Polity · 1840 CE – present
Republic of El Salvador
República de El Salvador · El Salvador · República de El Salvador
Also recorded as El Salvador
- Peak recorded area
- 21,708 km²
- 1840 CE
- Rulers on record
- 5
- from 1999 CE
- Data series
- 410
- 1840 CE–2025 CE
Overview
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is San Salvador. El Salvador's population in 2024 was estimated to be 6 million.
Lead section from Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article.
Territory
3 dated territorial extents on record from Cliopatria. Areas are measured off the recorded polygons; the line steps because each extent holds until the next one is recorded — nothing is interpolated. CShapes 2.0 holds 1 further extent, measured on a different basis and deliberately not merged into this series.
The record
The best-attested series in each category; where several projects publish the same quantity, the one with the most observations is shown. Each row is the most recent value the record holds at or before the last complete year, shown with the year that value belongs to. Some statistical series also publish forward projections — the year column is the honest guide. Nothing on this page is interpolated or estimated by us.
People
6 of 59 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Population269 obs · 1820 CE–2025 CE | 6.4Mpersons2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Life Expectancy165 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 72.52years2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Urban Population142 obs · 1875 CE–2016 CE | 1.1Mpersons2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Net Migration141 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | -23.9Kpersons2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Population Growth141 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 0.412% annual2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Life Expectancy Female140 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 76.7years2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
Economy
6 of 159 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita PPP220 obs · 1800 CE–2019 CE | 8,209int'l $ (inflation adj.)2019 CE · Gapminder |
| Total Exports140 obs · 1875 CE–2014 CE | 5,272.35million USD (current)2014 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0 |
| Total Imports140 obs · 1875 CE–2014 CE | 10.5Kmillion USD (current)2014 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0 |
| Trade Balance140 obs · 1875 CE–2014 CE | -5,237.9million USD (current)2014 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0 |
| Trade Openness140 obs · 1875 CE–2014 CE | 15.8Kmillion USD (current)2014 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0 |
| GDP Current Usd106 obs · 1965 CE–2025 CE | 36.7Bcurrent US$2025 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
Military
6 of 41 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| CINC Score142 obs · 1875 CE–2016 CE | 0.0005CINC (share of world capability)2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Energy Consumption142 obs · 1875 CE–2016 CE | 1.6Mcoal-ton equivalents2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Iron Steel Production142 obs · 1875 CE–2016 CE | 100Ktons2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Personnel136 obs · 1875 CE–2016 CE | 25Kpersons2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Expenditure % GDP120 obs · 1965 CE–2024 CE | 1.19% of GDP2024 CE · SIPRI Military Expenditure Database |
| Military Expenditure96 obs · 1914 CE–2016 CE | 146Mcurrent USD2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
Territory & resources
6 of 65 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Arable Land %126 obs · 1961 CE–2023 CE | 34.8% of land area2023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Forest Area %68 obs · 1990 CE–2023 CE | 27.53% of land area2023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Agricultural Land %63 obs · 1961 CE–2023 CE | 57.71%2023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Arable Land per capita Ha63 obs · 1961 CE–2023 CE | 0.1143hectares per person2023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Fao Agricultural Land63 obs · 1961 CE–2023 CE | 1.2Mha2023 CE · FAOSTAT |
| Fao Arable Land63 obs · 1961 CE–2023 CE | 721Kha2023 CE · FAOSTAT |
Governance
6 of 28 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Rule Of Law Index187 obs · 1838 CE–2024 CE | 0.098index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Polity2169 obs · 1841 CE–2012 CE | 8index (-10 to 10)2012 CE · Clio-Infra |
| Electoral Democracy Index146 obs · 1838 CE–2024 CE | 0.339index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Liberal Democracy Index146 obs · 1838 CE–2024 CE | 0.092index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Participatory Democracy Index146 obs · 1838 CE–2024 CE | 0.2index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Regime Type122 obs · 1903 CE–2024 CE | 1RoW index (0-3)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
Development
6 of 58 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Freedom Of Expression Index187 obs · 1838 CE–2024 CE | 0.389index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Tech Radios127 obs · 1841 CE–1999 CE | 2,920count1999 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Railway Line Km125 obs · 1875 CE–1999 CE | 547km1999 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Newspaper Circulation54 obs · 1946 CE–1999 CE | 276.9Kcirculation1999 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Telephones53 obs · 1905 CE–1987 CE | 136Kcount1987 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Mobile Subscriptions Per 10052 obs · 1960 CE–2023 CE | 179.71per_1002023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
Rulers
5 on record with dated reigns. Reign years follow the house convention: BCE years are negative.
- Francisco FloresPresident1999 CE – 2004 CE
- Antonio SacaPresident2004 CE – 2009 CE
- Mauricio FunesPresident2009 CE – 2014 CE
- Salvador Sánchez CerénPresident2014 CE – 2019 CE
- Nayib BukelePresident2019 CE –
Country profile
From the CIA World Factbook 2024. Long entries are trimmed at a sentence boundary.
- Location
- Central America, bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and Honduras
- Government type
- presidential republic
- Executive branch
- chief of state: President Nayib Armando BUKELE Ortez (since 1 June 2019); head of government: President Nayib Armando BUKELE Ortez (since 1 June 2019); cabinet: Council of Ministers selected by the president;
- Ethnic groups
- Mestizo 86.3%, White 12.7%, Indigenous 0.2% (includes Lenca, Kakawira, Nahua-Pipil), Black 0.1%, other 0.6% (2007 est.)
- Natural resources
- hydropower, geothermal power, petroleum, arable land
- Economy
- upper-middle-income, dollarized Central American economy; reliant on remittances from US; recent growth linked to infrastructure investment, consumption, and crime reduction; $1.3 billion IMF loan to address fiscal imbalances; Bitcoin adopted as legal tender; persistent poverty and large informal sector
Language & currency
- Official & national languages
- Spanish
Memberships
- 5-member Non-Aggression Pact (1907)Historical alliance · member1907 CE – 1918 CE
- 5-member Non-Aggression Pact (1923)Historical alliance · member1923 CE – 1932 CE
- 21-member Entente (1936)Historical alliance · member1936 CE – 1945 CE
- United NationsUNInternational organisation · founding member1945 CE –
- 35-member Defense Pact (1947)Military alliance · member1947 CE –
- 6-member Defense Pact (1963)Military alliance · member1963 CE – 1969 CE
Sources
Every figure above comes from one of these. Nothing on this page is estimated, interpolated or model-generated.
CHAT (Comin-Hobijn)2009 (FinalCHAT_72909)
Comin, D. & Hobijn, B. (2009). The CHAT Dataset. NBER Working Paper 15319.
NBER research data, freely downloadable
CIA World Factbook 2024
Clio-Infra2017 datasets
Clio-Infra project (2017). Reconstructions of global inequality and well-being. International Institute of Social History.
Academic use, attribution
Seshat Global History Databank. Cliopatria: a historical basemap of polity borders (cliopatria.geojson).
Correlates of War NMC v6.0v6.0
Singer, J.D. (1987). National Material Capabilities Data (NMC), v6.0. Correlates of War Project.
Free academic use, citation
Barbieri, K. & Keshk, O. (2016). Correlates of War Project Trade Data Set, v4.0.
Free academic use, citation
FAOSTAT2024 release
FAO (2024). FAOSTAT Statistical Database. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
CC BY 4.0
Gapminderv14 / systema globalis
Gapminder Foundation. Gapminder systema globalis dataset.
CC BY 4.0
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database2024
SIPRI (2024). Military Expenditure Database.
Free for non-commercial use, attribution
UN World Population Prospects 20242024
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects 2024.
CC BY 3.0 IGO
V-Dem v15v15
Coppedge, M. et al. (2025). V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v15. Varieties of Democracy Project.
Free academic/non-commercial use, attribution
Wikipedia contributors. Article lead sections, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
World Bank World Development Indicators2024 release
World Bank (2024). World Development Indicators. Washington, DC.
CC BY 4.0
Republic of El Salvador is one of the polities with a sourced record deep enough to publish.