Demographic profile
El Salvador is the 110th most populous of the 238 countries and territories tracked on this site, home to about 0.08% of everyone alive. Within Central America, it ranks 5 of 8.
Each day brings roughly 293 births and 122 deaths, adding about 62,456 people over a year. At the current natural-increase rate of 0.9% annually, the population would double in roughly 78 years if the rate held. Real trajectories bend as fertility, mortality and migration shift, which is why the chart below shows both history and projection.
Among its first-level divisions, the largest by our modelled allocation is Sonsonate, holding an estimated 25.9% of the national population. The full breakdown of all 14 states and regions is in the table below — regional figures outside Sudan are modelled estimates built on real region names, and are flagged as such.
Literacy stands near 88.0% and adult smoking prevalence around 11.0%, with life expectancy at about 69.7 years. Baselines come from UN World Population Prospects, the World Bank, WHO surveys, WorldPop and HDX; the counters project them forward in real time — the method, and every caveat, is documented on our data sources page.
Quick answers
What is the population of El Salvador in 2026? Approximately 6,904,933 people (live projection; the counter above updates every second).
How fast is El Salvador growing? About 0.9% per year — roughly 293 births and 122 deaths every day.
What share of the world lives in El Salvador? Around 0.08% — ranked 110 worldwide by population.