El Salvador Population

El Salvador's fertility has fallen below the replacement level, lower than anywhere in Central America except Costa Rica, which is remarkable for the region. Decades of emigration, first from civil war and then from gang violence, have left a diaspora so large that roughly a fifth of Salvadorans live abroad, mostly in the United States. The population is projected to peak in the late 2040s, among the earliest in the region.

With roughly 6.4 million people as of 2026, El Salvador ranks 113th in the world by population. Set in Central America, its demographic path this century turns on the balance of births, deaths and migration. It packs in roughly 308 people per square kilometre.

Growth continues for El Salvador until around 2048, the year its population is set to crest at about 6.7 million. From there a slow fall takes it to roughly 5.1 million by century's end.

With fertility near 1.77, just under the 2.1 replacement mark, natural increase is fading. Emigration adds a further drag, as departures outnumber arrivals year to year.

The median age is set to climb from about 27 today to roughly 50 by 2100, while life expectancy, near 72 years, keeps rising. That ageing slowly changes everything from the size of the workforce to the cost of care and pensions.

All of this is a projection, not a prediction. The further out it runs the wider the plausible range becomes, which is why El Salvador's charts show a low-to-high band around the central line.