Shows

By Brian Osgood

Oxfam’s latest analysis reveals that Peru’s top 1% captured 42 percent of all new wealth generated between 2019 and 2025, while only 1.4 percent of that wealth went to the poorest half of the population. The figure represents an increase from the 2000‑2019 period, when the top 1% captured about 39 percent of new wealth. The nonprofit’s report, released on Tuesday, highlights growing inequality in the South American country and raises questions about how the government is addressing deepening social divisions. Alejandra Alayza, Oxfam’s executive director in Peru, said, “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.” She added that this fatalism must be challenged. Oxfam worked with the Institute for Peruvian Studies, a Lima‑based think tank, to publish a survey this month on Peruvians’ perceptions of inequality. The survey found that 84 percent of Peruvians believe their country is governed by powerful interests that shape politics to their benefit, and more than 75 percent say that wealthy corporations and individuals avoid paying their fair share of taxes. About 70 percent of respondents want the government to do more to reduce inequality, citing limited access to services such as healthcare, employment, education and justice. Alayza said, “The undeniable scale of public support for action to reduce inequality leaves no room for complacency. Inequality is not a force of nature; it is made by political choices. And different choices can build a different Peru.” Peru’s rising inequality has coincided with a period of political turmoil. The country has seen nine presidents in the last ten years, and the latest, right‑wing President Keiko Fujimori, was sworn in after a narrow election that involved voting delays and heated accusations among the leading candidates. Experts say powerful interests have taken advantage of the political upheaval. Will Freeman, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Al Jazeera, “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.” The repeated leadership shakeups have weakened Peru’s democracy, analysts note. In December 2022, then‑President Pedro Castillo announced he would illegally dissolve Congress in response to repeated impeachment attempts. His subsequent removal and arrest sparked widespread protests. The government of Castillo’s successor, Dina Boluarte, launched a months‑long crackdown on the demonstrations that rights groups say included widespread abuses for which there has been little accountability. In recent years, the Peruvian government has also taken steps to weaken judicial oversight and hollow out anti‑corruption watchdogs. Freedom House, which measures political freedom worldwide, ranked Peru as “free” in 2022 but downgraded it to “partly free” in 2023, citing deadly clashes between security forces and protesters. In its 2026 report, Freedom House maintained that Peru was only “partly free,” citing the denial of full political rights to certain groups, including Indigenous peoples. The nonprofit said, “High‑profile corruption scandals have eroded public trust in government, and the weakening of judicial independence has impacted the country’s governing bodies.” Freeman added, “The groups themselves are unstable and fluid, and yet, I think Peruvians are right to conclude that, generally, they are wielding outsized influence in defence of their own commercial interests or political power rather than in service of some kind of general welfare.”