the census 2007 recorded 1,617,050 residents, representing 5.9% of the Peruvian population. It was surpassed only by the Department of Lima and Piura. In 2012 its capital Trujillo is the second-most populated metropolitan area in Peru and the largest city in northern Peru. The largest population is concentrated in provincial capitals and districts, which comprise the majority urban population in La Libertad region. The migrant population to the region comes from border departments and immigrants from other countries. Principal cities The principal cities in La Libertad region are shown in the next table. {| class="wikitable sortable" |----- ! Nº. ! City ! PopulationCens. 2007 ! District ! Province ! Mayor |----- | 1° | Trujillo | 682.834 | Trujillo | Trujillo | Daniel Marcelo Jacinto |----- | 2° | Chepén | 41,358 | Chepén | Chepén | José David Lías Ventura |----- | 3° | San Pedro de Lloc | 16.198 | San Pedro de Lloc | Pacasmayo | Victor Raúl Cruzado Rivera |----- | 4° | Pacasmayo | 26.125 | Pacasmayo | Pacasmayo | César Rodolfo Milla Manay |----- | 5° | Guadalupe | 36,580 | Guadalupe | Pacasmayo | Benjamín Javier Banda Abanto|----- | 6° | Santiago de Chuco | 25.000 | Santiago de Chuco | Santiago de Chuco | Juan Gabriel Alipioz|----- | 7° | Virú | 36.029 | Virú | Virú | Andrés Ostino Chávez Gonzáles|----- | 8° | Otuzco | 25.134 | Otuzco | Otuzco | Heli A. Verde Rodríguez|----- | 9° | Huamachuco | 59,407 | Huamachuco | Sánchez Carrión | Benito Robert Contreras Morales|----- | 10° | Cascas | Juan Julio Iglesias Gutiérrez| Cascas | Gran Chimú | -|----- | 11° | Bolívar | Odar Sánchez Peche| Bolívar | Bolívar | -|----- | 12° | Tayabamba | Omar Armando Iparraguirre Espinoza| Tayabamba | Pataz | -|----- | 13° | Julcán | Marco Antonio Rodríguez Espejo| Julcán | Julcán | -|----- | 14° | Ascope | -| Ascope | Ascope | John Román Vargas Campos|----- | 15° | Casa Grande | – | Casa Grande | Ascope | – |----- | 15° | Paiján | – | Paiján | Ascope | – |} Political division The Region is separated into 12 provinces (provincias), political divisions that generally correspond to counties in the United States of America. A Peruvian Region has as its head political executive a governor (governador), an elected official. The head political