Which country is the smallest in Central America by area?

Which country is the smallest in Central America by area? El Salvador is the answer. Its total area is about 21,041 square kilometers, making it smaller than Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

El Salvador occupies the Pacific side of the Central American isthmus. It borders Guatemala and Honduras and has no Caribbean coastline, a geographic distinction it shares only with Belize among the region’s countries. Its compact territory includes volcanic highlands, Pacific coastal plains, and Lake Ilopango, one of its notable inland lakes.

The country is often nicknamed “Pulgarcito de América,” or “Tom Thumb of the Americas,” because of its small size. That nickname can cause a mix-up: El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America, but not the smallest country in the Americas overall. Caribbean island states and other microstates are smaller.

Its limited area also helps explain why El Salvador is one of the most densely populated countries in the Western Hemisphere. San Salvador, the capital, lies in a busy metropolitan area near several volcanoes, including the San Salvador Volcano.