El Salvador

Salvadorans are overwhelmingly of mixed European and Indigenous (Mestizo) heritage. Spanish is the official language, and a vast diaspora lives in the United States.

Roman Catholicism is the traditional faith, with a large and growing evangelical Protestant minority.

Society

El Salvador has a young population and moderate literacy; a dramatic recent crackdown on gangs has slashed homicides that had made it one of the world's most violent countries, though at a civil-liberties cost.