| Key Demographic
Features of El Salvador* |
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El_Salvador
Geography
Location: Middle America, bordering the North Pacific
Ocean, between Guatemala and Honduras
Map references: Central America and the Caribbean
People
Population: 5,828,987 (July 1996 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 38% (male 1,137,804; female 1,097,774)
15-64 years: 57% (male 1,627,519; female 1,716,261)
65 years and over: 5% (male 115,973; female 133,656)
(July 1996 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.81% (1996 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 31.9 deaths/1,000 live births
(1996 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 68.88 years
male: 65.44 years
female: 72.5 years (1996 est.)
Ethnic divisions: mestizo 94%, Indian 5%, white 1%
Religions: Roman Catholic 75%
note: there is extensive activity by Protestant groups
throughout the country; by the end of 1992, there were an
estimated 1 million Protestant evangelicals in El Salvador
Languages: Spanish, Nahua (among some Indians)
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1995
est.)
total population: 71.5%
male: 73.5%
female: 69.8%
Government
Country Abbreviation: ES
Type of government: republic
Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain)
National holiday: Independence Day, 15 September (1821)
Constitution: 20 December 1983
Legal system: based on civil and Roman law, with traces
of common law; judicial review of legislative acts in the
Supreme Court; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with
reservations
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Economy
Economic overview: El Salvador possesses a fast-growing
entrepreneurial economy in which 90% of economic activity is
in private hands, with growth averaging 5% since 1990. Yet,
because the 1980s were a decade of civil war and stagnation,
per capita GDP has not regained the level of the late 1970s.
The rebound in the 1990s stems from the government program, in
conjunction with the IMF, of privatization, deregulation, and
fiscal stabilization. The economy now is oriented more toward
manufacturing and services compared with agriculture. The
sizable trade deficits are in the main covered by remittances
from the large number of Salvadorans abroad.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $11.4 billion (1995
est.)
GDP real growth rate: 6.3% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $1,950 (1995 est.)
Unemployment rate: 6.7% (1993)
Communications
Telephones: 116,000 (1984 est.)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 77, FM 0, shortwave 2
Radios: NA
Television broadcast stations: 5 (1986 est.)
Televisions: 500,700 (1993 est.)
*Source: World Factbook 1996, U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency
The World Factbook contains many additional demographic
variables that may be of interest to persons who wish to
examine a particular country in more depth. To access the
World Factbook, Click
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