Urban population in El Salvador
El Salvador: Urban population was 4.81 million in 2025. ▲ Rising
Urban population in El Salvador, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
Analysis
El Salvador recorded 4.81 million for urban population in 2025. That is the highest value across all 66 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.0% on the previous year and up 11.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, urban population in El Salvador peaked at 4.81 million in 2025 and was at its lowest, 1.07 million, in 1960.
That places El Salvador 100th out of 215 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1.23 million | 1.07 million | 1.40 million | 10 |
| 1970s | 1.66 million | 1.45 million | 1.90 million | 10 |
| 1980s | 2.22 million | 1.94 million | 2.56 million | 10 |
| 1990s | 2.98 million | 2.64 million | 3.29 million | 10 |
| 2000s | 3.63 million | 3.36 million | 3.90 million | 10 |
| 2010s | 4.26 million | 3.97 million | 4.51 million | 10 |
| 2020s | 4.68 million | 4.55 million | 4.81 million | 6 |
Countries ranked near El Salvador
More climate change data for El Salvador
- Population growth 0.4% (2025)
- Population, total 6.37 million (2025)
- Urban population growth 1.0% (2025)
- Urban population 75.5% (2025)
- Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million 17.8% (2025)
- Annual freshwater withdrawals, total 1.94 billion cubic meters (2022)
- Annual freshwater withdrawals, total 12.4% (2022)
- Terrestrial protected areas 8.3% (2025)
- Terrestrial and marine protected areas 2.1% (2025)
- Marine protected areas 0.8% (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is urban population in El Salvador?
- Urban population in El Salvador was 4.81 million in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest urban population recorded in El Salvador?
- The highest recorded value was 4.81 million in 2025.
- What is the lowest urban population recorded in El Salvador?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.07 million in 1960.
- How does El Salvador rank for urban population?
- El Salvador ranks 100th out of 215 countries with data for 2025.
- Is urban population rising or falling in El Salvador?
- Over the last ten years it is up 11.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this El Salvador data come from?
- The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Urban population. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Urban population refers to people living in urban areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated using World Bank population estimates and urban ratios from the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.