The population of El Salvador increased from 1.9 million inhabitants in 1950 to 4.7 million in 1984. El Salvador has lacked authoritative demographic data for many years because between 1992 and 2007 a national census had not been undertaken.

Before the 2009 census, patterns in population growth led many officials (including within the Salvadoran government) to estimate the country’s population size at between 7.1 and 7.2 million people. However, on May 12, 2008, El Salvador’s Ministry of Economy released statistics gathered in the census of the previous May. These data present a surprisingly low figure for the total population — 7,185,218. Challenges to the 2009 census on a number of grounds are forthcoming.

The entire country is composed predominantly of Mestizo, mixed indigenous Native American/Europe ancestry, Whites, and indigenous peoples. 90%-86% of Salvadorans are mixed (mixed Native American and European origin) the major hybrid mix, Salvadorans of mixed ancestry, can varied differently from European and Native American background ancestry.

In the Mestizo population, Salvadorans who are racially indigenous who do not speak indigenous languages or have and indigenous culture, Salvadorans who are racially European, especially Mediterranean, and Salvadorans of partial Nordic race all identify themselves as Mestizo culturally.

17% of Salvadorans are white; 12% in which the population is mostly of Spanish. The additional 5% of White Salvadoran includes people of French, German, Swiss, English, Irish, Italian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch and Central European descent.

The majority of Central European immigrants arrived during World War II as refugees Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, and Switzerland scattered all over El Salvador. Russians came in during the Salvadoran civil war during the cold war, to help the communist guerrillas take over the country, as did Americans, Australians, and Canadians when they helped the military government fight against the communists.

El Salvador is 1% indigenous, mostly Mayan, Pipil, Lenca and Kakawira (Cacaopera). The low numbers of indigenous people may be explained by mass murder during the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising (or La Matanza) which saw (estimates of) up to 30,000 peasants killed in a short period of time (nowadays this would be considered a genocide by the army’s methods to exterminate a certain racial group).

Other ethnic groups include Arabs, Europeans, Jews, North Americans, Central Americans, South American, Caribbean and a small group of Asians.

El Salvador is the only Central American country that has no visible or significant African population because of its lack of an Atlantic coastline and attendant access to the slave trade which occurred along the east coast of the continent.

This lack of Afro-Salvadoran population is also due to la law imposed by the spanish and Criollos around XVII century after a slave revolt, and which was sustained by authorities even after the independence from Spain in 1821 and abolished almost up until the end on XX century, in which it didn’t permit people of African descendent to enter the country unless it was absolutely necessary.

In addition, General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez instituted race laws in 1930 that prohibited four ethnic groups blacks, Gypsies, Asians, and Arabs, from entering the country and that certain people Lebanese, Syrian, Palestine and Turkish, were not allowed to enter El Salvador unless they were of European ancestry and it was not until the 1980s that this law was removed.

Regardless of these racial laws, Afro-Salvadorans are present in a some areas due to immigrants arriving from neighboring countries like Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua who eventually mixed in with the population, and immigrants from Palestinian Christians are today one of the most noticeable groups in El Salvador.

According to the book “Seeing Indians -A Study of Race, Nation, and Power in El Salvador” by Viginia Q. Tilley, on page 210 it states

“…no twentieth-century law or regulation ever prohibited the entry, settlement, or patriation of blacks, under the Martinez dictatorship or any other regime.”

In any case, there have been several publications presenting information about Africans in what is now El Salvador during the colonial period.

Among the immigrant groups that have been reaching El Salvador, Palestinian Christians stand out. Though few in number, their descendants have attained great economic and political power in the country, as evidenced by ex-president Antonio Saca — whose opponent in the 2004 election, Schafik Handal, was likewise of Palestinian descent — and the flourishing commercial, industrial, and construction firms owned by this ethnic group.

The capital city of San Salvador has about 2.1 million people; an estimated 42% of El Salvador’s population live in rural areas. Urbanization expanded at a phenomenal rate in El Salvador since the 1960s, driving millions to the cities and creating growth problems for cities around the country.

In the first half of 2007 La Policía Nacional Civil of El Salvador statistics showed lower numbers in homicide and extortions as well as robbery and theft of vehicles. In 2007 homicides in El Salvador had reduced 22%, extortions reduced 7%, and robbery and theft of vehicles had gone down 18%, all in comparison with the same period in 2006. However in 2009, there had been an increase in homicides and extortions of about 30% more than in 2008 according to some statistics.

As of 2004, there were approximately 3.2 million Salvadorans living outside El Salvador, with the U.S. traditionally being the destination of choice for Salvadorans looking for greater economic opportunity. By 2009, there were about 1.6 million Salvadoran immigrants and Americans of Salvadoran descent in the United States, making them the sixth largest immigrant group in the country.

Salvadorans also live in nearby Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The majority of expatriates emigrated during the civil war of the 1980s for political reasons and later because of adverse economic and social conditions. Other countries with notable Salvadoran communities include Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom (including the Cayman Islands), Sweden, Brazil, Italy, Colombia, and Australia.

There is also a large community of Nicaraguans, 100,000 according to some figures; many of them are seasonal immigrants.