Background: El Salvador achieved independence from Spain in 1821 and from the Central American Federation in 1839. A 12-year civil war which cost about 75,000 lives was brought to a close in 1992 when the government and leftist rebels signed a treaty that provided for military and political reforms.

Geographic coordinates: 13 50 N 88 55 W

Map reference: Central America and the Caribbean

Area
Total: 21,040 km²
Land: 20,720 km²
Water: 320 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than Massachusetts

Land boundaries
Total: 545 km
Border countries: (2) Guatemala 203 km; , Honduras 342 km

Coastline: 307 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 200 nm

Climate: tropical; rainy season (May to October); dry season (November to April); tropical on coast; temperate in uplands

Terrain: mostly mountains with narrow coastal belt and central plateau

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
Extremes highest point: Cerro El Pital 2,730 m

Natural resources: hydropower geothermal power petroleum arable land

Land use
Arable land: 31.37%
Permanent crops: 11.88%
Other: 56.75% (2005)

Irrigated land: 450 km² (2003)

Natural hazards: known as the Land of Volcanoes; frequent and sometimes destructive earthquakes and volcanic activity; extremely susceptible to hurricanes

Geography
Note: smallest Central American country and only one without a coastline on Caribbean Sea

Population: 6,822,378 (July 2006 est.)
Growth rate: 1.72% (2006 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Salvadoran
Adjective: Salvadoran

Ethnic groups: mestizo 90% white 9% Amerindian 1%

Languages: Spanish Nahua (among some Amerindians)

Religions
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

Age structure
0-14 years: 36.3% (male 1,265,080/female 1,212,216)
15-64 years: 58.5% (male 1,900,372/female 2,092,251)
65 years and over: 5.2% (male 156,292/female 196,167) (2006 est.)

Median age
Total: 21.8 years
Male: 20.7 years
Female: 22.9 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.72% (2006 est.)

Birth rate: 26.61 births/1000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate: 5.78 deaths/1000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate: -3.61 migrant(s)/1000 population (2006 est.)

Environment
Current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution; contamination of soils from disposal of toxic wastes
International agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
International agreements signed but not ratified: Law of the Sea

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.04 male/female
15-64 years: 0.91 male/female
65 years and over: 0.8 male/female
Total population: 0.95 male/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 24.39 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 27.27 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 21.37 deaths/1000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 71.49 years
Male: 67.88 years
Female: 75.28 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.12 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.7% (2003 est.)
People living with hivaids: 29,000 (2003 est.)
Deaths: 2,200 (2003 est.)

Literacy
Definition: age 10 and over can read and write
Total population: 80.2%
Male: 82.8%
Female: 77.7% (2003 est.)

Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of El Salvador
Conventional short form: El Salvador
Local long form: Republica de El Salvador
Local short form: El Salvador

Government type: republic

Capital
Name: San Salvador
Geographic coordinates: 13 42 N, 89 12 W
Time difference: UTC-6 (1 hour behind Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Administrative divisions: 14 departments (departamentos singular - departamento); Ahuachapan Cabanas Chalatenango Cuscatlan La Libertad La Paz La Union Morazan San Miguel San Salvador San Vicente Santa Ana Sonsonate Usulutan

Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain)

National holiday: Independence Day 15 September (1821)

Constitution: 23 December 1983

Legal system: based on civil and Roman law with traces of common law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Elias Antonio SACA Gonzalez (since 1 June 2004); Vice President Ana Vilma DE ESCOBAR (since 1 June 2004); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Head of government: President Elias Antonio SACA Gonzalez (since 1 June 2004); Vice President Ana Vilma DE ESCOBAR (since 1 June 2004)
Cabinet: Council of Ministers selected by the president
Elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for a single five-year term; election last held 21 March 2004 (next to be held March 2009)
Election results: Elias Antonio SACA Gonzalez elected president; percent of vote - Elias Antonio SACA Gonzalez (ARENA) 57.7%, Schafik HANDAL (FMLN) 35.6%, Hector SILVA (CDU-PDC) 3.9%, other 2.8%

Legislative branch
Elections: last held 12 March 2006 (next to be held in March 2009)
Election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - ARENA 34, FMLN 32, PCN 10, PDC 6, CD 2

Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges are selected by the Legislative Assembly)

Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Party or PDC [Rodolfo PARKER secretary general]; Democratic Convergence or CD (formerly United Democratic Center or CDU) [Ruben ZAMORA secretary general]; Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front or FMLN [Medardo GONZALEZ coordinator general]; National Conciliation Party or PCN [Ciro CRUZ ZEPEDA president]; National Republican Alliance or ARENA [Elias Antonio SACA Gonzalez]; Popular Social Christian Party or PPSC [Rene AGUILUZ]; Revolutionary Democratic Front or FDR [Julio Cesar HERNANDEZ Carcamo coordinator general]

International organization participation: BCIE CACM FAO G-77 IADB IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICFTU ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS ILO IMF IMO Interpol IOC IOM IPU ISO (correspondent) ITU LAES MIGA MINURSO NAM (observer) OAS OPANAL OPCW PCA RG UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UNMIL UNMIS UNOCI UPU WCL WCO WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Rene Antonio LEON Rodriguez
In the us chancery: 2,308 California Street NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 265-9,671
In the us fax: [1] (202) 234-3,834
In the us consulates general: Chicago, Dallas, Elizabeth (New Jersey), Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (2), Nogales (Arizona), Santa Ana (California), San Francisco, Washington, DC
In the us consulates: Boston
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador H. Douglas BARCLAY
From the us embassy: Final Boulevard Santa Elena Sur, Antiguo Cuscatlan, La Libertad, San Salvador
From the us mailing address: Unit 3,116, APO AA 34,023

Agriculture products: coffee sugar corn rice beans oilseed cotton sorghum; beef dairy products; shrimp

Industries: food processing beverages petroleum chemicals fertilizer textiles furniture light metals

Industrial production growth rate: 1.5% (2005 est.)

Public debt: 46.7% of GDP (2005 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Current account balance: $-778 million (2005 est.)

Exports: $3.586 billion (2005 est.)
Commodities: offshore assembly exports coffee sugar shrimp textiles chemicals electricity
Partners: US 61% Guatemala 12.1% Honduras 7.4% Nicaragua 4.2% (2005)

Imports: $6.678 billion (2005 est.)
Commodities: raw materials consumer goods capital goods fuels foodstuffs petroleum electricity
Partners: US 43.4% Guatemala 8.2% Mexico 7.8% (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $1.833 billion (2005 est.)

Debt external: $8.087 billion (2005 est.)

Exchange rates: the US dollar became El Salvador's currency in 2001

Electricity
Production: 4.158 billion kWh (2004)
Consumption: 4.45 billion kWh (2004)
Exports: 91 million kWh (2004)
Imports: 473 million kWh (2004)

Natural gas
Production: 0 m³ (2003 est.)
Consumption: 0 m³ (2003 est.)

Telephones
Main lines in use: 971,500 (2005)
Mobile cellular: 2.412 million (2005)

Telephone system
General assessment: NA
Domestic: nationwide microwave radio relay system
International: country code - 503; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); connected to Central American Microwave System

Internet
Country code: .sv
Hosts: 4,682 (2006)
Users: 637,100 (2005)

Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: 1% (2005 est.)

Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory military service with 12-month service obligation; 16 years of age for volunteers (2002)

Airports: 75 (2006)
With paved runways total: 4
With paved runways over 3047 m: 1
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 1
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 2 (2006)
With unpaved runways total: 71
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 1
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 14
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 56 (2006)

Heliports: 1 (2006)

Railways
Total: 283 km
Narrow gauge: 283 km 0.914-m gauge
Note: length of operational route reduced from 562 km to 283 km by disuse and lack of maintenance (2005)

Roadways
Total: 10,029 km
Paved: 1,986 km
Unpaved: 8,043 km (1999)

Waterways: Rio Lempa partially navigable (2004)

Ports and terminals: Acajutla Puerto Cutuco

Disputes international: in 1992 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on the delimitation of 'bolsones' (disputed areas) along the El Salvador-Honduras boundary but despite Organization of American States (OAS) intervention and a further ICJ ruling in 2003 full demarcation of the border remains stalled; the 1992 ICJ ruling advised a tripartite resolution to a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca advocating Honduran access to the Pacific; El Salvador continues to claim tiny Conejo Island not identified in the ICJ decision off Honduras in the Gulf of Fonseca

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for cocaine; small amounts of marijuana produced for local consumption; domestic cocaine abuse on the rise