Life expectancy at birth increased rapidly by four years from 70.5 years in 2000 to 74.5 years in 2014 (Figure 1.2) and by more than 20 years since 1970. Infant mortality has decreased from 56.3 to 13.6 per 1 000 population since 1990, which is below the average in Latin America. Child mortality decreased in a similar fashion from 79.7 to 17.5, also below the regional average. In line with the Latin American region as a whole, Peru has considerably narrowed the gap to the average of OECD countries in tenns of main health indicators, with Peru developing even faster than most of its neighbours.