--- tags: country --- # 🇸🇻 El Salvador (USD) | Key | Value | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Location:](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/print_es.html) | Central America, bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and Honduras | | [Capital City:](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/print_es.html) | San Salvador | | [Goverment Type:](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/print_es.html) | Presidential Republic | | [Border Countries:](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/print_rw.html) | Guatemala 199 km, Honduras 391 km | | [CODE:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar) | USD | | [SYMBOL:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar) | $ | | [BANKNOTES:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar) | $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 | | [COINS:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar) | 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢ | | [CENTRAL BANK:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar) | [Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador](https://www.bcr.gob.sv/esp/) | ## Background The smallest country in Central America geographically, El Salvador has the fourth largest economy in the region. [^cia] A challenge in El Salvador has been developing new growth sectors for a more diversified economy. As many other former colonies, for many years El Salvador was considered a monoexporter economy, an economy that depended heavily on one type of export. [^economy] - Economic sectors - Remittances - Agriculture - Manufacturing - Services [^economy] ## Demographic Content - El Salvador population is equivalent to 0.08% of the total world population [^worldometers] - [Nationality](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/print_es.html): Salvadoran(s) - Even if it's the smallest country in land area in Central America, El Salvador has a population that is 18 times larger than Belize | Year | Population Size (000's) | Gender | Population by Gender | |:---------------:|:-----------------------:|:------:|:----------:| | 2000 | 5864.8 | Male | 2826.0 | | | | Female | 3038.8 | | 2020 | 6491.2 | Male | 3046.0 | | | | Female | 3445.2 | | 2040 (forecast) | 6715.7 | Male | 3122.9 | | | | Female | 3592.8 | - High population density country-wide, with particular concentration around the capital of San Salvador [^cia] > El Salvador does not have the necessary mechanisms in place to offer everyone in the cities the resources and services they need to pursue a better life. Instead, urban poverty is growing and living conditions continue to deteriorate. [^voices_el-salvador] | Year [^w_meters] | Urban Pop % | Urban Pop | Rural Pop % | Rural Pop | | ---------------- | ----------- | --------- | ----------- | --------- | | 2000 | 58.7 % | 3,456,741 | 41.3 | 2408.0 | | 2020 | 73.4 % | 4,758,508 | 26.6 | 1732.6 | | 2040 (forecast) | 83.2 % | 5,769,688 | 16.8 | 946.012 | > Poverty, violence, and health are all variables that interact with one another to create the reality of city life in El Salvador today. [^voices_el-salvador] ### [Languages](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/print_es.html): - Spanish (official) - Nawat (among some Amerindians) ### Education ## Payments SVC is the currency abbreviation for the El Salvador colón, which was the official currency for El Salvador from 1892 to 2001. [^investopedia] The dollar became legal tender along with the colón. Because El Salvador is unable to print its own dollars, it instituted an educational program to help its citizens understand the value of the currency denominations. The colón has never officially been removed from circulation as legal tender. [^investopedia] ### Services - List of payment services with links to their profiles ### User Journies - User Journey of each of the major payment services ## Bitcoin Bitcoin was adopted in El Zonte as an alternative when El Salvador economy was affected by COVID-19. People in El Zonte can pay for utilities, groceries, food and transport with Bitcoin. > - As we injected bitcoin into the community, we also taught local businesses how to accept it and helped educate them on the advantages and drawbacks of accepting bitcoin… There was a lot of resistance among the adults. [It was] too technical, so we moved on to youth and they picked it up right away. The key is to get them to start transacting right away. Then, they want to learn more about it, the security of it, and how it works. > Michael Peterson [^bitcoin_news] > - Originally, it didn’t make sense for 25 cent transactions, but it did for five dollars. But when the transaction costs ramped up again, we switched over to the Lightning Network. > Michael Peterson [^bitcoin_news] With our research in El Salvador we would like to figure out: - What were the motivations for implementing Bitcoin - What were the challenges with implementation - What are the benefits - Pain points for adopting Bitcoin ### P2P Market Volumes - Paxful, Local Bitcoin, etc. ### On/Off Ramp Expereince - Dairy Studies - Talk with community ### Services - Bitcoin Services operating in the country ### Community - List of community groups ## REF [^wittgenstein_centre]: http://dataexplorer.wittgensteincentre.org/wcde-v2/ [^worldometers]: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/el-salvador-population/ [^cia]: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/print_es.html [^voices_el-salvador]: https://voiceselsalvador.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/cities-el-salvadors-growing-problem/ [^economy]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_El_Salvador [^investopedia]: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/forex/s/svc-el-salvador-colon.asp [^bitcoin_news]: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/el-zonte-aims-to-be-the-first-bitcoin-village/