Migration statistics for El Salvador

William Pleitez, chief economist of the UN Development Program in El Salvador recently presented these statistics:

• During the past three decades, the country has lost a fourth of its population.   
• In the 1970s, 290,000 Salvadorans emigrated.
• In the 1980s, 540,000 Salvadorans emigrated.
• In the 1990s, 630,000 Salvadorans emigrated.
• Since 2000, migration rates are 60,000 per year.
• 60% of those who left were young adults between the ages of 16 and 30
• 30% of graduates from Salvadoran universities have emigrated.