Map of Yemen | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background: North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. The British who had set up a protectorate area around the southern port of Aden in the 19th century withdrew in 1967 from what became South Yemen. Three years later the southern government adopted a Marxist orientation. The massive exodus of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis from the south to the north contributed to two decades of hostility between the states. The two countries were formally unified as the Republic of Yemen in 1990.


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Location:

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: Africa, Middle East, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area
Total: 527,970 km²
Land: 527,970 km²

Land boundaries: total 1,746 km, Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km

Coastline: 1,906 km
Contiguous zone: 18 nm in the North
Continental shelf: 200 m depth in the North
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Maritime claims

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 Arabian Peninsula

Elevation

Natural resources: petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper, fertile soil in west

Land use
Arable land: 6%
Permanent crops: 0%
Meadows and pastures: 30%
Forest and woodland: 7%
Other: 57%

Irrigated land: 3,100 km² (1989 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 10,742,395 (July 1993 est.)
Growth rate: 3.31% (1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Yemeni(s)
Adjective: Yemeni

Ethnic groups: predominantly Arab; Afro-Arab concentrations in coastal locations; South Asians in southern regions; small European communities in major metropolitan areas; 60,000 (est.) Somali refugees encamped near Aden

Languages: Arabic

Religions:

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 3.31% (1993 est.)

Birth rate: 51 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 15.37 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Net migration rate

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: subject to sand and dust storms in summer; scarcity of natural freshwater resources; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
Current issues note: controls Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 115.6 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 50.94 years
Male: 49.83 years
Female: 52.11 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 7.27 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
Total population: 38%
Male: 53%
Female: 26%
North: NA
By occupation: agriculture 45.2%, services 21.2%, construction 13.4%, industry 10.6%, commerce and other 9.6% (1983)
South: 477,000

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Yemen
Conventional short form: Yemen
Local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah
Local short form: Al Yaman

Government type

Capital: Sanaa

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence:

National holiday: Proclamation of the Republic, 22 May (1990)

Constitution: 16 April 1991

Legal system: based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local customary law; does not accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: five-member Presidential Council (president, vice president, two members from northern Yemen and one member from southern Yemen), prime minister

Legislative branch: unicameral House of Representatives

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Muhsin Ahmad al-AYNI
In the us chancery: Suite 840, 600 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,037
In the us telephone: (202) 965-4,760 or 4,761
In the us consulate general: Detroit
In the us consulate: San Francisco
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Arthur H. HUGHES
From the us embassy: Dhahr Himyar Zone, Sheraton Hotel District, Sanaa
From the us mailing address:
From the us telephone: 967 (2) 238-842 through 238-852
From the us fax: 967 (2) 251-563

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 symbolic eagle centered in the white band

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Whereas the northern city Sanaa is the political capital of a united Yemen, the southern city Aden, with its refinery and port facilities, is the economic and commercial capital. Future economic development depends heavily on Western-assisted development of promising oil resources. Former South Yemen's willingness to merge stemmed partly from the steady decline in Soviet economic support. The low level of domestic industry and agriculture have made northern Yemen dependent on imports for virtually all of its essential needs. Large trade deficits have been compensated for by remittances from Yemenis working abroad and by foreign aid. Once self-sufficient in food production, northern Yemen has become a major importer. Land once used for export crops - cotton, fruit, and vegetables - has been turned over to growing qat, a mildly narcotic shrub chewed by Yemenis which has no significant export market. Oil export revenues started flowing in late 1987 and boosted 1988 earnings by about $800 million. Economic growth in former South Yemen has been constrained by a lack of incentives, partly stemming from centralized control over production decisions, investment allocation, and import choices.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: NA%

Real gdp per capita: $775 (1992 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounted for 26% of GDP; products - grain, fruits, vegetables, qat (mildly narcotic shrub), coffee, cotton, dairy, poultry, meat, fish; not self-sufficient in grain

Industries: crude oil production and petroleum refining; small-scale production of cotton textiles and leather goods; food processing; handicrafts; small aluminum products factory; cement

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate NA%, accounts for 18% of GDP

Labor force

Unemployment rate

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $NA, expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $908 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.)
Commodoties: crude oil, cotton, coffee, hides, vegetables, dried and salted fish
Partners: US, EC countries, South Korea, Saudi Arabia

Imports: $2.1 billion (f.o.b., 1990 est.)
Commodoties: textiles and other manufactured consumer goods, petroleum products, sugar, grain, flour, other foodstuffs, cement, machinery, chemicals
Partners: Japan, Saudi Arabia, Australia, EC countries, China, Russia, US

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Yemeni rials per US$1 - 12.0 (official; 30-40 (unofficial) (est.), North Yemeni riyals (YR) per US$1 - 12.1000 (June 1992), 12.0000 (1991), 9.7600 (1990), 9.7600 (January 1989), 9.7717 (1988), 10.3417 (1987; South Yemeni dinars (YD) per US$1 - 0.3454 (fixed rate)


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Electricity
Production: 714,000 kW capacity; 1,224 million kWh produced, 120 kWh per capita (1992)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $762 million, 10% of GDP (1992)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 45
Usable: 39
With permanentsurface runways: 10
With runways over 3659 m: 0
With runways 2440-3659 m: 18
With runways 1220-2439 m: 11

Heliports

Pipelines

Railways

Roadways

Waterways

Merchant marine: 3 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,309 GRT/6,568 DWT; includes 2 cargo, 1 oil tanker

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international:

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs