Demographics of El Salvador

Demographics Of El Salvador

This article is about the demographic features of the population of El Salvador, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

El Salvador's population numbers about 6,071,774 with 86% of Salvadorans are mixed (mixed Native American Indigenous and European Spanish origin by majority. The Salvadorans of mixed ancestry vary in their Native American Indigenous and European ancestry 12% of Salvadorans are white; population is mostly of Spanish, while there is also of French, German, Swiss, English, Irish, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch and Danish descent. The majority of Central European immigrants arrived during World War II as refugees Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Switzerland are scattered in different communities of El Salvador. About 1% is of indigenous origin (Mayan, Pipil and Lenca). Very few Amerindians have retained their customs and traditions, having over time assimilated into the dominant Mestizo/Spanish culture. In the Mestizo population, Salvadorans who are racially European, especially Mediterranean, as well as Afro-Salvadoran, and the indigenous people in El Salvador who do not speak indigenous languages or have and indigenous culture, all identify themselves as Mestizo culturally.

The low numbers of indigenous people may be partly explained by mass murder during the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising (or La Matanza) which saw (estimates of) up to 30,000 peasants killed in a short period of time (nowadays this would be considered a genocide by the army's methods to exterminate a certain racial group). Many authors note that since La Matanza the indigenous in El Salvador have been very reluctant to describe themselves as such (in census declarations for example) or to wear indigenous dress or be seen to be taking part in any cultural activities or customs that might be understood as indigenous.

There is a significant population of Palestinian Christian, Turkish and Chinese immigrants. There is also a small community of Jews and Muslims. A small portion of Salvadorans have Middle Eastern and Arab ancestries that include Lebanon, Syria, and the majority come from Palestine especially from Bethlehem, that immigrated to El Salvador.

Catholicism is the majority religion in El Salvador at 57.1%. Protestant groups compromise 21.2% of the population. Individual groups that constitute less than 5 percent of the population include Jehovah's Witnesses 1.9%, and Mormons 0.7%. A sizable 16.8% population claim no religious affiliation in El Salvador.

Spanish is the language spoken by virtually all inhabitants. The capital city of San Salvador and the other thirteen municipalities that have joined as a metropolitan area have a population of 2.3million people; an estimated 30.3% of El Salvador's population live in rural areas. The total impact of civil wars, dictatorships and socioeconomics drove over a million Salvadorans (both as immigrants and refugees) into the US; in addition small Salvadoran communities sprung up in Canada, Panama, Costa Rica, Europe and Australia since the migration trend began in the early 1970s. The 2010 U.S. Census counted 1,648,968 Salvadorans in the United States, up from 655,165 in 2000.