El Salvador

In brief

El Salvador is a country in Central America. Its capital is San Salvador. With 6.4 million inhabitants in 2025, it ranks 111th in the world by population, out of the 195 countries recognised by the UN. Its area is 21,041 km². It shares land borders with Guatemala and Honduras.

GDP per capita stands at $5,767 (2025), 114th in the world. Life expectancy at birth is 72.3 years (2024). 76% of the population lives in cities.

History of El Salvador

Land of the Nahua-speaking Pipil, Cuzcatlán was conquered by the Spanish from 1524. Independent in 1821, El Salvador became a republic dominated by a coffee oligarchy. In 1932 a peasant uprising was drowned in a massacre, La Matanza. The civil war of 1980-1992 killed about 75,000 people; Archbishop Óscar Romero, assassinated in 1980, was canonised in 2018. The country adopted the US dollar in 2001. Nayib Bukele, president since 2019, has waged a very harsh war on gangs.

Geography of El Salvador

Central America’s smallest and most densely populated country, El Salvador is the only one in the region with no Caribbean coast. It is a land of volcanoes, such as Santa Ana, and crater lakes, such as Ilopango.

Map of El Salvador

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Flag of El Salvador

The flag of El Salvador is white and blue. Its official proportions are 9:16 (height to width).

• Blue67%
• White29%
• Red2%

Share of the flag’s surface taken by each colour.

What the flag stands for

Blue, white, blue, with the coat of arms: a triangle bearing five volcanoes, a Phrygian cap and a rainbow, ringed by the motto “Dios, Unión, Libertad”. These colours come from the former Federation of Central America.

Sources: Wikipedia, articles “El Salvador” and “Flag of El Salvador”.

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Fact file

Economy and society