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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
Map references: Middle East
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:
contiguous zone: 18 nm in the North; 24 nm in the South
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental
margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
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
Land use:
arable land: 3%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 30%
forests and woodland: 4%
other: 63% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 3,600 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: sandstorms and dust storms in summer
Environment - current issues: very limited natural fresh
water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; overgrazing;
soil erosion; desertification
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes,
Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
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
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.
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