Fourth State of the Region Report, Social News:

The Central American population will increase by about eleven million over the next fifteen years while in the last ten years it has increased by almost seven million people.

The growth associated with this estimate (1.6% annually) is expressed in very different rhythms within the region. The slowness of El Salvador (0.7% annually) contrasts with the dynamism of Guatemala (2.2% annually).

For the period 2010-2015, Guatemala will concentrate little more than half, while Honduras will provide a fifth of the population growth in the area. While Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador will see growth of around 700,000 inhabitants each, Guatemala will increase its population by 1.8 million people and Honduras nearly 800,000.

Another important implication of the growth has to do with the occupation of the territory in each country. Population density in Central America has great contrasts. At one extreme is Belize, with 14 inhabitants per square kilometer, and the other is El Salvador, with 294.

In some capital cities where population density is greater than a thousand people per square kilometer growth and agglomeration will continue, as in the case of San Salvador, which has about 2,500 inhabitants per square kilometer.

Source: Estado de la Nación