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Location: Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between
Djibouti and Sudan
Geographic coordinates: 15 00 N, 39 00 E
Map references: Africa
Area:
total: 121,320 sq km
land: 121,320 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than Pennsylvania
Land boundaries:
total: 1,630 km
border countries: Djibouti 113 km, Ethiopia 912 km, Sudan
605 km
Coastline: 2,234 km total; mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km,
islands in Red Sea 1,083 km
Maritime claims: NA
Climate: hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler
and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually);
semiarid in western hills and lowlands; rainfall heaviest during
June-September except in coastal desert
Terrain: dominated by extension of Ethiopian north-south
trending highlands, descending on the east to a coastal desert plain,
on the northwest to hilly terrain and on the southwest to flat-to-rolling
plains
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: near Kulul within the Denakil depression -75
m
highest point: Soira 3,018 m
Natural resources: gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly
oil and natural gas, fish
Land use:
arable land: 12%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 49%
forests and woodland: 6%
other: 32% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: 280 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: frequent droughts and locust storms
Environment - current issues: deforestation; desertification;
soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of infrastructure from civil warfare
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note: strategic geopolitical position along
world's busiest shipping lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline
of Ethiopia along the Red Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia
on 24 May 1993
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