El Salvador Population, Main Cities and Geography

By | January 27, 2023

El Salvador: population

Population

According to Countryaah website, El Salvador has around 6.5 million residents. About 90% of the total population are mestizos, i.e. a “mixture” of Indios and Spaniards, while 9% have a European and 1% an indigenous ancestry.

Originally there was an indigenous population in El Salvador who made up about 20% of the Salvadorans.

In the period after Matanza (1932), however, simply wearing traditional clothing and speaking the indigenous languages became dangerous. About 200,000 people in the country are ethnically attributed to the Pipil. Another thousand are the Lenca and the Cacaopera.

Languages in the country

The official language in El Salvador is Spanish. According to Abbreviation Finder, SLV stands for El Salvador in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.

According to the “Matanza” (1932), simply wearing traditional clothing and speaking the indigenous languages was dangerous for survival. In today’s country, the Kekchí, an indigenous language also spoken in Guatemala, is only used by perhaps 10,000 people. It is the only indigenous language still alive in El Salvador. Nawat (Pipil), once one of the most important languages in the country, is little more than detectable for a small group of speakers.

Religions

The Roman Catholic church hanging in El Salvador more than 80% of the population. About 15% belong to one of the various Protestant schools. These have been spread by US and European missionaries since the 20th century. While Protestantism was able to gain a foothold mainly in the cities, where it was able to make up 40% of the population, the rural population is almost exclusively Roman Catholic.

El Salvador: geography

El Salvador is bordered by Guatemala to the northwest and Honduras to the northeast, and by the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Fonseca to the south and west. It is the only country in Central America that does not directly border the Caribbean Sea. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of El Salvador.

El Salvador has 307 kilometers of coastline.

Area and national borders

Little El Salvador is bounded in the northwest by Guatemala and in the northeast by Honduras, and in the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. The border length of the country is a total of 545 kilometers.

El Salvador covers an area of around 21,040 km², 1.4% of which is water (320 km²). It is therefore about the same size as the German state of Hesse.

El Salvador is determined by a chain of volcanoes that structure the country into three regions. The southern coastal strip is followed by the central valleys and plateaus and finally the mountains, the highest of which is the 2,730 meter high El Pital.

The country is one of the regions with the highest volcanic activity in the world. Due to the volcanic concentration in the country and the frequent volcanic eruptions, ash and lava have been deposited in the upper altitudes. This texture is ideal for growing coffee. Furthermore, numerous mountain lakes have been created by the volcanic activity. Various geysers in El Salvador can be used for energy generation.

The country is made up of:

  • arable land: 27%
  • permanent growing area: 8%
  • permanent pasture land: 29%
  • Forest areas: 5%
  • Other:: 31%

Coastline

El Salvador has a coastline of 307 kilometers to the Pacific and is the only country in Central America that does not border the Caribbean Sea.

Longitude and latitude

El Salvador extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

Δφ = from 13 ° to 14 ° north latitude Δλ = from 88 ° to 90 ° west longitude

For detailed information about the representation of the geographical location in the form of longitudes and latitudes see under: Geographical longitude and latitude.

Legal time

For El Salvador, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time without summer time. A minus sign means that it is earlier there and a plus sign that it is later than after CET:

Δt (CET) = – 7 h

Further and detailed explanations for the calculation and display of times can be found under: Time zones, time.

mountains

El Salvador is largely composed of a volcanic highlands. This is framed by two almost parallel volcanic chains, the largest elevations of which are the volcanoes Santa Ana (2,365 meters), San Vincente (2,182 meters) and San Salvador (1,943 meters).

El Pital

The 2,730 meter high El Pital is the highest mountain in El Salvador.

Rivers

Río Lempa

There are more than 300 rivers in little El Salvador. The largest and most important is the Río Lempa, which arises in Guatemala, flows through El Salvador and briefly through parts of Honduras and finally flows into the Pacific Ocean after 320 kilometers (260 of which in El Salvador). It is the only river in the country that is navigable. In addition, its tributaries irrigate about half of El Salvador.

Lakes

Numerous lakes in the country were created by volcanic activity and are located in the highlands of El Salvador. Many of these lakes have steep banks and are surrounded by mountains.

Lago de Ilopango

The most important and largest lake in the country is the Lago de Ilopango near San Salvador with a size of 70 km².

Other larger lakes are:

  • the Lago de Coatepeque
  • and the Lago de Güija.

The Pacific

The Pacific Ocean, also known as the Pacific Ocean, is the largest and deepest sea in the world.

El Salvador Population