| El Salvador |
Missionaries
Scott and Melissa Williams
• Involvement: children and youth evangelism and discipleship
• website: http://www.hisheartscry.com
• City: San Salvador
Joseph Newell
• Involvement: children and youth evangelism
• City: San Salvador
Ken and Michelle Desaulniers
• Involvement: children and youth evangelism
• City: San Salvador
National name: República de El Salvador
President: Antonio Saca (2004)
Land area: 8,000 sq mi (20,720 sq km);total area: 8,124 sq mi (21,040 sq km)
Population (2007 est.): 6,939,688 (growth rate: 1.7%); birth rate: 26.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 23.7/1000; life expectancy: 71.8; density per sq mi: 867
Capital and largest city (2003 est.): San Salvador, 1,791,700 (metro. area), 504,700 (city proper)
Other large cities: Santa Ana, 167,200; San Miguel, 145,100; Zacatecoluca, 36,700
Monetary units: Colón; U.S. dollar
Languages: Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians)
Ethnicity/race: mestizo 90%, white 9%, Amerindian 1%
Religions: Catholics 83%; growing population of evangelical Protestants (1992)
Literacy rate: 80% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $33.68 billion; per capita $4,900.Real growth rate: 4.9%.Inflation: 4.3%.Unemployment: 6.0%—but the economy has much underemployment.Arable land: 32%.Agriculture:coffee, sugar, corn, rice, beans, oilseed, cotton, sorghum; beef, dairy products; shrimp.Labor force: 2.86 million; agriculture 9.7%, industry 29.6%, services 60.7% (2006 est.).Industries:food processing, beverages, petroleum, chemicals, fertilizer, textiles, furniture, light metals.Natural resources: hydropower, geothermal power, petroleum, arable land. Exports:$3.686 billion (2006 est.): offshore assembly exports, coffee, sugar, shrimp, textiles, chemicals, electricity.Imports:$7.326 billion (2006 est.): raw materials, consumer goods, capital goods, fuels, foodstuffs, petroleum, electricity.Major trading partners:U.S., Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 971,500 (2005); mobile cellular: 2.412 million (2005).Radio broadcast stations:AM 61 (plus 24 repeaters), FM 30, shortwave 0 (1998).Television broadcast stations: 5 (1997).Internet hosts: 4,682 (2006).Internet users: 637,100 (2005).
Transportation: Railways:total: 562 km; note: railways not in operation since 2005 because of disuse and lack of maintenance due to high costs (2007).Highways:total: 10,866 km; paved: 2,827 km (including 327 km of expressways); unpaved: 8,059 km (2000 est.).Waterways:Rio Lempa partially navigable (2004).Ports and harbors: Acajutla, Puerto Cutuco.Airports: 75 (2006 est.).
International disputes: in 1992, the ICJ ruled on the delimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along the El Salvador-Honduras boundary, but despite 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.
