El Salvador Country Information

Fact and Figures

Location - Central America, bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and Honduras

Capital - San Salvador

Population - 6 million

People - Mestizo [mixed Amerindian & White] 90%, White 9%, Amerindian 1%

Language - Spanish, Nahua

Religion - Roman Catholic 83%, other 17%

Literacy rate - 80.2%

Life expectancy - 73.1 years

% Living below $1/day - 19%

Sources The CIA World Fact Book 2008, Compassion International, www.news.bbc.co.uk

El Salvador

El Salvador is the smallest, but also one of the most violent, countries in Central America. It is still recovering from the twelve-year civil war which cost over 70,000 lives. In 1992 a peace agreement ended the war, but as the country began to recover, it was hit by two earthquakes and two major droughts that caused more suffering.

Despite political reforms the inequality between the wealthy elite and the poor majority, which was the cause of the war, still exists. Crime, poverty, social instability and insecurity are daily ingredients of life, with the economy depending heavily on the money sent home by Salvadorians living in the United States.

This emigration of the labour force has a major impact on families, leaving the women to raise their children alone. These children are often more vulnerable to gang violence, drug abuse and exploitation.

Plunging coffee prices have also forced plantations to cut production and lay off workers. The resulting poverty, which affects mostly the rural sector, has a significant impact on children, especially in terms of access to adequate nutrition, water and sanitation.

Compassion began its work in El Salvador in 1977 and currently helps nearly 35,840 children in over 158 projects. Our goal is to give the children in El Salvador the opportunity to rise above their circumstances and become all God has created them to be.

Compassion El Salvador currently has 5 Child Survival Programmes.

Over 35,840 children are currently being assisted in more than 158 Child Sponsorship Programmes in El Salvador.

Compassion El Salvador does not have any Leadership Development Programme students yet.