El Salvador
Today El Salvador is a republic in which the people vote in free elections. There are 6.9 million Salvadorans, and the capital, San Salvador, has 1.8 million people. 90% of the population is mestizo (mulitracial of Indian or African and Spanish descent), while only 1 % are Indian, living mostly in the mountains. In the past few years, there have been occasional conflicts with Honduras over border and refugee issues. El Salvador has been affected by a series of natural disasters, including a 1998 hurricane that left 30,000 homeless and a recent drought which destroyed 80% of the crops. In 2001, two powerful earthquakes hit within one month of each other, damaging 20% of all homes, killing over a thousand people, and directly affecting one million others. The aftermath of the civil war and these natural disasters has left the government struggling to take care of the needs of its people.Some people live comfortably, while many others live in poverty. However, economic and educational reforms introduced in the 1990s have begun to take effect. El Salvador recently signed a free trade agreement with the U.S., and in 2001 it adopted the U.S. dollar as its currency in hopes of improving its economy. Today El Salvador has the third largest economy in Central America.
