El Salvador Facts

El Salvador, a state on the Pacific coast of Central America; 21,000 km², 6.4 million residents (2019).El Salvador is the smallest of the seven Central American states and the only one that has no coast to the Atlantic. The country borders west and north to Guatemala and north and east to Honduras and has a coast towards the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital is San Salvador (561,400 residents, 2012).

The name means ‘the savior’.

Country facts

• Republic of El Salvador / Republic of El Salvador
• Country abbreviation: SV
• Area: 21 000 km²
• Population (2019): 6.4 million residents
• Capital: San Salvador
• Main language: Spanish
• State: Republic
• Head of State and Head of Government: Nayib Bukele (President)
• Per capita GDP (2018): US $ 4,058
• GNI per capita (2018): US $ 3,820
• Currency unit: US dollar
• Currency code: USD
• Country number (telephony): 503
• Internet domain name: en
• Time difference compared to Sweden: −7
• National Day: September 15 (Independence Day, 1821)

Nature

• Land use: forest (5%), agricultural land (35%), other (60%)
• Highest mountain: Santa Ana (2 365 m asl)

Population

• Population density (2019): 305 residents per km²
• Natural population growth (2019): 1.3%; birth rate 20 ‰, death rate 7 ‰
• Age structure (2019): 0-14 years (28%), 15-64 (64%), 65- (8%)
• Life expectancy (2019): men 68 years, women 77 years
• Infant mortality (2019): 17 per 1,000 live births
• Population forecast 2050: 8 million residents
• HDI (2017): 0.674 (place 121 of 189)
• Urbanization rate (2019): 70%
• Most populous city (2012): San Salvador (561,400 residents)

Business

• Industry’s contribution to GDP (2017): agriculture (12%), industry (28%), service (60%)
• Exports (2017): US $ 4,662 million
• Main export products: coffee, sugar, textiles
• Main exporting countries: USA, Honduras, Guatemala
• Imports (2017): US $ 9,499 million
• Main import products: raw materials, capital goods, oil
• Main importing countries: USA, Guatemala, China
• Railway network (2014): 14 km

El Salvador is dominated by two parallel mountain ranges separated by a central plateau that forms highland areas in the interior of the country. Along the Pacific coast to the south is a narrow coastal plain.

The country is governed by an executive president and a legislative single-chamber parliament. The President is elected for a term of five years and may not be re-elected. El Salvador became independent in 1841.

The civil war in 1979-92 destroyed much of the country’s economy, and the rebuilding was then disrupted by hurricanes in 1999 and 2005 and by powerful earthquakes in 2001. Agriculture, with a large coffee production, is the country’s main industry. During the 1990s, the manufacturing industry and the service industries grew in importance, while coffee exports were affected by stronger international competition.

El Salvador Map