REPUBLIC OF YEMEN

Location: Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia

Geographic coordinates: 15 00 N, 48 00 E

Area:  total: 527,970 sq km
 

Coastline: 1,906 km

Climate: mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east

Terrain: narrow coastal plain backed by flat-topped hills and rugged mountains; dissected upland desert plains in center slope into the desert interior of the Arabian Peninsula

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m
highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m

Natural resources: petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper, fertile soil in west

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

Population: 16,942,230 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 48% (male 4,118,292; female 3,971,886)
15-64 years: 49% (male 4,243,809; female 4,065,429)
65 years and over: 3% (male 278,133; female 264,681) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.34% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 43.31 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.05 male(s)/female
total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 69.82 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 59.98 years
male: 58.17 years
female: 61.88 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 7.06 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Languages: Arabic

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

Government type: republic

Capital: Sanaa

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

Independence: 22 May 1990 Republic of Yemen was established 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)

Legislative branch: unicameral House of Representatives (301 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 27 April 1997 (next to be held NA April 2001)
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
note: in May 1997, the president created a consultative council, sometimes referred to as the upper house of Parliament; its 59 members are all appointed by the president

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders: there are over 12 political parties active in Yemen, some of the more prominent are: General People's Congress or GPC [President Ali Abdallah SALIH]; Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah [Shaykh Abdallah bin Husayn al-AHMAR]; Yemeni Socialist Party or YSP [Ali Salih UBAYD]; Nasserite Unionist Party [leader NA]; National Arab Socialist Baath Party [Dr. Qassim SALAAM]
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 Islaah—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

Industries: crude oil production and petroleum refining; small-scale production of cotton textiles and leather goods; food processing; handicrafts; small aluminum products factory; cement

Agriculture—products: grain, fruits, vegetables,  coffee, cotton; dairy products, poultry, beef; fish

Currency: Yemeni rial (YR)

Exchange rates: Yemeni rials (YR) per US$1 — 160