El Salvador’s natural vegetation varies with elevation and climate. Pine-oak forests and cloud forests occur in the higher mountains, while tropical dry forests dominate many lower elevations and Pacific slopes. Mangrove forests line parts of the Pacific coast, providing important habitat for birds, fish, and other wildlife. The maquilishuat, the national tree, and the izote, the national flower, are among the country’s best-known native plants.
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Despite its relatively small size, El Salvador supports a diverse array of wildlife, including monkeys, deer, armadillos, coyotes, reptiles, amphibians, and hundreds of bird species. American crocodiles inhabit some coastal wetlands and estuaries, while sea turtles nest along parts of the Pacific coast. Centuries of deforestation, agricultural expansion, and urbanization have reduced natural habitats, but national parks and protected areas continue to play an important role in conserving the country’s biodiversity.
People
Ethnic groups
The intermarriage of Spanish settlers with the Indigenous population of the region has resulted in a largely ethnically homogeneous people. Almost nine-tenths of the population is mestizo (people of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry); the remainder consists of Indigenous peoples (including the Izalco and, from the village of Panchimalco, the Pancho), people of European ancestry, and other small groups.
Languages
Spanish is the official language of El Salvador. During the precolonial epoch various Indigenous dialects were spoken, the most important of these being Nahuatl, spoken in the central region of the country, and Poton, spoken in the east. After the initial conquest, Spanish became the official language, and the Indigenous dialects slowly fell into disuse. A government effort was made to preserve Nahuatl, but it proved unsuccessful.
Religion
About one-half of Salvadorans are Roman Catholics. Since the 1990s Evangelical Protestantism has made inroads, particularly among the poor, and by the 2010s more than one-third of Salvadorans were Protestants. There are also smaller groups who practice other faiths.
Settlement patterns
More than three-fourths of the Salvadoran population lives in the intermontane basins of the central highlands. For millennia before the Spanish conquest, these areas supported large communities of Indigenous people dependent on the cultivation of crops such as corn (maize), beans, and squash. The ruins at Chalchuapa, Sihuatán, and Cara Sucia are the legacy of their communities. The major Spanish colonial settlements, which became the country’s principal cities, were also situated in these central basins and include Santa Ana, Ahuachapán, San Salvador, San Vicente, and San Miguel. This concentration of population was perpetuated during the colonial period by the commercial production of indigo and sugar on private estates, owned by a few wealthy families, alongside the continuing subsistence farming by small agriculturalists. From the 19th century these basins and their surrounding slopes provided an ideal environment for the cultivation of coffee, which became the basis of the national economy.
In the 20th century, urban growth and industrialization increased the concentration in the highland center of the country. San Salvador grew rapidly in the 20th century and absorbed many surrounding settlements; its major conurbation now stretches continuously from Nueva San Salvador in the west to Lake Ilopango in the east and contains about one-fourth of the total population. In the east, San Miguel, located on the slope of the volcano San Miguel, is a thriving city where Spanish colonial and modern architecture merge. The city of Santa Ana is the commercial center of western El Salvador. By the 2020s nearly three-fourths of the national population was living in urban areas. This distribution of population has been exacerbated by the effects of natural disasters; most of these cities have been subject to one or more destructive earthquakes. Moreover, the overpopulation in the central highlands has resulted in out-migration to the coastal plain, which since 1945 has been transformed by extensive cotton farming and cattle breeding. Another region that suffers from overpopulation, the northern highlands has experienced severe deforestation and soil degradation as well. The majority of the people who live there are subsistence farmers.
Demographic trends
Severe economic conditions complicated by the civil war that began in 1981 caused dramatic changes in El Salvador’s demographics. It is estimated that about one-fifth of the population left the country, departing in about equal numbers for neighboring countries and the United States. Most of the emigrants have not returned to their homeland (though there has been an increase in the number of deportations of undocumented Salvadorans from the United States since the early 2000s). Among the remaining population there was massive displacement characterized by a general movement of people from the conflict zones in the north and east to the central cities. The emigration of many young Salvadorans has brought an accompanying decline in the rate of natural increase. At the beginning of the 21st century, El Salvador had a low rate of natural increase. Nevertheless, overcrowding remains a severe problem.