Religion in El Salvador
RELIGION IN EL SALVADOR Country Summary This is the smallest of the Spanish-speaking countries in Central America, bordered by Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua in the north, east and south, respectively. El Salvador, known as Cuscatlán ("Land of the Jewel") by the indigenous peoples, is a spectacular land of volcanoes, rolling hills and lakes, with a long uninterrupted beach along the Pacific coast. The country has an area of 8,124 square miles (21,040 km 2) and a population of 5,744,113 (2007 census). El Salvador has the highest population density in Central America. The nation is divided into 14 departments, which have a total of 262 municipalities. In 2004, approximately 3.2 million Salvadorans were living outside El Salvador, with the USA traditionally being the destination of choice for Salvadorans looking for greater economic opportunities. Many Salvadorans also live in neighboring Central American countries. The majority of expatriates emigrated during the civil war of the 1980s for political reasons and later because of adverse economic and social conditions in El Salvador. The nation’s largest city and its capital is San Salvador, founded in 1545. Today, there are 1,566,629 inhabitants in the San Salvador Metropolitan Area , which is composed of the municipality of San Salvador and the surrounding urban area of 18 municipalities in the Department of San Salvador. Spanish is the nation’s official language and is spoken by virtually all inhabitants. Only a few indigenous people still speak their native tongues, but all speak Spanish as well. An estimated 90 percent of Salvadorans are mestizo (mixed Amerindian and Spanish origin) and culturally known as ladino ; nine percent are reported to be White: this population is mostly of Spanish descent but it includes others of European and North American descent (mainly French, German, Swiss and Italian); and only about one percent is Amerindian.
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