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Compare Sri Lanka (2007) - Yemen (2002)

Compare Sri Lanka (2007) z Yemen (2002)

 Sri Lanka (2007)Yemen (2002)
 Sri LankaYemen
Administrative divisions 8 provinces; Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western


note: in October 2006, the Sri Lankan Supreme Court ruled voided a presidential directive merging the North and Eastern Provinces; many have defended the merger as a prerequisite for a negotiated settlement to the ethnic conflict; a parliamentary decision on the issue is pending
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: 24.3% (male 2,596,295/female 2,495,949)


15-64 years: 67.9% (male 6,947,310/female 7,259,271)


65 years and over: 7.8% (male 765,507/female 861,983) (2007 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 rice, sugarcane, grains, pulses, oilseed, spices, tea, rubber, coconuts; milk, eggs, hides, beef; fish grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat (mildly narcotic shrub), coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish
Airports 18 (2007) 49 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways total: 14


over 3,047 m: 1


1,524 to 2,437 m: 6


914 to 1,523 m: 7 (2007)
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: 4


914 to 1,523 m: 1


under 914 m: 3 (2007)
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: 65,610 sq km


land: 64,740 sq km


water: 870 sq km
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 West Virginia slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming
Background The Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka late in the 6th century B.C. probably from northern India. Buddhism was introduced beginning in about the mid-third century B.C., and a great civilization developed at the cities of Anuradhapura (kingdom from circa 200 B.C. to circa A.D. 1000) and Polonnaruwa (from about 1070 to 1200). In the 14th century, a south Indian dynasty seized power in the north and established a Tamil kingdom. Occupied by the Portuguese in the 16th century and by the Dutch in the 17th century, the island was ceded to the British in 1796, became a crown colony in 1802, and was united under British rule by 1815. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948; its name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. Tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists erupted into war in 1983. Tens of thousands have died in the ethnic conflict that continues to fester. After two decades of fighting, the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) formalized a cease-fire in February 2002 with Norway brokering peace negotiations. Violence between the LTTE and government forces intensified in 2006, but neither side has formally withdrawn from the cease-fire. 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 17 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) 43.3 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Budget revenues: $4.883 billion


expenditures: $6.827 billion (2006 est.)
revenues: $3 billion


expenditures: $3.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)
Capital name: Colombo


geographic coordinates: 6 56 N, 79 51 E


time difference: UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)


note: Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative capital)
Sanaa
Climate tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October) mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east
Coastline 1,340 km 1,906 km
Constitution adopted 16 August 1978, certified 31 August 1978 16 May 1991; amended 29 September 1994 and February 2001
Country name conventional long form: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka


conventional short form: Sri Lanka


local long form: Shri Lamka Prajatantrika Samajaya di Janarajaya/Ilankai Jananayaka Choshalichak Kutiyarachu


local short form: Shri Lamka/Ilankai


former: Serendib, Ceylon
conventional long form: Republic of Yemen


conventional short form: Yemen


local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah


local short form: Al Yaman
Currency - Yemeni rial (YER)
Death rate 6.01 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) 9.31 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Debt - external $12.16 billion (2006 est.) $4.7 billion (2001)
Diplomatic representation from the US chief of mission: Ambassador Robert O. BLAKE, Jr.


embassy: 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3


mailing address: P. O. Box 106, Colombo


telephone: [94] (11) 249-8500


FAX: [94] (11) 243-7345
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 chief of mission: Ambassador Bernard GOONETILLEKE



chancery: 2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008


telephone: [1] (202) 483-4025 (through 4028)


FAX: [1] (202) 232-7181


consulate(s) general: Los Angeles


consulate(s): New York
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 $1.189 billion (2005) $176.1 million (1995) (1995)
Economy - overview In 1977, Colombo abandoned statist economic policies and its import substitution trade policy for more market-oriented policies, export-oriented trade, and encouragement of foreign investment. Recent changes in government, however, have brought some policy reversals. Currently, the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party has a more statist economic approach, which seeks to reduce poverty by steering investment to disadvantaged areas, developing small and medium enterprises, promoting agriculture, and expanding the already enormous civil service. The government has halted most privatizations. Although suffering a brutal civil war that began in 1983, Sri Lanka saw GDP growth average 4.5% in the last 10 years with the exception of a recession in 2001. In late December 2004, a major tsunami took about 31,000 lives, left more than 6,300 missing and 443,000 displaced, and destroyed an estimated $1.5 billion worth of property. Growth, partly spurred by reconstruction, reached 5% in 2005 and more than 6% in 2006. Sri Lanka's most dynamic sectors now are food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, port construction, telecommunications, and insurance and banking. In 2005, plantation crops made up only about 15% of exports (compared with more than 90% in 1970), while textiles and garments accounted for more than 60%. About 800,000 Sri Lankans work abroad, 90% in the Middle East. They send home more than $1 billion a year. The struggle by the Tamil Tigers of the north and east for an independent homeland continues to cast a shadow over the economy. 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 7.072 billion kWh (2005) 2.976 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - exports 0 kWh (2005) 0 kWh (2000)
Electricity - imports 0 kWh (2005) 0 kWh (2000)
Electricity - production 8.411 billion kWh (2005) 3.2 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - production by source - fossil fuel: 100%


hydro: 0%


nuclear: 0%


other: 0% (2000)
Elevation extremes lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m


highest point: Pidurutalagala 2,524 m
lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m


highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m
Environment - current issues deforestation; soil erosion; wildlife populations threatened by poaching and urbanization; coastal degradation from mining activities and increased pollution; freshwater resources being polluted by industrial wastes and sewage runoff; waste disposal; air pollution in Colombo 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, Ship Pollution, Wetlands


signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation
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 Sinhalese 73.8%, Sri Lankan Moors 7.2%, Indian Tamil 4.6%, Sri Lankan Tamil 3.9%, other 0.5%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data) predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans
Exchange rates Sri Lankan rupees per US dollar - 103.99 (2006), 100.498 (2005), 101.194 (2004), 96.521 (2003), 95.662 (2002) 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: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA (since 19 November 2005); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government; Ratnasiri WICKREMANAYAKE (since 21 November 2005) holds the largely ceremonial title of prime minister


head of government: President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA (since 19 November 2005)


cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister


elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 17 November 2005 (next to be held in 2011)


election results: Mahinda RAJAPAKSA elected president; percent of vote - Mahinda RAJAPAKSA 50.3%, Ranil WICKREMESINGHE 48.4%, other 1.3%
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 NA bbl/day $3.9 billion f.o.b. (2001 est.)
Exports - commodities textiles and apparel, tea and spices; diamonds, emeralds, rubies; coconut products, rubber manufactures, fish crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish
Exports - partners US 27.6%, UK 11.3%, India 9.3%, Belgium 4.7% (2006) Thailand 34%, China 26%, South Korea 14%, Singapore 9%, Japan 3%, Saudi Arabia 3% (1999)
Fiscal year calendar year calendar year
Flag description yellow with two panels; the smaller hoist-side panel has two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and orange; the other panel is a large dark red rectangle with a yellow lion holding a sword, and there is a yellow bo leaf in each corner; the yellow field appears as a border around the entire flag and extends between the two panels 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 - $14.8 billion (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector agriculture: 16.5%


industry: 27.1%


services: 56.5% (2006 est.)
agriculture: 17%


industry: 40%


services: 43% (1998)
GDP - per capita - purchasing power parity - $820 (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate 7.4% (2006 est.) 4% (2001 est.)
Geographic coordinates 7 00 N, 81 00 E 15 00 N, 48 00 E
Geography - note strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes 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: 69,263 km


paved: 9,963 km


unpaved: 59,300 km (1999)
Household income or consumption by percentage share lowest 10%: 1.1%


highest 10%: 39.7% (FY03/04)
lowest 10%: 3%


highest 10%: 26% (1998) (1998)
Imports NA bbl/day $3 billion f.o.b. (2001 est.)
Imports - commodities textile fabrics, mineral products, petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and transportation equipment food and live animals, machinery and equipment
Imports - partners India 19.6%, China 10.5%, Singapore 8.7%, Iran 5.7%, Malaysia 5.1%, Hong Kong 4.2%, Japan 4.1% (2006) Saudi Arabia 10%, UAE 8%, France 7%, US 7%, Italy 6% (1999)
Independence 4 February 1948 (from UK) 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 6.2% (2006 est.) NA%
Industries processing of rubber, tea, coconuts, tobacco and other agricultural commodities; telecommunications, insurance, banking; clothing, textiles; cement, petroleum refining 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 total: 19.45 deaths/1,000 live births


male: 21.2 deaths/1,000 live births


female: 17.63 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
66.78 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 13.7% (2006 est.) 10% (2001 est.)
International organization participation AsDB, BIMSTEC, C, CP, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, SACEP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIS, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO 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)
Irrigated land 7,430 sq km (2003) 4,900 sq km (1998 est.)
Judicial branch Supreme Court; Court of Appeals; judges for both courts are appointed by the president Supreme Court
Labor force 7.602 million (2006 est.) NA
Labor force - by occupation agriculture: 34.3%


industry: 25.3%


services: 40.4% (30 June 2006 est.)
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: 13.96%


permanent crops: 15.24%


other: 70.8% (2005)
arable land: 2.75%


permanent crops: 0.21%


other: 97.04% (1998 est.)
Languages Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8%


note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population
Arabic
Legal system a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Islamic, Sinhalese, and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Legislative branch unicameral Parliament (225 seats; members elected by popular vote on the basis of a modified proportional representation system by district to serve six-year terms)


elections: last held on 2 April 2004 (next to be held by 2010)


election results: percent of vote by party or electoral alliance - SLFP and JVP (no longer in formal UPFA alliance) 45.6%, UNP 37.8%, TNA 6.8%, JHU 6%, SLMC 2%, UPF 0.5%, EPDP 0.3%, other 1%; seats by party - UNP 68, SLFP 57, JVP 39, TNA 22, CWC 8, JHU 7, SLMC 6, SLMC dissidents 4, Communist Party 2, JHU dissidents 2, LSSP 2, MEP 2, NUA 2, UPF 2, EPDP 1, UNP dissident 1
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: 74.8 years


male: 72.81 years


female: 76.88 years (2007 est.)
total population: 60.59 years


male: 58.81 years


female: 62.46 years (2002 est.)
Literacy definition: age 15 and over can read and write


total population: 90.7%


male: 92.3%


female: 89.1% (2001 census)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write


total population: 38%


male: 53%


female: 26% (1990 est.)
Location Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia
Map references Asia Middle East
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
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: 24 ships (1000 GRT or over) 162,280 GRT/227,478 DWT


by type: bulk carrier 2, cargo 18, container 2, petroleum tanker 2


foreign-owned: 6 (Germany 6)


registered in other countries: 3 (Panama 3) (2007)
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 - establishement of a Coast Guard, scheduled for May 2001, has been delayed
Military branches Sri Lankan Army, Sri Lankan Navy, Sri Lankan Air Force (2006) 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 2.6% (2006) 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 Independence Day, 4 February (1948) Unification Day, 22 May (1990)
Nationality noun: Sri Lankan(s)


adjective: Sri Lankan
noun: Yemeni(s)


adjective: Yemeni
Natural hazards occasional cyclones and tornadoes sandstorms and dust storms in summer
Natural resources limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems, phosphates, clay, hydropower petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper, fertile soil in west
Net migration rate -1.16 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Pipelines - crude oil 644 km; petroleum products 32 km
Political parties and leaders All Ceylon Tamil Congress or ACTC [A. VINAYAKAMOORTHY]; Ceylon Workers Congress or CWC [Arumugam THONDAMAN]; Communist Party or CP [D. GUNASEKERA]; Democratic United National (Lalith) Front or DUNLF [T.N.S. NANAYAKKARA]; Eelam People's Democratic Party or EPDP [Douglas DEVANANDA]; Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front or EPRLF [Suresh PREMACHANDRAN]; Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna or JVP [Somawansa AMARASINGHE]; Lanka Sama Samaja Party or LSSP [Tissa VITHARANA]; Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front) or MEP [D. GUNAWARDENE]; National Heritage Party or JHU [Ellawala METHANANDA]; National Unity Alliance or NUA [Ferial ASHRAFF]; People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [D. SIDHARTHAN]; Sri Lanka Freedom Party or SLFP [Mahinda RAJAPAKSA]; Sri Lanka Muslim Congress or SLMC [Rauff HAKEEM]; Sri Lanka Progressive Front or SLPF [P. Nelson PERERA]; Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO [Selvam ADAIKALANATHAN]; Tamil National Alliance or TNA [R. SAMPANTHAN]; Tamil United Liberation Front or TULF [V. ANANDASANGAREE]; United National Party or UNP [Ranil WICKREMASINGHE]; Up-country People's Front or UPF [P. CHANDRASEKARAN]; several ethnic Tamil and Muslim parties, represented in either Parliament or provincial councils 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 Buddhist clergy; labor unions; Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE [Velupillai PRABHAKARAN](insurgent group fighting for a separate state); radical chauvinist Sinhalese groups such as the National Movement Against Terrorism; Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups; Tamil Eela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, TMVP or "Karuna group" [Vinayagamurthi MURALITHARAN] (paramilitary breakaway from LTTE and fighting against LTTE) NA
Population 20,926,315


note: since the outbreak of hostilities between the government and armed Tamil separatists in the mid-1980s, several hundred thousand Tamil civilians have fled the island and more than 200,000 Tamils have sought refuge in the West (July 2007 est.)
18,701,257 (July 2002 est.)
Population below poverty line 22% (2002 est.) NA
Population growth rate 0.982% (2007 est.) 3.4% (2002 est.)
Ports and harbors - Aden, Al Hudaydah, Al Mukalla, As Salif, Ras Issa, Mocha, Nishtun
Radio broadcast stations 34 (station types NA) (2006) AM 6, FM 1, shortwave 2 (1998)
Radios - 1.05 million (1997)
Railways total: 1,449 km


broad gauge: 1,449 km 1.676-m gauge (2006)
0 km
Religions Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data) 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: 1.04 male(s)/female


15-64 years: 0.957 male(s)/female


65 years and over: 0.888 male(s)/female


total population: 0.971 male(s)/female (2007 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: telephone services have improved significantly and are available in most parts of the country


domestic: national trunk network consists mostly of digital microwave radio relay; fiber-optic links now in use in Colombo area and 2 fixed wireless local loops have been installed; competition is strong in mobile cellular systems and mobile cellular subscribership is increasing; telephone density remains low


international: country code - 94; submarine cables to Indonesia, Djibouti, India and Maldives; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Indian 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 2.087 million (2007) 291,359 (1999)
Telephones - mobile cellular 5.959 million (2007) 32,042 (2000)
Television broadcast stations 14 (2006) 7 (plus several low-power repeaters) (1997)
Terrain mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior 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 2.05 children born/woman (2007 est.) 6.9 children born/woman (2002 est.)
Unemployment rate 7.6% (2006 est.) 30% (1995 est.)
Waterways 160 km (primarily on rivers in southwest) (2006) none
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