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: Middle East

Area:
total: 527,970 sq km
land: 527,970 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes Perim, Socotra, the former Yemen Arab Republic (YAR or North Yemen), and the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY or South Yemen)

Area - comparative: slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming

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

Coastline: 1,906 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 18 nm in the North; 24 nm in the South
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

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 extremes:
lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m
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 : 3%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 30%
forests and woodland: 4%
other : 63% (1998 est.)

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, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: controls Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes

Population: 18,701,257 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 47% (male 4,468,928; female 4,317,648)
15-64 years :50.1% (male 4,783,769; female 4,587,309)
65 years and over: 2.9% (male 273,282; female 270,321) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.4% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 43.3 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 9.31 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years : 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 01.01 male(s)/female
total population:1.04 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate:66.78 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population:60.59 years
male :58.81 years
female: 62.46 years (2002 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.9 children born/woman (2002 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Yemeni(s)
adjective: Yemeni

Ethnic groups: predominantly Arab; Afro-Arab concentrations in western coastal locations; South Asians in southern regions; small European communities in major metropolitan areas

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: 38%
male: 53%
female: 26% (1990 est.)

Country name:
conventional long form : Republic of Yemen
conventional short form: Yemen
local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah
local short form: Al Yaman

Data code: YM

Government type: republic

National capital: Sanaa

Administrative divisions: 17 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Abyan, Aden, Al Bayda, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahrah, Al Mahwit, Ataq, Dhamar, Hadhramaut, Hajjah, Ibb, Lahij, Ma'rib, Sa'dah, San'a', Ta'izz
note: there may be a new governorate for the capital city of Sanaa

Independence: 22 May 1990 Republic of Yemen was established on 22 May 1990 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}; previously North Yemen had become independent on NA November 1918 (from the Ottoman Empire) and South Yemen had become independent on 30 November 1967 (from the UK)

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

Constitution: 16 May 1991; amended 29 September 1994

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

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state:President Field Marshall 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
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%

Legislative branch: new constitutional amendment ratified on 20 February 2001 created a bicameral legislature consisting of a Shura Council (111 seats; members appointed by the president) and a House of Representatives (301 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms)
elections:last held 27 April 1997 (next to be held 27 April 2003)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - GPC 189, Islah 52, Nasserite Unionist Party 3, National Arab Socialist Baath Party 2, independents 54, election pending 1; seats by party as of January 2002: GPC 223, Islah 64, Nasserite Unionist Party 3, National Arab Socialist Baath Party 2, YSP 2, independents 7

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders:there are over 12 political parties active in Yemen, some of the more prominent are: General People's Congress or GPC [President Ali Abdallah SALIH]; Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah [Shaykh Abdallah bin Husayn al-AHMAR]; National Arab Socialist Baath Party [Dr. Qassim SALAAM]; Nasserite Unionist Party [Abdel Malik al-MAKHLAFI]; Yemeni Socialist Party or YSP [Ali Salih MUQBIL]
note: President SALIH's General People's Congress or GPC won a landslide victory in the April 1997 legislative election and no longer governs in coalition with Shaykh Abdallah bin Husayn al-AHMAR's Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah - the two parties had been in coalition since the end of the civil war in 1994; the YSP, a loyal opposition party, boycotted the April 1997 legislative election, but announced that it would participate in Yemen's first local elections which were held in February 2001; these local elections aim to decentralize political power and are a key element of the government's political reform program

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

International organization participation: ACC, AFESD, AL, AMF, CAEU, CCC, ESCWA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM, OIC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Abd al-Wahhab Abdallah al-HAJRI
chancery : Suite 705, 2600 Virginia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037
telephone: [1] (202) 965-4760, 4761
FAX: [1] (202) 337-2017

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Edmund J. HULL (since 17 September 2001)
embassy: Dhahr Himyar Zone, Sheraton Hotel District, Sanaa
mailing address : P. O. Box 22347, Sanaa
telephone: [967] (1) 238843 through 238852
FAX: [967] (1) 251563

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

Economy - overview: Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, reported strong growth in the mid-1990s with the onset of oil production, but has been harmed by periodic declines in oil prices. Yemen has embarked on an IMF-supported structural adjustment program designed to modernize and streamline the economy, which has led to substantial foreign debt relief and restructuring. Aided by higher oil prices in 1999-2000, Yemen worked to maintain tight control over spending and implement additional components of the IMF program. A high population growth rate and internal political dissension complicate the government's task.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $14.8 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $820 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 17%
industry:40%
services : 43% (1998)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 10% (2001 est.)

Labor force: no reliable estimates exist, most people are employed in agriculture and herding or as expatriate laborers; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-half of the labor force

Unemployment rate: 30% (1995 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $3 billion
expenditures: $3.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)

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: NA%

Electricity - capacity: 810,000 kW (1994)

Electricity - production:3.2 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 2.976 billion kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products: grain, fruits, vegetables, qat (mildly narcotic shrub), coffee, cotton; dairy products, poultry, meat; fish

Exports:
total value: $3.9 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)
commodities : crude oil, cotton, coffee, hides, vegetables, dried and salted fish
partners: Thailand 34%, China 26%, South Korea 14%, Singapore 9%, Japan 3%, Saudi Arabia 3% (1999)

Imports:
total value: $3 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)
commodities: textiles and other manufactured consumer goods, petroleum products, sugar, grain, flour, other foodstuffs, cement, machinery, chemicals
partners:Saudi Arabia 10%, UAE 8%, France 7%, US 7%, Italy 6% (1999)

Debt - external: $4.7 billion (2001)

Economic aid:
recipient : $176.1 million (1995)

Currency: Yemeni rial (YER)

Exchange rates:Yemeni rials per US dollar - 171.860 (December 2001), 168.678 (2001), 161.718 (2000), 155.718 (1999), 135.882 (1998), 129.281 (1997)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Telephones: 291,359 (1999)

Telephone system: ssince unification in 1990, efforts have been made to create a national telecommunications network
domestic: the national network consists of microwave radio relay, cable, tropospheric scatter, and GSM cellular mobile telephone systems
international : satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Indian Ocean and 1 Atlantic Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region), and 2 Arabsat; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia and Djibouti

Radio broadcast stations: AM 6, FM 1, shortwave 2 (1998)

Radios: 1.05 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 7 (plus several low-power repeaters) (1997)

Televisions:470,000 (1997)

Railways: 0 km

Highways:
total: 69,263 km
paved : 9,963 km
unpaved: 59,300 km (1999)

Pipelines: crude oil 644 km; petroleum products 32 km

Ports and harbors: Aden, Al Hudaydah, Al Mukalla, Mocha, Nishtun

Merchant marine:
total:4 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 15,002 GRT/23,752 DWT
ships by type : cargo 1, petroleum tanker 3

Airports: 49 (2001)

Airports - with paved runways:
total:14
over 3,047 m: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m:8
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 1 (2001)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total:35
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m : 8
1,524 to 2,437 m: 8
914 to 1,523 m : 13
under 914 m:4 (2001)

Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, paramilitary (includes Police)

Military manpower - military age: 14 years of age (2002 est.)

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49 :4,272,156 (2002 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males:2,397,914 (2002 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 238,690 (2002 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $482.5 million (FY01)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 5.2% (FY01)

Disputes - international: ademarcation of delimited boundary with Saudi Arabia involves nomadic tribal affiliations; Yemen has asserted traditional fishing rights to islands ceded to Eritrea in ICJ ruling