Greenland (2001) | Yemen (2002) | |
![]() | ![]() | |
Administrative divisions | 3 districts (landsdele); Avannaa (Nordgronland), Tunu (Ostgronland), Kitaa (Vestgronland)
note: there are 18 municipalities in Greenland |
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: there may be one additional governorate of the capital city of Sanaa |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
26.69% (male 7,649; female 7,392) 15-64 years: 67.87% (male 20,868; female 17,376) 65 years and over: 5.44% (male 1,385; female 1,682) (2001 est.) |
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.) |
Agriculture - products | forage crops, garden and greenhouse vegetables; sheep, reindeer; fish | grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat (mildly narcotic shrub), coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish |
Airports | 13 (2000 est.) | 49 (2001) |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
8 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 4 (2000 est.) |
total: 16
over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 9 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2002) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
5 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 1 (2000 est.) |
total: 28
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 7 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 11 under 914 m: 4 (2002) |
Area | total:
2,175,600 sq km land: 2,175,600 sq km (341,700 sq km ice-free, 1,833,900 sq km ice-covered) (est.) |
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 more than three times the size of Texas | slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming |
Background | The world's largest island, about 84% ice-capped, Greenland was granted self-government in 1978 by the Danish parliament. The law went into effect the following year. Denmark continues to exercise control of Greenland's foreign affairs. | 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. A southern secessionist movement in 1994 was quickly subdued. In 2000, Saudi Arabia and Yemen agreed to a delimitation of their border. |
Birth rate | 16.52 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 43.3 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$646 million expenditures: $629 million, including capital expenditures of $85 million (1999) |
revenues: $3 billion
expenditures: $3.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.) |
Capital | Nuuk (Godthab) | Sanaa |
Climate | arctic to subarctic; cool summers, cold winters | mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east |
Coastline | 44,087 km | 1,906 km |
Constitution | 5 June 1953 (Danish constitution) | 16 May 1991; amended 29 September 1994 and February 2001 |
Country name | conventional long form:
none conventional short form: Greenland local long form: none local short form: Kalaallit Nunaat |
conventional long form: Republic of Yemen
conventional short form: Yemen local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah local short form: Al Yaman |
Currency | Danish krone (DKK) | Yemeni rial (YER) |
Death rate | 7.58 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 9.31 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Debt - external | $25 million (1999) | $4.7 billion (2001) |
Dependency status | part of the Kingdom of Denmark; self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark since 1979 | - |
Diplomatic representation from the US | none (self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark) | chief of mission: Ambassador Edmund J. HULL
embassy: Dhahar Himyar Zone, Sheraton Hotel District, Sanaa mailing address: P. O. Box 22347, Sanaa telephone: [967] (1) 303-161 FAX: [967] (1) 303-182 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | none (self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark) | 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 FAX: [1] (202) 337-2017 |
Disputes - international | none | demarcation of delimited boundary with Saudi Arabia involves nomadic tribal affiliations; Yemen has asserted traditional fishing rights to islands ceded to Eritrea in ICJ ruling |
Economic aid - recipient | $380 million subsidy from Denmark (1999) | $176.1 million (1995) (1995) |
Economy - overview | The economy remains critically dependent on exports of fish and substantial support from the Danish Government, which supplies about half of government revenues. The public sector, including publicly owned enterprises and the municipalities, plays the dominant role in the economy. Despite several interesting hydrocarbon and minerals exploration activities, it will take several years before production can materialize. Tourism is the only sector offering any near-term potential, and even this is limited due to a short season and high costs. | 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. |
Electricity - consumption | 232.5 million kWh (1999) | 2.976 billion kWh (2000) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (1999) | 0 kWh (2000) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (1999) | 0 kWh (2000) |
Electricity - production | 250 million kWh (1999) | 3.2 billion kWh (2000) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
41% hydro: 59% nuclear: 0% other: 0% note: Greenland is shifting its electricity production from fossil fuel to hydroelectric power production (1999) |
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2000) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Gunnbjorn 3,700 m |
lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m
highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m |
Environment - current issues | protection of the arctic environment; preservation of the Inuit traditional way of life, including whaling and seal hunting | very limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification |
Environment - international agreements | - | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Nuclear Test Ban |
Ethnic groups | Greenlander 88% (Inuit and Greenland-born whites), Danish and others 12% (January 2000) | predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans |
Exchange rates | Danish kroner per US dollar - 7.951 (January 2001), 8.083 (2000), 6.976 (1999), 6.701 (1998), 6.604 (1997), 5.799 (1996) | Yemeni rials per US dollar - 171.860 (December 2001), 168.678 (2001), 161.718 (2000), 155.718 (1999), 135.882 (1998), 129.281 (1997) |
Executive branch | chief of state:
Queen MARGRETHE II of Denmark (since 14 January 1972), represented by High Commissioner Gunnar MARTENS (since NA 1995) head of government: Prime Minister Jonathan MOTZFELDT (since 19 September 1997) cabinet: Home Rule Government is elected by the Parliament (Landstinget) on the basis of the strength of parties elections: the monarch is hereditary; high commissioner appointed by the monarch; prime minister is elected by Parliament (usually the leader of the majority party); election last held 16 February 1999 (next to be held NA February 2003) election results: Jonathan MOTZFELDT reelected prime minister following the 16 February 1999 elections; percent of parliamentary vote - 57.3% note: government coalition - Siumut and Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) |
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 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% |
Exports | $276 million (f.o.b., 1999) | $3.9 billion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Exports - commodities | fish and fish products 94% | crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish |
Exports - partners | EU (mainly Denmark) 85%, Japan 8%, US 2% (1999) | Thailand 34%, China 26%, South Korea 14%, Singapore 9%, Japan 3%, Saudi Arabia 3% (1999) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red with a large disk slightly to the hoist side of center - the top half of the disk is red, the bottom half is white | 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 |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $1.1 billion (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $14.8 billion (2001 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
NA% industry: NA% services: NA% |
agriculture: 17%
industry: 40% services: 43% (1998) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $20,000 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $820 (2001 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | NA% | 4% (2001 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 72 00 N, 40 00 W | 15 00 N, 48 00 E |
Geography - note | dominates North Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe; sparse population confined to small settlements along coast, but close to one-quarter of the population lives in the capital, Nuuk; world's second largest ice cap | strategic location on Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes |
Highways | total:
150 km paved: 60 km unpaved: 90 km |
total: 69,263 km
paved: 9,963 km unpaved: 59,300 km (1999) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 26% (1998) (1998) |
Imports | $400 million (c.i.f., 1999) | $3 billion f.o.b. (2001 est.) |
Imports - commodities | machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, food, petroleum products | food and live animals, machinery and equipment |
Imports - partners | EU (mostly Denmark), Norway, US, Canada | Saudi Arabia 10%, UAE 8%, France 7%, US 7%, Italy 6% (1999) |
Independence | none (part of the Kingdom of Denmark; self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark since 1979)
note: foreign affairs is the responsibility of Denmark, but Greenland actively participates in international agreements relating to Greenland |
22 May 1990, Republic of Yemen was 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]; 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) |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | NA% |
Industries | fish processing (mainly shrimp and Greenland halibut), handicrafts, furs, small shipyards | crude oil production and petroleum refining; small-scale production of cotton textiles and leather goods; food processing; handicrafts; small aluminum products factory; cement |
Infant mortality rate | 17.77 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | 66.78 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 1.6% (1999 est.) | 10% (2001 est.) |
International organization participation | ICC, NC, NIB | ACC, AFESD, AL, AMF, CAEU, CCC, ESCWA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITU, NAM, OAS (observer), OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer) |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 1 (2000) | 1 (2000) |
Irrigated land | NA sq km | 4,900 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | High Court or Landsret (appeals can be made to the Ostre Landsret or Eastern Division of the High Court or Supreme Court in Copenhagen) | Supreme Court |
Labor force | 24,500 (1999 est.) | NA |
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 |
Land boundaries | 0 km | total: 1,746 km
border countries: Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km |
Land use | arable land:
0% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 1% forests and woodland: 0% other: 99% (1998 est.) |
arable land: 2.75%
permanent crops: 0.21% other: 97.04% (1998 est.) |
Languages | Greenlandic (East Inuit), Danish, English | Arabic |
Legal system | Danish | based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Legislative branch | unicameral Parliament or Landstinget (31 seats; members are elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held on 16 February 1999 (next to be held by NA February 2003) election results: percent of vote by party - Siumut 35.2%, Inuit Ataqatigiit 22.1%, Atassut Party 25.2%, Candidate's League 12.3%, independent 5.2%; seats by party - Siumut 11, Atassut 8, Inuit Ataqatigiit 7, Candidate List 4, independent 1 note: two representatives were elected to the Danish Parliament or Folketing on 11 March 1998 (next to be held by not later than March 2002); percent of vote by party - Siumut 35.6%, Atassut 35.2%; seats by party - Siumut 1, Atassut 1; Greenlandic representatives are affiliated with Danish political parties (Siamut with Social Democratic Party and Atassut with Liberal Party) |
a 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 |
Life expectancy at birth | total population:
68.37 years male: 64.82 years female: 72.01 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 60.59 years
male: 58.81 years female: 62.46 years (2002 est.) |
Literacy | definition:
NA total population: NA% male: NA% female: NA% note: similar to Denmark proper |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 38% male: 53% female: 26% (1990 est.) |
Location | Northern North America, island between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada | Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia |
Map references | Arctic Region | Middle East |
Maritime claims | continental shelf:
200 NM or agreed boundaries or median line exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM or agreed boundaries or median line territorial sea: 3 NM |
contiguous zone: 24 NM
continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM |
Merchant marine | total:
2 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,289 GRT/1,500 DWT ships by type: cargo 1, passenger 1 (2000 est.) |
total: 4 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 15,002 GRT/23,752 DWT
ships by type: cargo 1, petroleum tanker 3 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Hong Kong 2 (2002 est.) |
Military - note | defense is the responsibility of Denmark | establishement of a Coast Guard, scheduled for May 2001, has been delayed |
Military branches | - | Army (includes Special Forces, established in 1999), Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Forces, Republican Guard |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | $482.5 million (FY01) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | - | 5.2% (FY01) |
Military manpower - availability | - | males age 15-49: 4,272,156 (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | - | males age 15-49: 2,397,914 (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - military age | - | 14 years of age (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | - | males: 238,690 (2002 est.) |
National holiday | June 21 (longest day) | Unification Day, 22 May (1990) |
Nationality | noun:
Greenlander(s) adjective: Greenlandic |
noun: Yemeni(s)
adjective: Yemeni |
Natural hazards | continuous permafrost over northern two-thirds of the island | sandstorms and dust storms in summer |
Natural resources | zinc, lead, iron ore, coal, molybdenum, gold, platinum, uranium, fish, seals, whales, hydropower, possible oil and gas | petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper, fertile soil in west |
Net migration rate | -8.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Pipelines | - | crude oil 644 km; petroleum products 32 km |
Political parties and leaders | Akulliit Party [Bjarne KREUTZMANN]; Atassut Party (Solidarity, a conservative party favoring continuing close relations with Denmark) [Daniel SKIFTE]; Inuit Ataqatigiit or IA (Eskimo Brotherhood, a leftist party favoring complete independence from Denmark rather than home rule) [Josef MOTZFELDT]; Issituup (Polar Party) [Nicolai HEINRICH]; Kattusseqatigiit (Candidate List, an independent right-of-center party with no official platform [leader NA]; Siumut (Forward Party, a social democratic party advocating more distinct Greenlandic identity and greater autonomy from Denmark) [Jonathan MOTZFELDT] | 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 | NA |
Population | 56,352 (July 2001 est.) | 18,701,257 (July 2002 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | NA |
Population growth rate | 0.06% (2001 est.) | 3.4% (2002 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Aasiaat (Egedesminde), Ilulissat (Jakobshavn), Kangerlussuaq, Nanortalik, Narsarsuaq, Nuuk (Godthab), Qaqortoq (Julianehab), Sisimiut (Holsteinsborg), Tasiilaq (March 2001) | Aden, Al Hudaydah, Al Mukalla, As Salif, Ras Issa, Mocha, Nishtun |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 5, FM 12, shortwave 0 (1998) | AM 6, FM 1, shortwave 2 (1998) |
Radios | 30,000 (1998 est.) | 1.05 million (1997) |
Railways | 0 km | 0 km |
Religions | Evangelical Lutheran | Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shi'a), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu |
Sex ratio | at birth:
1.02 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.2 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.82 male(s)/female total population: 1.13 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
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: 1.01 male(s)/female total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment:
adequate domestic and international service provided by satellite, cables and microwave radio relay; totally digitalized in 1995 domestic: microwave radio relay and satellite international: satellite earth stations - 12 Intelsat, 1 Eutelsat, 2 Americom GE-2 (all Atlantic Ocean) |
general assessment: since 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 |
Telephones - main lines in use | 25,617 (end 1999) | 291,359 (1999) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 12,676 (end 1999) | 32,042 (2000) |
Television broadcast stations | 1 publicly-owned station, some local low-power stations, and three AFRTS (US Air Force) stations (1997) | 7 (plus several low-power repeaters) (1997) |
Terrain | flat to gradually sloping icecap covers all but a narrow, mountainous, barren, rocky coast | 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 |
Total fertility rate | 2.44 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 6.9 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 7% (1999 est.) | 30% (1995 est.) |
Waterways | none | none |