El Salvador

  • Current People in Need
    1.1 million
  • Current People Targeted
    496.6 thousand
  • Current Requirements (US$)
    $98.4 million
People in Need at launch (Dec. 2022)
1.1 million
People Targeted at launch (Dec. 2022)
496,600
Requirements (US$) at launch (Dec. 2022)
98.4 million
Total Population
6.3 million
Income level
Lower middle income
INFORM Severity Index
4.3 / Medium
Consecutive appeals
2021 - 2023

Analysis of the context, crisis and needs

El Salvador is among the countries most affected by weather-related hazards worldwide, incurring annual losses of around 2.5 per cent of GDP. Changes in rainfall patterns and more intense drought and floods cause significant losses in agriculture and livestock. Over the past three decades, the impacts of climate change have cost the Salvadoran economy more than US$2.2 billion in lost productivity, according to the Inter-American Development Bank. Without immediate action to curb the impacts of climate change, El Salvador’s GDP could fall by up to 7 per cent by 2030.

El Salvador has historically experienced alarming levels of violence, which have been curbed by a state of exception (emergency decree) that came into effect in late March 2022 on the heels of a spike in violence. Over the following six months, more than 50,000 people were arrested under the emergency decree, leading to accusations of human rights violations.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development has identified El Salvador as the Latin American country most vulnerable to the impacts of the war in Ukraine. Since February 2022, the price of oil, cereals and wheat has increased by 58.1 per cent, 37.3 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.

A heavier than usual rainy season and the recurrent impact of tropical storms in 2022, on top of an already heavily soiled terrain, will significantly impact crop production and consequently levels of food insecurity and malnutrition.

Projected situation in 2023 and beyond

Forecasts indicate a continuation of or an increase in needs. According to the 2022 INFORM Risk Index, El Salvador, with a score of 4.3 (scale of 0 to 10), is the sixty-fifth country most at risk out of the 190 countries analysed. The increase in climate change-related events and increasingly frequent social shocks will continue to affect populations living in rural and peri-urban areas the most.

According to the IPC analysis for El Salvador, during the first half of 2023, high food prices and climatic events will directly affect food access and availability. This may exacerbate food insecurity and aggravate the nutritional situation, especially for the most vulnerable children. At the national level, 28,000 people (about 1 per cent of the population) will be in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and 639,000 people (10 per cent of the population) in Crisis (IPC Phase 3). Access to fertilizers for small and medium producers is increasingly limited, which is likely to affect crop yields in 2022 and 2023. Given the escalating cost of agricultural inputs, severe impacts on livelihoods and food security are expected due to lower staple grains production, with an estimated decline of up to 20 per cent for the 2022-2023 crop cycle.

The nutritional situation In El Salvador has been highly influenced by the socioeconomic consequences of COVID-19. Other common hydro-meteorological phenomena, such as tropical storms, hurricanes and droughts, are an underlying cause of irregular migration. The loss of income and sources of employment implies less access to the basic food basket for families and an increase in multidimensional poverty. The current inflation translates into higher prices for the basic food basket, which will translate into higher rates of nutritional problems and preventable diseases for the coming months.

Increased humanitarian needs may lead to an escalation in the rate of violence against women, risks of gender-based violence (GBV) and a higher demand for care services. Women — especially women of childbearing age, girls and adolescents, women with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ persons, heads of single-parent households, survivors of GBV, migrants, displaced women, refugees and returnees, and rural or Indigenous women affected by poverty, malnutrition and climatic emergencies — are exposed to environments that place them at greater risk of being victims of violence.

Response priorities in 2023

In 2023, the humanitarian community seeks to assist 496,600 of the most vulnerable people (around 45 per cent of people in need), requiring $98.4 million for the response. The People in need number for 2023 is lower than in previous years as the total population data has been updated, reflecting a decrease. Some response sectors have also seen their needs reduced, including Health with a reduction of people in need from 998,210 to 247,279, while other response sectors have increased their needs.

The Humanitarian Response Plan is based on the collectively identified shocks that trigger humanitarian needs – violence, climate change, migration flows, and food and nutritional insecurity. The activities will provide an intersectoral response to these shocks and their humanitarian consequences, with a focus on the most vulnerable people. The activities are designed to ensure complementarity with the development projects in-country and complement the ongoing efforts of the Government.

El Salvador HRP