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Geography |
Location: | Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia |
Geographic coordinates: | 15 00 N, 48 00 E |
Map references: | |
Area: | total: 527,970 sq km land: 527,970 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Perim, Socotra, the former |
Area - comparative: | slightly larger than twice the size of |
Land boundaries: | total: 1,746 km border countries: |
Coastline: | 1,906 km |
Maritime claims: | territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin |
Climate: | mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east |
Terrain: | narrow coastal plain backed by flat-topped hills and rugged mountains; dissected upland desert plains in center slope into the desert interior of the |
Elevation extremes: | lowest point: highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m |
Natural resources: | petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper, fertile soil in west |
Land use: | arable land: 2.78% permanent crops: 0.24% other: 96.98% (2001) |
Irrigated land: | 4,900 sq km (1998 est.) |
Natural hazards: | sandstorms and dust storms in summer |
Environment - current issues: | very limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification |
Environment - international agreements: | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Geography - note: | strategic location on Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea and the |
People |
Population: | 20,727,063 (July 2005 est.) |
Ethnic groups: | predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans |
Religions: | Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shi'a), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu |
Languages: | Arabic |
Literacy: | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 50.2% male: 70.5% female: 30% (2003 est.) |
Government |
Country name: | conventional long form: Republic of Yemen conventional short form: Yemen local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah local short form: Al Yaman former: Yemen Arab Republic [Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen] and People's Democratic Republic of Yemen [Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen] |
Government type: | republic |
Capital: | Sanaa |
Administrative divisions: | 19 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Abyan, 'Adan, Ad Dali', Al Bayda', Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahrah, Al Mahwit, 'Amran, Dhamar, Hadramawt, Hajjah, Ibb, Lahij, Ma'rib, Sa'dah, San'a', Shabwah, Ta'izz note: for electoral and administrative purposes, the capital city of |
22 May 1990 (Republic of Yemen established with the merger of the Yemen Arab Republic [Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen] and the Marxist-dominated People's Democratic Republic of Yemen [Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen]); note - previously North Yemen had become independent in November of 1918 (from the Ottoman Empire) and South Yemen had become independent on 30 November 1967 (from the UK) | |
National holiday: | Unification Day, 22 May (1990) |
Constitution: | 16 May 1991; amended 29 September 1994 and February 2001 |
Legal system: | based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Suffrage: | 18 years of age; universal |
Executive branch: | chief of state: President Ali Abdallah SALIH (since 22 May 1990, the former president of North Yemen, assumed office upon the merger of North and South Yemen); Vice President Maj. Gen. Abd al-Rab Mansur al-HADI (since 3 October 1994) head of government: Prime Minister Abd al-Qadir BA JAMAL (since 4 April 2001) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister elections: president elected by direct, popular vote for a seven-year term (recently extended from a five-year term by constitutional amendment); election last held 23 September 1999 (next to be held NA 2006); vice president appointed by the president; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president election results: Ali Abdallah SALIH elected president; percent of vote - Ali Abdallah SALIH 96.3%, Najib Qahtan AL-SHAABI 3.7% |
Flag description: | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black; similar to the flag of Syria, which has two green stars and of Iraq which has three green stars (plus an Arabic inscription) in a horizontal line centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Egypt, which has a heraldic eagle centered in the white band |
Economy |
Economy - overview: | |
GDP (purchasing power parity): | $16.25 billion (2004 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate: | 1.9% (2004 est.) |
GDP - per capita: | purchasing power parity - $800 (2004 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 15.5% industry: 44.7% services: 39.7% (2004 est.) |
Labor force: | 5.98 million (2004 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation: | most people are employed in agriculture and herding; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-fourth of the labor force |
Unemployment rate: | 35% (2003 est.) |
Population below poverty line: | 45.2% (2003) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 3% highest 10%: 25.9% (2003) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index: | 33.4 (1998) |
Currency (code): | Yemeni rial (YER) |
Currency code: | YER |
