Guernsey (2002) | Yemen (2004) | |
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Administrative divisions | none (British crown dependency); there are no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the US Government, but there are 10 parishes including St. Peter Port, St. Sampson, Vale, Castel, St. Saviour, St. Pierre du Bois, Torteval, Forest, St. Martin, St. Andrew | 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 Sanaa is treated as an additional governorate |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 16% (male 5,250; female 5,101)
15-64 years: 66.7% (male 21,356; female 21,728) 65 years and over: 17.3% (male 4,622; female 6,530) (2002 est.) |
0-14 years: 46.6% (male 4,751,776; female 4,582,277)
15-64 years: 50.6% (male 5,166,437; female 4,973,543) 65 years and over: 2.8% (male 273,199; female 277,635) (2004 est.) |
Agriculture - products | tomatoes, greenhouse flowers, sweet peppers, eggplant, fruit; Guernsey cattle | grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat (mildly narcotic shrub), coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish |
Airports | 2 (2001) | 44 (2003 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2002) |
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 (2004 est.) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | - | 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 (2004 est.) |
Area | total: 78 sq km
land: 78 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Alderney, Guernsey, Herm, Sark, and some other smaller islands |
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 Washington, DC | slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming |
Background | The island of Guernsey and the other Channel Islands represent the last remnants of the medieval Dukedom of Normandy, which held sway in both France and England. The islands were the only British soil occupied by German troops in World War II. | 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 | 9.69 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) | 43.16 births/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $381.3 million
expenditures: $368.8 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.) |
revenues: $3.729 billion
expenditures: $4.107 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2003 est.) |
Capital | St. Peter Port | Sanaa |
Climate | temperate with mild winters and cool summers; about 50% of days are overcast | mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east |
Coastline | 50 km | 1,906 km |
Constitution | unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice | 16 May 1991; amended 29 September 1994 and February 2001 |
Country name | conventional long form: Bailiwick of Guernsey
conventional short form: Guernsey |
conventional long form: Republic of Yemen
conventional short form: Yemen local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah local short form: Al Yaman |
Currency | British pound (GBP); note - there is also a Guernsey pound | Yemeni rial (YER) |
Death rate | 9.86 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) | 8.78 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Debt - external | $NA | $6.044 billion (2003) |
Dependency status | British crown dependency | - |
Diplomatic representation from the US | none (British crown dependency) | chief of mission: Ambassador Thomas C. KRAJESKI
embassy: Saawan Street, Sanaa mailing address: P. O. Box 22347, Sanaa telephone: [967] (1) 303-151 through 159 FAX: [967] (1) 303-160/161/162/164/165 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | none (British crown dependency) | 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 | Yemen protests Eritrea fishing around the Hanish Islands awarded to Yemen by the ICJ in 1999; nomadic groups in border region with Saudi Arabia resist demarcation of boundary in accordance wih 2000 Jeddah Treaty; Yemen protests Saudi erection of a concrete-filled pipe as a security barrier in 2004 to stem illegal cross-border activities in sections of the boundary |
Economic aid - recipient | $NA | $2.3 billion (2003-07 disbursements) |
Economy - overview | Financial services - banking, fund management, insurance, etc. - account for about 55% of total income in this tiny Channel Island economy. Tourism, manufacturing, and horticulture, mainly tomatoes and cut flowers, have been declining. Light tax and death duties make Guernsey a popular tax haven. The evolving economic integration of the EU nations is changing the rules of the game under which Guernsey operates. | Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, reported strong growth in the mid-1990s with the onset of oil production. It has been harmed by periodic declines in oil prices, but now benefits from current high 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. International donors, meeting in Paris in October 2002, agreed on a further $2.3 billion economic support package. Yemen has worked to maintain tight control over spending and to implement additional components of the IMF program. A markedly high population growth rate and internal political dissension complicate the government's task. Plans include a diversification of the economy, encouragement of tourism, and more efficient use of scarce water resources. |
Electricity - consumption | NA kWh | 2.8 billion kWh (2001) |
Electricity - exports | NA kWh | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - imports | NA kWh | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production | NA kWh | 3.01 billion kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel: NA%
hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
- |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Sark 114 m |
lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m
highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m |
Environment - current issues | NA | 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: none of the selected agreements |
Ethnic groups | UK and Norman-French descent | predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans |
Exchange rates | Guernsey pounds per US dollar - 0.6944 (January 2002), 0.6944 (2001), 0.6596 (2000), 0.6180 (1999), 0.6037 (1998), 0.6106 (1997); note - the Guernsey pound is at par with the British pound | Yemeni rials per US dollar - NA (2003), 175.625 (2002), 168.672 (2001), 161.718 (2000), 155.718 (1999) |
Executive branch | chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952)
head of government: Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief Lt. Gen. Sir John FOLEY (since NA 2000) and Bailiff De Vic G. CAREY (since NA) cabinet: Advisory and Finance Committee appointed by the Assembly of the States elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; lieutenant governor appointed by the monarch; bailiff appointed by the monarch |
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% |
Exports | $NA | NA (2001) |
Exports - commodities | tomatoes, flowers and ferns, sweet peppers, eggplant, other vegetables | crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish |
Exports - partners | UK (regarded as internal trade) | China 31.7%, Thailand 20.3%, India 15.6%, South Korea 4.9%, Malaysia 4.3% (2003) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | white with the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England) extending to the edges of the flag and a yellow equal-armed cross of William the Conqueror superimposed on the Saint George cross | 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 - $1.3 billion (1999 est.) | purchasing power parity - $15.09 billion (2003 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 3%
industry: 10% services: 87% (2000) |
agriculture: 15.2%
industry: 45% services: 39.7% (2003) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $20,000 (1999 est.) | purchasing power parity - $800 (2003 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 5.7% (1999 est.) | 2.8% (2003 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 49 28 N, 2 35 W | 15 00 N, 48 00 E |
Geography - note | large, deepwater harbor at Saint Peter Port | 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: NA km
paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
total: 67,000 km
paved: 7,705 km unpaved: 59,295 km (1999 est.) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 25.9% (2003) |
Imports | $NA | NA (2001) |
Imports - commodities | coal, gasoline, oil, machinery and equipment | food and live animals, machinery and equipment, chemicals |
Imports - partners | UK (regarded as internal trade) | UAE 12.9%, Saudi Arabia 10.2%, China 8.9%, US 4.9%, Kuwait 4.4%, France 4.1% (2003) |
Independence | none (British crown dependency) | 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) |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | 3% (2003 est.) |
Industries | tourism, banking | 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 | 4.92 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) | total: 63.26 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 68.12 deaths/1,000 live births female: 58.15 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 3.99% (2000 est.) | 10.8% (2003 est.) |
International organization participation | none | AFESD, AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAS (observer), OIC, ONUB, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNOCI, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer) |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | NA | - |
Irrigated land | NA sq km | 4,900 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Royal Court | Supreme Court |
Labor force | 31,322 (2000) | 5.79 million (2003 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 |
Land boundaries | 0 km | total: 1,746 km
border countries: Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km |
Land use | arable land: NA%
permanent crops: NA% other: NA% (1998 est.) |
arable land: 2.78%
permanent crops: 0.24% other: 96.98% (2001) |
Languages | English, French, Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts | Arabic |
Legal system | English law and local statute; justice is administered by the Royal Court | based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Legislative branch | unicameral Assembly of the States; consists of the bailiff, 10 Douzaine (parish council) representatives, 45 people's deputies elected by popular vote, 2 representatives from Alderney, Her Majesty's Procureur (Attorney General), Her Majesty's Comptroller (Solicitor General) and Her Majesty's Greffier (Court Recorder and Registrar General); note - Alderney and Sark have their own parliaments
elections: last held 12 April 2000 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: percent of vote - NA%; seats - all independents |
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 2003 (next to be held NA April 2009) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - GPC 228, Islah 47, YSP 7, Nasserite Unionist Party 3, National Arab Socialist Ba'th Party 2, independents 14 |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 79.9 years
male: 76.91 years female: 83.01 years (2002 est.) |
total population: 61.36 years
male: 59.53 years female: 63.29 years (2004 est.) |
Literacy | definition: NA
total population: NA% male: NA% female: NA% |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 50.2% male: 70.5% female: 30% (2003 est.) |
Location | Western Europe, islands in the English Channel, northwest of France | Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia |
Map references | Europe | Middle East |
Maritime claims | exclusive fishing zone: 12 NM
territorial sea: 3 NM |
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 |
Merchant marine | none (2002 est.) | total: 6 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 19,766 GRT/24,794 DWT
by type: cargo 1, livestock carrier 1, petroleum tanker 3, roll on/roll off 1 foreign-owned: Hong Kong 2, Lebanon 1 registered in other countries: 5 (2004 est.) |
Military - note | defense is the responsibility of the UK | establishment of a Coast Guard, scheduled for May 2001, has been delayed |
Military branches | - | Army (including Special Forces), Naval Forces and Coastal Defenses (including Marines), Air Force (including Air Defense Forces), Republican Guard |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | $885.6 million (2003) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | - | 7.9% (2003) |
Military manpower - availability | - | males age 15-49: 4,617,064 (2004 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | - | males age 15-49: 2,590,720 (2004 est.) |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | - | males: 255,426 (2004 est.) |
National holiday | Liberation Day, 9 May (1945) | Unification Day, 22 May (1990) |
Nationality | noun: Channel Islander(s)
adjective: Channel Islander |
noun: Yemeni(s)
adjective: Yemeni |
Natural hazards | NA | sandstorms and dust storms in summer |
Natural resources | cropland | petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper, fertile soil in west |
Net migration rate | 3.87 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Pipelines | - | gas 88 km; oil 1,174 km (2004) |
Political parties and leaders | none; all independents | there are more than 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 Ba'th 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, represents the remnants of the former South Yemeni leadership; leaders of the 1994 secessionist movement have been pardoned by President SALIH and some are now returning to Yemen from exile |
Political pressure groups and leaders | none | NA |
Population | 64,587 (July 2002 est.) | 20,024,867 (July 2004 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | 15.7% (2001) |
Population growth rate | 0.37% (2002 est.) | 3.44% (2004 est.) |
Ports and harbors | St. Peter Port, Saint Sampson | Aden, Al Hudaydah, Al Mukalla, As Salif, Ras Issa, Mocha, Nishtun |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 1, shortwave 0 (1998) | AM 6, FM 1, shortwave 2 (1998) |
Radios | NA | - |
Railways | 5 km | - |
Religions | Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist | Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shi'a), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2002 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: 0.98 male(s)/female total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: 1 submarine cable |
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: country code - 967; 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 | 44,000 (1996) | 542,200 (2002) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 12,000 (1997) | 411,100 (2002) |
Television broadcast stations | 1 (1997) | 7 (plus several low-power repeaters) (1997) |
Terrain | mostly level with low hills in southwest | 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 | 1.36 children born/woman (2002 est.) | 6.75 children born/woman (2004 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 0.5% (1999 est.) | 35% (2003 est.) |
Waterways | none | - |