
Economy
The national currency of El Salvador is the US dollar. The Gross Domestic Product of El Salvador is $30 billion. The GDP per capita is $4,700. El Salvador's GDP growth rate is 1.9%. This indicates slow economic growth. El Salvador received $252 million in economic aid in 1999. $57 million of that aid was from the United States which represents 22.6% of total economic aid. El Salvador's external debt was $5.6 billion in 2001. El Salvador has a total labor force of 2.35 million as of 1999. 30% of the labor force are employed in agriculture, 15% are employed industry, and 55% are employed in the service sector. The unemployment rate in El Salvador is 10% but there is a lot of underemployment (people working part time who would like to be working full time). Forty-eight percent of the population lives below the poverty line. El Salvador exported an estimated total of $3 billion worth of goods in 2002. It is worth noting that this is only a little more than half of their external debt. Major Salvadoran exports are coffee, sugar, shrimp, textiles, and chemicals. El Salvador's main trading partner is the United States, to whom they send 65% of their total exports. El Salvador's major industries are food processing, beverages, petroleum products, chemicals, fertilizers, textiles, furniture, and light metals. References: (CIA World Factbook-El Salvador. 11 Nov. 2003. CIA. 2003. <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/es.html>
Government/Politics
El Salvador declared independence from Spain in 1812. It was then part of the Central American Confederation until 1841 when El Salvador became a fully independent state. The capital of El Salvador is the city of San Salvador. It is the largest city in El Salvador with a population of 496,000 souls. The next largest city is Soyapango with a population of 358,100 people. The President of El Salvador is Francisco Guillermo Flores Pérez. He was elected in 1999. El Salvador is a democratic republic. Elections seem to be clean and open. The current El Salvadoran constitution was adopted on the 23rd of December, 1983. El Salvador maintains an Army, Navy, and Air Force. Military expenditures in 1999 were $112 million, about 0.7% of the nation's GDP. References: (CIA World Factbook-El Salvador. 11 Nov. 2003. CIA. 2003. <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/es.html> (Lonely Planet Worldguide-El Salvador. 20 Nov. 2003. Lonely Planet. 2003.)
People
El Salvador has a population of 6.6 million people. Life expectancy in El Salvador is 70 years. The infant mortality rate is 30%. The poor economy and poverty factor heavily into this. The vast majority, 90%, of Salvadorans identify as Mestizo or mixed race. 1% identify as American Indian and 9% identify as white/Caucasian. Catholicism is strong in El Salvador as 83% of her people identify themselves as Roman Catholic. Protestant activists have been hard at work in El Salvador, however, and over 1 million Salvadorans consider themselves Protestant. The adult literacy rate in El Salvador is 80.2%. The literacy rate for men, 82.8%, is statistically significantly higher than for women at 77.7% The official language of El Salvador is Spanish. Some native American Indians speak Nahua. References::(CIA World Factbook-El Salvador. 11 Nov. 2003. CIA. 2003. < http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos.html>) (Lonely Planet Worldguide-El Salvador. 20 Nov. 2003. Lonely Planet. 2003. < http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/central_america/el_salvador/printable.html>) (2003 World Population Data Sheet. 20 Nov. 2003. Population Reference Bureau. 2003 <http://www.prb.org/pdf/WorldPopulationDS03_Eng.pdf.>)
Major Issues
The most pressing issue facing El Salvador right now is its stagnant economy. Almost half of Salvadorans live below the poverty line. El Salvador has suffered from low coffee prices on the international market. Coffee beans are the nations main export and generates most of its export revenue. Lower coffee prices have resulted in the loss of many jobs and coffee growers are unable to obtain bank loans to maintain and harvest their farms. Crime is a major problem in El Salvador. The nation's murder rate is among the highest in the region. In July of 2003 there was a recent spate of killings of young women, allegedly attributable to gang activity. The natural environment of El Salvador is in bad shape. Deforestation, water pollution, desertification, and toxic chemical contamination are among its worst environmental problems. Only 1.5% of El Salvador's tropical rain forests are intact and only 55% of the population has access to drinking water. El Salvador is undergoing a shift in government control. The FLMN party, formed after the peace accord in 1992 has been rapidly making gains in elections over the entrenched ARENA party. This change in the power base may cause political unrest in the nation. Freedom of the press is not well established in El Salvador. Politicians in El Salvador do not take kindly to being criticized by the press and often file defamation lawsuits against journalists who criticize them. Sometimes journalists have to deal violence, even by police forces. References: (Lonely Planet Worldguide-El Salvador. 20 Nov. 2003. Lonely Planet. 2003. < http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/central_america/el_salvador/printable.html>) ("El Salvador Country Profile." 29 Sep. 2003. Quest Economics Database. Online. LexisNexis Academic. 28 Nov. 2003.) ("El Salvador: Article 19 Report on Freedom of Expression." 8 Jul. 2003. Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire. Online. LexisNexis Academic. 28 Nov. 2003.) ("Young Women Targeted in El Salvador." 5 July 2003. United Press International. Online. LexisNexis Academic. 28 Nov. 2003.) ("El Salvador-Coffee Thousands of Salvadoran Coffee Growers Facing Foreclosure." 22 June 2003. Global News Wire. Online. LexisNexis Academic. 28 Nov. 2003.)
Culture
Literature and poetry have traditionally been important in Salvadoran culture. Some of the more famous authors in El Salvador include Salvador Salazar Arrue, Claudia Lars, Manilo Argueta, and Roque Dalton. El Salvador is a deeply Roman Catholic nation. The Church is very important in El Salvador and has often involved itself in political, social, and economic issues in defense of the poor. Clergy even sometimes acted as negotiators between the guerilla forces and the government during the civil war. Although Protestant sects have been making headway in El Salvador the vast majority of the nation is still Roman Catholic. The village of La Palma is well known for being an art haven. The population of the town is mostly composed of artisans that create handicrafts depicting scenes of daily village life. The village was founded in the 1970s by an artist named Fernando Llort who was well known for his colorful paintings. Handicrafts from La Palma are sold worldwide. Like much of Latin America, soccer is very popular in El Salvador. Salvadorans can become very passionate about soccer. In 1969, a soccer game between Honduras and El Salvador was partially responsible for a war between the two countries. References: (Lonely Planet Worldguide-El Salvador. 20 Nov. 2003. Lonely Planet. 2003. < http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/central_america/el_salvador/printable.html>) ("El Salvador," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003. 20 Nov. 2003. <http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761557648/El_Salvador.html.>) (El Salvador vs Honduras; The "Soccer" War, 1969-Central and Latin American Database. 25 Nov. 2003. Air Combat Information Group. 2003. <http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_156.shtml>) (El Salvador Sports and Recreation. 25 Nov. 2003. Settlement.org. 2003. <http://www.settlement.org/op/english/elsalvador/sports.html>) (La Palma El Salvador-Webtourist. 25 Nov. 2003. Rough Guides Ltd. 2003. <http://www.webtourist.net/dest/la+palma-el+salvador-tourist-information.phtml>) (El Salvador Arts and Literature. 25 Nov. 2003. Settlement.org. 2003. <http://www.settlement.org/op/english/elsalvador/arts.html>) (El Salvador--Culture Overview. 25 Nov. 2003. Bensenville Community Public Library. 2002. <http://www.expedition.bensenville.lib.ll.us/CentralAmerica/ElSalvador/culture.htm>)