ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in El Salvador. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in El Salvador. Citizens can change their government democratically. El Salvador is also the source and transit country for trafficking in persons, primarily women and girls, who are sent to Guatemala and other Central American countries. El Salvador's criminal code specifically prohibits trafficking in persons, and the penalties for doing so are comparable to those for rape and forcible sexual assault. The problem of gang membership continues to be one of the most pressing public safety issues in El Salvador, home to Central America's best-organized and most virulent juvenile delinquency.
