Yemen

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

• 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

• very limited natural fresh water resources;
• inadequate supplies of potable water;
• overgrazing;
• soil erosion;
• desertification

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

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.)

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.)

noun:

Yemeni(s)

adjective:

Yemeni

conventional long form:

Republic of Yemen

conventional short form:

Yemen

local short form:

Al Yaman

local long form:

Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah

• 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

• 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)

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

election results:

Ali Abdallah SALIH elected president; percent of vote - Ali Abdallah SALIH 96.3%, Najib Qahtan AL-SHAABI 3.7%

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

chief of mission:

Ambassador Abd al-Wahhab Abdallah al-HAJRI

FAX:

[1] (202) 337-2017

telephone:

[1] (202) 965-4760

chancery:

Suite 705, 2600 Virginia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037

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

• 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

lowest 10%:

3%

highest 10%:

26% (1998) (1998)

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

• grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat (mildly narcotic shrub), coffee, cotton;
• dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry;
• fish

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

total:

69,263 km

paved:

9,963 km

unpaved:

59,300 km (1999)

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.)

• 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