| GEOGRAPHY |
| 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] |
| Capital: |
Sanaa |
| 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
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 twice the size of Wyoming |
| Land
Boundaries: |
total: 1,746 km
border countries: Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km |
| Coastline: |
1,906 km |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Elavation
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 |
| GOVERNEMENT |
| Governement
Type: |
republic |
| Administratives
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 |
| Independence |
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) |
| National
Holiday: |
Unification Day, 22 May (1990) |
| Constitution: |
16 May 1991; amended 29 September 1994 and February 2001 |
| Legal
System; |
based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Suffrage |
18 years of age; universal |
| 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 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% |
| Legislative
Branch: |
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 |
| Judicial
Branch: |
Supreme Court |
| Political
parties and Leaders: |
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]; Nasserite Unionist Party [Abdel Malik al-MAKHLAFI]; National Arab Socialist Ba'th Party [Dr. Qassim SALAAM]; 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 |
| PEOPLE |
| Population: |
20,727,063 (July 2005 est.) |
| Age structure: |
0-14 years: 46.5% (male 4,905,831/female 4,727,177)
15-64 years: 50.8% (male 5,364,711/female 5,172,811)
65 years and over: 2.7% (male 274,166/female 282,367) (2005 est.) |
| Median age: |
total: 16.54 years
male: 16.53 years
female: 16.56 years (2005 est.) |
| Nationality: |
noun: Yemeni(s)
adjective: Yemeni |
| Ethnic groups: |
predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans |
| Religions: |
Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shi'a), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu |
| Languages: |
Arabic |
| COMUNICATIONS |
| Telephones - main
lines in use: |
542,200 (2002) |
| Telephones - mobile
cellular: |
411,100 (2002) |
| 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
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 |
| Radio broadcast
stations: |
AM 6, FM 1, shortwave 2 (1998) |
| Television broadcast
stations: |
7 (plus several low-power repeaters) (1997) |
| Internet country
code: |
.ye |
| Internet hosts: |
138 (2004) |
| Internet users: |
100,000 (2002) |
| TRANSPORT |
| Railways: |
|
| Highways: |
total: 67,000 km
paved: 7,705 km
unpaved: 59,295 km (1999 est.) |
| Waterways: |
|
| Pipelines: |
gas 88 km; oil 1,174 km (2004) |
| Ports and harbors: |
Aden, Al Hudaydah, Al Mukalla, As Salif, Ras Issa, Mocha, Nishtun |
| Merchant marine: |
total: 5 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 19,766 GRT/24,794 DWT
by type: cargo 1, chemical tanker 1, petroleum tanker 2, roll on/roll off 1
registered in other countries: 2 (2005) |
| Airports: |
44 (2004 est.) |
| Airports - with
paved runways: |
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.) |
| Heliports: |
|
|
