Life stages in El Salvador

Childhood protection in El Salvador applies to children and adolescents in the country, including foreign nationals. Primera Infancia covers the period from gestation until before age eight, niñez covers gestation until before age twelve, and adolescencia covers ages twelve to under eighteen. The Ley Crecer Juntos protects identity, birth registration, education, participation, health and physical integrity. Parents or other responsible adults, the state, municipalities, CONAPINA, Instituto Crecer Juntos and MINED share responsibilities. Children can receive care through CAPI providers or family and community arrangements, while Juntas de Protección address protection concerns. State education is free and compulsory, and missing identity documents must not prevent school enrolment. Youth policy covers ages fifteen to thirty-five under the Ley General de Juventud. People aged fifteen to seventeen remain under the child and adolescent protection system, while people aged eighteen and above are adults under the Código Civil. INJUVE supports youth participation, education, employment, entrepreneurship and violence prevention through programmes whose access, costs and deadlines vary. Education and work services may also be provided through MINED, training providers, employers and municipal programmes. Legal adulthood begins at eighteen. MINSAL uses the operational age group of twenty to fifty-nine for adults, but El Salvador has no single general adult-life status. Adults use separate systems for identity, education, employment and social security. RNPN issues the DUI for identity purposes. MINED Modalidades Flexibles allow young adults and adults to complete third-cycle education or Bachillerato through evening, distance, accelerated, blended or virtual study, or through the Prueba de Suficiencia; these public options are free. MTPS deals with employment matters, while ISP, AFP and ISSS provide social-security functions linked to their respective rules and contribution records. Several transitions require specific documents or age conditions. Birth registration should take place immediately and is free. For late registration, RNPN handles cases involving children under twelve; registration from age twelve until before eighteen generally requires a court resolution, while adults may use a judicial, notarial or special procedure. Public institutions must support the search for a late-registration solution free of charge. An RNPN birth-certificate copy costs US$5 and has a stated waiting time of about two hours. The first DUI is free; renewal, replacement or correction generally costs US$10.31. The transition from early childhood education to first grade and later school continuation should not be blocked by missing identity documents. Work may begin from age fourteen, with only a narrow exception below that age in cases of severe economic need. Work that is dangerous, harmful to health or performed at night is restricted for minors. Employers must register an adolescent worker within eight days. At eighteen, the person enters legal adulthood and can manage adult civic and contractual matters under the applicable rules. Reaching age sixty creates the legal category persona adulta mayor, meaning an older adult, but it does not automatically create a pension entitlement. The Ley Especial para la Protección de los Derechos de la Persona Adulta Mayor protects dignity, non-discrimination, health, food, housing, participation, education, social security, legal capacity and protection from vulnerability. Decree 465 of 2025 dissolved and liquidated CONAIPAM and transferred its functions and assets to INABVE; the 2026 budget transfer confirms INABVE's role. The Pensión Básica Universal programme is functionally located at INABVE. A contributory pension through ISSS is not automatic at age sixty: ISSS publishes a retirement age of fifty-five for women and sixty for men, with contribution requirements of fifteen to twenty-five years under a transition table. Each case requires system review. ISSS lists a processing time of thirty working days and may require the NUP, employment history, birth certificate, DUI, NIT and proof that employment ended. Care dependency has no documented universal long-term-care insurance or general care allowance. MINSAL provides functional support through first-level care, including home visits for people who are immobile, terminally ill, socially vulnerable or living with severe disabilities. The principal caregiver may receive training, and fragile dependent people should receive a home visit at least every six months. Long-term-care institutions need a gerontological plan and health supervision. Palliative care is available through UDCP and pain clinics. ISRI's Residencia Sara Zaldívar provides formal residential care for people aged sixty or older who lack family contact and face high risk. Families are usually the primary care providers, while public services provide support based on clinical and social need. Crises use sector-specific institutions rather than one general life-stage centre. Anyone may report a violation of a child's or adolescent's rights to CONAPINA, a Junta de Protección or the PNC. Línea 119 is free, confidential and available twenty-four hours a day. Protection measures are binding, and acogimiento, meaning temporary protective placement, is reserved for extreme urgency or necessity. When the PNC receives the information, it should pass it on within a maximum of eight hours. An acute health emergency involving a child or adolescent requires immediate free care and safe connection to protection services. Climate or accommodation emergencies may involve Protección Civil, CONAPINA, PGR and social or health services, with temporary shelters and psychosocial or legal support. General emergency coordination is available through COE at 2281-0888 or 7070-3307, and Bomberos at 913. For adults and older adults, protection from abuse, neglect or severe dependency is arranged through the relevant MINSAL, PNC, Protección Civil, INABVE or ISRI service. Family law, primary medical treatment, traditions and migration are separate subjects; they belong here only when they directly affect an age transition, identity registration, child protection or a crisis.