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Country overview: 

Short name	EL SALVADOR
ISO code	SV
FIPS code	ES
Language	Spanish (es)
Time zone	-6
Capital	San Salvador

 

El Salvador has been an independent country since 1841. There has been no change to the names, number, or capitals of its departments in the 20th century. The capital of La Libertad has had two names, but they have both been in use throughout the century.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: El Salvador
2. Dutch: El Salvador, Republiek El Salvador (formal)
3. English: Republic of El Salvador (formal), Salvador (obsolete)
4. Finnish: El Salvador
5. French: El Salvador m, Salvador m
6. German: El Salvador n
7. Italian: El Salvador m
8. Norwegian: El Salvador, Republikken El Salvador (formal)
9. Portuguese: El Salvador, Salvador, República f de El Salvador m (formal), República f do Salvador m (formal)
10. Russian: Республика Эль-Сальвадор (formal), Сальвадор
11. Spanish: El Salvador, República f de El Salvador m (formal)
12. Swedish: El Salvador
13. Turkish: El Salvador Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

After the city of San Salvador, Spanish for Holy Savior, in honor of Christ

Primary subdivisions: 

El Salvador is divided into fourteen departamentos (departments).

Department	HASC	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Ahuachapán	SV.AH	ES01	319,503	1,240	479	Ahuachapán
Cabañas	SV.CA	ES02	149,326	1,104	426	Sensuntepeque
Chalatenango	SV.CH	ES03	192,788	2,017	779	Chalatenango
Cuscatlán	SV.CU	ES04	231,480	756	292	Cojutepeque
La Libertad	SV.LI	ES05	660,652	1,653	638	Nueva San Salvador (Santa Tecla)
La Paz	SV.PA	ES06	308,087	1,224	472	Zacatecoluca
La Unión	SV.UN	ES07	238,217	2,074	801	La Unión
Morazán	SV.MO	ES08	174,406	1,447	559	San Francisco Gotera
San Miguel	SV.SM	ES09	434,003	2,077	802	San Miguel
San Salvador	SV.SS	ES10	1,567,156	886	342	San Salvador
Santa Ana	SV.SA	ES11	523,655	2,023	781	Santa Ana
San Vicente	SV.SV	ES12	161,645	1,184	457	San Vicente
Sonsonate	SV.SO	ES13	438,960	1,225	473	Sonsonate
Usulután	SV.US	ES14	344,235	2,130	823	Usulután
14 departments			5,744,113	21,040	8,124
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the department codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 2007-05-22 census.

Postal codes: 

The Universal Postal Union's document states that El Salvador uses five-digit postal codes, in which the first two digits indicate the department. I have not been able to find actual examples of their use.

Further subdivisions:

See the Municipios of El Salvador page.

Territorial extent: 

There are long-standing boundary disputes between El Salvador and Honduras.

La Unión includes some islands in the Gulf of Fonseca, of which the largest are Isla Meanguera, Isla Conchagüita, and Isla Zacatillo.

The UN LOCODE page  for El Salvador lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

1. Cabañas: Spanish for huts, cabins.
2. La Libertad: Spanish for liberty.
3. La Paz: Spanish for peace.
4. La Unión: Spanish for union, unity.
5. Morazán: Named for Francisco Morazán (1799-1842), Central American revolutionary.
6. San Salvador: Spanish for Holy Savior.

Population history:

Department	1930	1950-06-13	1961-05-02	1971-06-28	1981	1992-09-27	2007-05-22
Ahuachapán	79,033	94,646	130,710	183,682	241,323	260,563	319,503
Cabañas	59,081	77,628	94,590	139,312	179,909	136,293	149,326
Chalatenango	83,216	105,859	129,897	186,003	235,757	180,627	192,788
Cuscatlán	83,363	90,099	113,042	158,458	203,978	167,290	231,480
La Libertad	118,360	144,004	203,480	293,076	388,538	522,071	660,652
La Paz	85,632	96,843	130,659	194,196	249,635	246,147	308,087
La Unión	74,568	109,715	148,108	230,103	309,879	251,143	238,217
Morazán	75,661	96,729	119,381	170,706	215,163	166,772	174,406
San Miguel	126,582	171,234	231,821	337,325	434,047	380,442	434,003
San Salvador	191,125	296,452	463,228	681,656	979,683	1,477,766	1,567,156
Santa Ana	154,493	202,455	259,155	375,186	445,462	451,620	523,655
San Vicente	77,724	87,577	112,920	160,534	206,959	135,471	161,645
Sonsonate	100,217	120,327	166,932	239,688	321,989	354,641	438,960
Usulután	125,306	162,349	207,061	304,369	399,912	317,079	344,235
Totals	1,434,361	1,855,917	2,510,984	3,654,294	4,812,234	5,047,925	5,744,113

Sources: 

1. [1] 1930 census data from Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1951 edition.
2. [2] 1950 census data from Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955 (retrieved 2011-08-20).
3. [3] 1961 census data from Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1964 edition.
4. [4] 1971 census data from The Statesman's Year-Book 1977-78, ed. John Paxton. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1977.
5. [5] 1981 population estimates from The Statesman's Yearbook 1988-89, ed. John Paxton. St. Martin's Press, New York 1988. It notes that San Vicente's estimate is for 1980.
6. [6] 1992 census data from The Statesman's Yearbook 1997-98, ed. Brian Hunter. St. Martin's Press, New York 1997.
7. [7] 2007 census data from http://sig.censos.gob.sv/outdescargas/Resultados%20VI%20Censo%20de%20Población%20V%20de%20Vivienda%202007.pdf (dead link. retrieved 2008-06-05).