Yemen (2008) | World (2005) | |
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Administrative divisions | 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 |
271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 46.3% (male 5,239,003/female 5,047,301)
15-64 years: 51.1% (male 5,781,491/female 5,585,152) 65 years and over: 2.6% (male 281,121/female 296,463) (2007 est.) |
0-14 years: 27.8% (male 919,726,623; female 870,468,158)
15-64 years: 64.9% (male 2,117,230,183; female 2,066,864,970) 65 years and over: 7.3% (male 207,903,775; female 263,627,270) note: some countries do not maintain age structure information, thus a slight discrepancy exists between the total world population and the total for world age structure (2005 est.) |
Agriculture - products | grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat, coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish | - |
Airports | 50 (2007) | 49,973 (2004) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 17
over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 8 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2007) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 33
over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 8 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 13 under 914 m: 4 (2007) |
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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) |
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
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. A southern secessionist movement in 1994 was quickly subdued. In 2000, Saudi Arabia and Yemen agreed to a delimitation of their border. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 42.67 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 20.15 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $7.902 billion
expenditures: $8.167 billion (2007 est.) |
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Capital | name: Sanaa
geographic coordinates: 15 21 N, 44 12 E time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
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Climate | mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
Coastline | 1,906 km | 356,000 km
note: 98 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bassas da India, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica, Europa Island, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Glorioso Islands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Juan de Nova Island, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Isle of Man, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tromelin Island, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan |
Constitution | 16 May 1991; amended 29 September 1994 and February 2001 | - |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Yemen
conventional short form: Yemen local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah local short form: Al Yaman former: Yemen Arab Republic [Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen] and People's Democratic Republic of Yemen [Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen] |
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Death rate | 8.05 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 8.78 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
Debt - external | $6.122 billion (31 December 2007 est.) | $12.7 trillion (2004 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Stephen A. SECHE
embassy: Sa'awan Street, Sanaa mailing address: P. O. Box 22347, Sanaa telephone: [967] (1) 755-2000 ext. 2153 or 2266 FAX: [967] (1) 303-182 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Abd al-Wahab Abdallah al-HAJRI
chancery: 2319 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 965-4760 FAX: [1] (202) 337-2017 |
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Disputes - international | Saudi Arabia has reinforced its concrete-filled security barrier along sections of the fully demarcated border with Yemen to stem illegal cross-border activities | stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 325 international land boundaries separate the 192 independent states and 73 dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities; ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history, physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries; maritime states have claimed limits and have so far established over 130 maritime boundaries and joint development zones to allocate ocean resources and to provide for national security at sea; boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized; most disputes over the alignment of political boundaries are confined to short segments and are today less common and less hostile than borderland, resource, and territorial disputes; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries, however, encourage illegal cross-border activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation around the world; disputes over islands at sea or in rivers frequently form the source of territorial and boundary conflict; other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially petroleum) resources, fisheries, and arable land; nonetheless, most nations cooperate to clarify their international boundaries and to resolve territorial and resource disputes peacefully; regional discord directly affects the sustenance and welfare of local populations, often leaving the world community to cope with resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, deforestation, and desertification |
Economic aid - recipient | $2.3 billion (2003-07 disbursements) | $154 billion official development assistance (ODA) (2004) |
Economy - overview | Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, reported average annual growth in the range of 3-4% from 2000 through 2007. Its economic fortunes depend mostly on declining oil resources, but the country is trying to diversify its earnings. In 2006 Yemen began an economic reform program designed to bolster non-oil sectors of the economy and foreign investment. As a result of the program, international donors pledged about $5 billion for development projects. In addition, Yemen has made some progress on reforms over the last year that will likely encourage foreign investment. Oil revenues probably increased in 2007 as a result of higher prices. | Global output rose by 4.9% in 2004, led by China (9.1%), Russia (6.7%), and India (6.2%). The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 7% range of growth. Growth results posted by the major industrial countries varied from a small gain in Italy (1.3%) to a strong gain by the United States (4.4%). The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that erode gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies, notably the European Union. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 75 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from an economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continued into 2005. |
Electricity - consumption | 3.381 billion kWh (2005 est.) | 14.28 trillion kWh (2002 est.) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2005) | 500.8 billion kWh (2002 est.) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2005) | 497.6 billion kWh (2002 est.) |
Electricity - production | 4.456 billion kWh (2005 est.) | 15.29 trillion kWh (2002 est.) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m
highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m |
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m |
Environment - current issues | very limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion |
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
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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Ethnic groups | predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans | - |
Exchange rates | Yemeni rials per US dollar - 199.14 (2007), 197.18 (2006), 192.67 (2005), 184.78 (2004), 183.45 (2003) | - |
Executive branch | 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 Ali Muhammad MUJAWWAR (since 31 March 2007); Deputy Prime Minister Rashad Muhammad al-ALIMI cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; election last held 20 September 2006 (next to be held in September 2013); 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 77.2%, Faysal BIN SHAMLAN 21.8% |
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Exports | 320,600 bbl/day (2004) | 693.7 billion cu m (2001 est.) |
Exports - commodities | crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | China 31.4%, India 17.4%, Thailand 16.7%, South Korea 7%, US 6.7%, UAE 4.1% (2006) | US 15.7%, Germany 7.7%, China 5.4%, France 5.1%, UK 5.1%, Japan 4.5% (2004) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black; similar to the flag of Syria, which has two green stars in the white band, and of Iraq, which has an Arabic inscription centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Egypt, which has a heraldic eagle centered in the white band | - |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 12.4%
industry: 40.9% services: 46.7% (2007 est.) |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32% services: 64% (2004 est.) |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $8,800 (2004 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 3.2% (2007 est.) | 4.9% (2004 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 15 00 N, 48 00 E | - |
Geography - note | 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 | the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe |
Highways | - | total: 32,345,165 km
paved: 19,403,061 km unpaved: 12,942,104 km (2002) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 25.9% (2003) |
lowest 10%: NA %
highest 10%: NA % |
Illicit drugs | - | cocaine: worldwide, coca is grown on an estimated 173,450 hectares - almost exclusively in South America with 70% in Colombia; potential cocaine production during 2003 is estimated at 728 metric tons (or 835 metric tons of export quality cocaine); coca eradication programs continue in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru; 376 metric tons of export quality cocaine are documented to have been seized in 2003, and 26 metric tons disrupted (jettisoned or destroyed); consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been 800 metric tons
opiates: cultivation of opium poppy occurred on an estimated 137,944 hectares in 2003 - mostly in Southwest and Southeast Asia - with 44% in Afghanistan, potentially produced 3,775 metric tons of opium, which conceivably could be converted to the equivalent of 429 metric tons of pure heroin; opium eradication programs have been undertaken in Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam |
Imports | 58,100 bbl/day (2004) | 718.7 billion cu m (2001 est.) |
Imports - commodities | food and live animals, machinery and equipment, chemicals | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | UAE 16.4%, China 12.8%, Saudi Arabia 7.7%, Kuwait 5.8%, Brazil 4.5%, Malaysia 4.2%, US 4% (2006) | Germany 9.4%, US 9.3%, China 8.5%, Japan 6.5%, France 4.5% (2004) |
Independence | 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]); note - previously North Yemen became independent in November 1918 (from the Ottoman Empire) and became a republic with the overthrow of the theocratic Imamate in 1962; South Yemen became independent on 30 November 1967 (from the UK) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | 3.2% (2007 est.) | 3% (2003 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; commercial ship repair | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | total: 57.88 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 62.48 deaths/1,000 live births female: 53.05 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
total: 50.11 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 52.1 deaths/1,000 live births female: 48.01 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 10.7% (2007 est.) | developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries (2004 est.) |
International organization participation | AFESD, AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAS, MIGA, MINURSO, NAM, OAS (observer), OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNOMIG, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer) | - |
Irrigated land | 5,500 sq km (2003) | 2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court | - |
Labor force | 6.316 million (2007 est.) | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | note: most people are employed in agriculture and herding; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-fourth of the labor force | agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | total: 1,746 km
border countries: Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries
note: 43 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include: Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked |
Land use | arable land: 2.91%
permanent crops: 0.25% other: 96.84% (2005) |
arable land: 10.73%
permanent crops: 1% other: 88.27% (2001) |
Languages | Arabic | Chinese, Mandarin 13.69%, Spanish 5.05%, English 4.84%, Hindi 2.82%, Portuguese 2.77%, Bengali 2.68%, Russian 2.27%, Japanese 1.99%, German, Standard 1.49%, Chinese, Wu 1.21% (2004 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
Legal system | based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
Legislative branch | 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 on 27 April 2003 (next to be held in 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 |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population: 62.52 years
male: 60.61 years female: 64.54 years (2007 est.) |
total population: 64.33 years
male: 62.73 years female: 66.04 years (2005 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 50.2% male: 70.5% female: 30% (2003 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 82% male: 87% female: 77% note: over two-thirds of the world's 785 million illiterate adults are found in only eight countries (India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Egypt); of all the illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab states, where around one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005 est.) |
Location | Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia | - |
Map references | Middle East | Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World |
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 |
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: territorial sea - 12 nm , contiguous zone - 24 nm , and exclusive economic zone - 200 nm ; additional zones provide for exploitation of continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm |
Merchant marine | total: 4 ships (1000 GRT or over) 15,474 GRT/18,072 DWT
by type: cargo 1, chemical tanker 1, petroleum tanker 1, roll on/roll off 1 registered in other countries: 12 (Bolivia 1, Cambodia 3, North Korea 2, Panama 5, St Kitts and Nevis 1) (2007) |
total ships: 30,936 (2005) |
Military - note | a Coast Guard was established in 2002 | - |
Military branches | Army (includes Republican Guard), Navy (includes Marines), Yemen Air Force (includes Air Defense Force) (2007) | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 6.6% (2006) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
National holiday | Unification Day, 22 May (1990) | - |
Nationality | noun: Yemeni(s)
adjective: Yemeni |
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Natural hazards | sandstorms and dust storms in summer | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble; small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper; fertile soil in west | the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) | - |
Pipelines | gas 71 km; liquid petroleum gas 22 km; oil 1,309 km (2007) | - |
Political parties and leaders | General People's Congress or GPC [Abdul-Kader BAJAMMAL]; Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah [Mohammed Abdullah AL-YADOUMI (acting)]; Nasserite Unionist Party [Abdal Malik al-MAKHLAFI]; National Arab Socialist Ba'th Party [Dr. Qasim SALAM]; Yemeni Socialist Party or YSP [Ali Salih MUQBIL]; note - there are at least seven more active political parties | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | - |
Population | 22,230,531 (July 2007 est.) | 6,446,131,400 (July 2005 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 45.2% (2003) | - |
Population growth rate | 3.461% (2007 est.) | 1.14% (2005 est.) |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 6, FM 1, shortwave 2 (1998) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Railways | - | total: 1,115,205 km
broad gauge: 257,481 km standard gauge: 671,413 km narrow gauge: 186,311 km (2003) |
Religions | Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shi'a), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu | Christians 32.84% (of which Roman Catholics 17.34%, Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.44%, Anglicans 1.27%), Muslims 19.9%, Hindus 13.29%, Buddhists 5.92%, Sikhs 0.39%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 12.63%, non-religious 12.44%, atheists 2.36% (2003 est.) |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.038 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.035 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.948 male(s)/female total population: 1.034 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | - |
Telephone system | 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; fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity remains low by regional standards international: country code - 967; landing point for the international submarine cable Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG); 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 |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 968,400 (2006) | 843,923,500 (2003) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 2 million (2006) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 3 (including one Egypt-based station that broadcasts in Yemen); (plus several repeaters) (2007) | NA |
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 | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 6.49 children born/woman (2007 est.) | 2.6 children born/woman (2005 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 35% (2003 est.) | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment |
Waterways | - | 671,886 km (2004) |