Young Lives provides an excellent opportunity to follow the growth and nutrition of two cohorts of Peruvian children from infancy through childhood and then from childhood to adulthood while also studying household food security and the quality of food available for children as measured by the variety of the diet they consume. The Round 4 survey carried out in 2013 documents that stunting has decreased over time with lower rates among the Younger Cohort at age 12 compared with the Older Cohort when they were the same age in 2006, but gaps between urban and rural children remains.

Education has been hailed in Peru and internationally as a key institution for economic growth and personal development. While Peru has achieved great advances in terms of access and enrolment, there are many challenges associated with achieving high levels of ‘learning for all’. Overall, the Young Lives data show that children in the Younger Cohort (age 12 in 2013) are achieving better results than the Older Cohort children at the same age (in 2006).

This fact sheet describes the survey methods and sample design of Young Lives in Peru. It covers: principles of the Young Lives sampling approach; how districts and communities were selected and the sample children identified;  a brief description of the 20 sentinel sites; brief characteristics of the sample children (in 2013); attrition rates; and key topics covered by survey in Round 4.

At age 19 the young adults in the Young Lives Older Cohort have reached a stage in life when they face critical choices and decisions. A large number of them had already completed school and many are enrolled in tertiary education. We identify substantial differences by gender in tertiary education and in use of time. These differences are likely to be partially driven by early pregnancy (a quarter of the girls are already mothers), but we also see differences according to household wealth level.

This fact sheet presents preliminary findings from the fourth round of the Young Lives survey in Peru in 2013. It reports on some of the changes that have taken place in household poverty levels over the eleven years since we first interviewed the study children in 2002. The data show a meaningful improvement in living standards of the children’s families. While gaps in welfare-related outcomes persist, these have reduced over time, in some cases substantially.