Safest Months in El Salvador: March 2025 Joins the List of the Country’s Most Secure Months

Violent crime in El Salvador continues to decrease! Based on homicides, March 2025 entered the list of safest months in El Salvador in the last 50-plus years.

February 2025 ended with nine homicides for a 0.29 daily rate; it also achieved 23 days without murders.

This month ended with eight more homicides and seven fewer days without murders than December 2024, which is the safest month in El Salvador in over five decades.

December 2024 ended with one homicide for a 0.03 daily rate and achieved 30 days with zero homicides.

The safest months in El Salvador do not include the deaths of alleged gang members who died in confrontations with the Salvadoran National Police, as well as murders involving bodies found in mass graves.

SEE ALSO: El Salvador Excludes Key Data From Homicide Tally: Implications for Crime Statistics

El Salvador’s security has drastically improved to new low levels since Nayib Bukele became president on June 1, 2019. For example, February 2025 is the 35th consecutive month that the daily homicide rate for the country has been under one.

Furthermore, February 2025 is the 23rd month under both Bukele administrations in which the daily homicide rate has been 0.50 or lower. It is an impressive accomplishment considering that in June 2019, the month Bukele took office, the daily murder rate was 7.70.

SEE ALSO: Living in El Salvador: Top Reasons for Moving to El Salvador

Another indicator of the country’s improved security is that, under the current administration (2019–2025), El Salvador has recorded over 800 days without homicides.

The days with zero homicides in El Salvador are remarkable, considering that before the Nayib Bukele Administration, El Salvador had experienced less than five days with zero homicides in 15 years.

Since the1970s, Salvadorans have grappled with persistent security concerns, navigating challenges that impact daily life. However, in 2025, life in El Salvador is better since security has improved.

Reduction in homicides is one of the main achievements of the Nayib Bukele administration.

Salvadoran authorities credit the implementation of the Territorial Control Plan and the State of Exception launched on March 27, 2022, for the impressive homicide reduction. Both plans have allowed Salvadoran authorities to remove gang members from the streets.

The Territorial Control Plan launched in 2019 has seven phases: Preparation, opportunity, modernization, incursion, extraction, and integration. Phase seven is unknown at this time.

The State of Exception was approved last March by the Legislative Assembly at the request of Bukele. Since then, the number of homicides has dropped substantially.

During this exception regime, more than 80,000 people have been detained – suspected of being gang members or collaborators. The controversial security measure has been extended over 30 consecutive times.

National and international human rights organizations have criticized the Regime of Exception for human rights violations, arbitrary arrests, and the death of inmates in prisons.

However, surveys conducted during the State of Exception have shown that the majority of Salvadorans approve of this controversial measure.