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El Salvador Profile
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El Salvador Profile
Many countries share similar backgrounds, save for some idiosyncrasies in their profiles.
Picking inspiration from the psychological trend that encourages the need to compare and
contrast, this paper seeks to paint El Salvador’s profile along the lines of its history, politics,
demographics, economics, development, and health, among others; it will then attempt to
juxtapose these profiles against those of some other countries to contextualize its relative
position in the world.
Geographical Profile
If Italy is the underbelly of Europe, then El Salvador is the armpit of America. This
comparison does not stem from contempt but from taking the Larger American continent map as
a visual analogy; El Salvador is a relatively small country in terms of its land area, covering just
over 21000 square kilometers, situated at the North Western inner bend of Central America. Its
size makes it among the smaller countries on the globe; some countries have provinces larger
than El Salvador; this fact is laid even barer on maps where Guatemala and Honduras
overshadow it, its only neighboring countries bordering it to the Northwest and Northeast,
respectively. Although the country draws the short stick in terms of its geographical size, it has
the upper hand concerning access to the ocean; More than half of its 590 KM long border
perimeter is a coastline (Britannica, 2022).
Historical Profile
El Salvador is not an easy-to-brush-off country, but it boasts a rich history that can be
traced back to the first century AD. Not only rich, but its history is also diverse, having changed
face several times along its timeline, with civilizations and empires rising and falling with the
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never-resting tide of time. It was once the home of the famed great civilization of the Mayans.
The Mayan civilization crumbled, and the Toltec Empire rose from its ashes. This part of its
history is not well documented. This research unraveled with concrete scholarly backing that at
around the 11th century BC, the Pipil people became the domineering population on the land that
later came to be called El Salvador. The Spaniards landed in Central America in the 16th
century, following Christopher Columbus’ exploits in his discovery, subsequently colonizing it
and taking the aborigines to play the role of their servants. This period was horrific for the native
Salvadorians and marked the beginning of what may be considered El Salvador’s modern
history. El Salvador and other Central American countries managed to untangle themselves from
the ropes of colonialism in 1821 by declaring their independence from Spanish rule under one
banner, with General Manuel Jose taking the leadership role of the new state named the Federal
Republic of Central America. It then seceded from this union in 1839, becoming El Salvador as
it is known in the modern context.
A considerable chunk of the country’s modern history is marked by in-fighting of civil
wars, rebellions, and revolutions, with the latest having ended three decades ago, making it still
fresh in most of their memories. This deadly civil war that resulted at the end of 75000
Salvadorian lives was incited by a 1979 coup and subsequent killings of protestors by the
government of the day (History.state.gov, 2022). The US played a significant role in the
Salvadorian Civil war showing the close political ties that the two countries have had ever since.
Together with the UN, both sides of the civil war signed the Chapultepec Peace Accords,
ushering in a new political environment in El Salvador and opening the country up again to
peace and democracy.
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Political Profile
El Salvador’s elections have been mostly between two major parties, as divided by the
war, with the one representing the government during the sunset years of the war, the national
republican alliance winning the highest seat, presidency, all the times through to 2004’s election.
The guerilla leaders formed the country’s left-wing party. They unsuccessfully ran for the
presidency till the 2009’s election, when a change of tactic helped them win their first presidency
through Mauricio Funes, who was a media personality, unlike his predecessors, who were
generals. The then ruling left-wing party reintroduced its old tricks in the 2009 election by
tabling a guerilla general for the race and salvaged a narrow win to secure its second term in
power. The long-ruling streak enjoyed by the country’s two major political parties for over three
decades ended in 2019 when Nayib Bukele clenched the presidency using neither of the parties
opting for the Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA) (drclas.harvard.edu, 2022).
It should now be apparent that El Salvador’s political system incorporates a 5-year
election cycle. Its political structure is akin to most conventional systems worldwide; it allows
for multiple parties to be formed. The president leads the executive arm and has the judiciary and
a legislative arm whose latest elections were in 2021. El Salvador enjoys cordial political ties
with most countries and is a member of the United Nations (justice.gov, 2022).
Economic Profile
El Salvador’s climate enables its economy to be fueled by agriculture, to an extent and
making it the fourth largest economy in the region despite being the smallest. Its main economic
crops are sugarcane, coconut, and maize, among others. Besides Agriculture, the economy also
receives a considerable boost from industries such as food processing, light metals, and
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chemicals, among others, and the services sector makes up roughly 27 and 60% of its
approximately $24 Billion GDP (2020) (Cia.gov, 2022). This amount pales in comparison to
most countries, making it a developing nation; this situation is made worse by the fact that more
than a fifth of its population lives under the poverty line. Although still a developing nation, it
still has some admirable economic metrics, such as its low unemployment rate of less than 10%
and 0% inflation rate in 2019 (Cia.gov, 2022). Many economic reforms were made to mitigate
the consequences of moves made by the regime that was the helms of power during the 1980s
civil war, which strived to seize private businesses and make them state-owned. The
consequence of these mitigation reforms has been the reduction of state-owned businesses, thus
making more businesses private.
Demographic Profile
The country plays host to approximately 6.5 million citizens, with a majority of them
being Christians. Below is a representation of its population by religion (Cia.gov, 2022):
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R eligion
Roman Catholics Protestants None Religious Other
3%
17%
47%
33%
One of the major benefits of being a seaside country and having a long history of
welcoming visitors from other parts of the world is having a rich ethnic diversity. El Salvador
has citizens of European descent, especially the Spanish, German, Irish, and Italians. However,
the Mestizo people make up the majority of the people at 86% Below is the ethnic breakdown
(Cia.gov, 2022):
Ethnicity Percentage of Population
Mestizo 86.3%
White 12.7%
Amerindian 0.2%
Black 0.1%
other 0.6%
The Salvadorian population is aging, with more than half being over 25 years old.
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Age (Lower Age (Higher Male Female Total
Limit) Limit)
0 14 years 857,003 817,336 1,674,339
15 years 24 years 619,368 600,501 1,219,869
25 years 54 years 1,221,545 1,404,163 2,625,708
55 years 64 years 198,029 270,461 468,490
65 years ~ 214,717 277,979 492,696
Total 3,110,662 3,370,440 6,481,102
Human Development Profile
The human development index is a metric that measures the advancements made toward
attaining some key aspects of human development. It serves to show the level of human comfort.
The higher the score, the better the country is doing. Below is El Salvador’s HDI trend over the
last three decades (Nations, 2022).
Year 199 1993 1996 1999 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019
HDI 0.52 .558 .587 .609 .619 .636 .651 .659 .667 .671 .683
Deviatio +0.0 +0.00 0.00 0.002 +0.00 +0.00 +0.00 +0.00 +0.00 +0.003
n 1 9 4 % 5 5 6 3 3
Health Profile
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Like most nations globally, Lifestyle diseases have been among the most prevalent; in El
Salvador, Ischemic Heart Disease, Chronic Kidney Disease, and Diabetes are among the highest
killers. The graph below shows its prevalence as a percentage of the number of deaths:
Chart Title
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0
1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014 2017 2019
Ischemic Heart Disease Chronic Kidney Disease Diabetes
Below is a summary of the major causes of death according to age group:
Age Cause of Death Male (%age of total Female (%age of
deaths) total deaths)
Below 15 Violence 18.77 12.26
Road Injury 14.92 11.56
Congenital Birth 6.39 8.26
Defects
Leukemia 7.24 7/6
HIV 4.59 4.59
15 - 49 Violence 37.18 12.64
CKD 6.74 8.19
Diabetes 1.74 4.48
IHD 3.78 5.76
HIV 9.56 6.64
50 + Violence 5.74 ~
CKD 17.93 12.56
Diabetes 6.68 11.96
IHD 14.19 13.82
Cirrhosis 6.92 5.23
(healthdata.org, 2022)
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References
Britannica. (2022). El Salvador | History, Flag, Map, Population, Capital, Religion, & Facts.
Retrieved 29 September 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/place/El-Salvador?
utm_source=pj-affiliate&utm_medium=pj&utm_campaign=kids-
pj&clickId=4116601547
Cia.gov. (2022). El Salvador. Retrieved 29 September 2022, from https://www.cia.gov/the-
world-factbook/countries/el-salvador/
drclas.harvard.edu. (2022). El Salvador's 2019 Presidential Election. Retrieved 29 September
2022, from https://drclas.harvard.edu/event/el-salvadors-2019-presidential-election
healthdata.org. (2022). GBD Compare. Retrieved 29 September 2022, from
https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/
History.state.gov. (2022). El Salvador - Countries - Office of the Historian. Retrieved 29
September 2022, from https://history.state.gov/countries/el-salvador
justice.gov. (2022). Country Fact Sheet EL SALVADOR July 2007. Retrieved 29 September
2022, from https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2013/11/07/
COUNTRY_FACT_SHEET_5.pdf
Nations, U. (2022). Specific country data. Retrieved 29 September 2022, from
https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/SLV
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