El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America and the only one without a Caribbean coastline. It is known for its surf culture along the Pacific coast, the ancient Maya city of Joya de Cerén (preserved by volcanic ash and called the 'Pompeii of the Americas'), and its chain of active volcanoes. El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021.
Population and area are rounded.
The blue and white stripes come from the flag of the Federal Republic of Central America (1823–1841); the blue stands for the oceans that surrounded the federation. The coat of arms shows a triangle with five volcanoes for the former member states, a red cap of liberty and a rainbow, with the motto “Dios, Unión, Libertad”. The flag was adopted in 1912.
Horizontal blue-white-blue with the coat of arms in the white centre stripe.
El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and the most densely populated.
El Salvador's flag is often mixed up with these. Learn to tell them apart:
Every flag that has flown over El Salvador, from today back through time.
El Salvador's blue-white-blue horizontal tricolor and its coat of arms (five volcanoes between two oceans, a rainbow, and the motto "God, Union, Liberty") were standardised in 1912. Like all Central American nations, the design descends from the Federal Republic flag. The blue represents the Pacific and Atlantic; the white represents peace. El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America.
For nearly four decades El Salvador flew a flag modelled directly on the United States — alternating blue and white horizontal stripes with a red canton bearing white stars. It was a striking departure from the Central American blue-white-blue, and was abandoned in 1912 when the country returned to the federation-style tricolor it still uses today.
El Salvador was part of the five-nation Federal Republic of Central America after independence from Spain. The federation's flag became the shared ancestor of all five Central American states' flags. El Salvador in particular saw intense conflict between Liberals and Conservatives throughout the 19th century, with the flag's exact form changing repeatedly before the 1912 standardisation.
Empires, kingdoms and republics that once covered part of El Salvador.
Its blue-white-blue stripes survive almost unchanged in the flags of Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. White stood for the land between the two oceans.
The first union of the Central American provinces after independence from Mexico, flying the blue-white-blue bands that preceded the Federal Republic and survive in five modern flags.
A short-lived attempt to reunify Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador; its blue-white-blue flag carried five volcanoes and stars before the union dissolved within two years.
The 14 states, provinces and regions of El Salvador with their own flags.
Ahuachapán
Cabañas
Chalatenango
Cuscatlán
La Libertad
Morazán
La Paz
Santa Ana
San Miguel
Sonsonate
San Salvador
San Vicente
La Unión
UsulutánEl Salvador shares a land border with 2 countries: Guatemala and Honduras.
9 other national flags use the same main colours as El Salvador's.
Play Globalio and learn El Salvador's flag
Honduras
Nicaragua
Guatemala
Finland
Greece
Israel
Micronesia
San Marino
Somalia