Yemen

Airports

19 total, 14 usable; 3 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 9 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 3 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

7 major transport aircraft

Highways

4,500 km; 2,000 km bituminous, 500 km crushed stone and gravel, 2,000 km earth, sand, and light gravel (est.)

Merchant marine

1 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 192,679 GRT/40,640 DWT

Pipelines

crude oil, 424 km

Ports

Al Hudaydah, Al Mukha, Salif, Ras al Katib

Telecommunications

system poor but improving; new radio relay and cable networks; 50,000 telephones; stations--3 AM, no FM, 17 TV; satellite earth stations--1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT, 1 ARABSAT; tropospheric scatter to PDRY; radio relay to PDRY, Saudi Arabia, and Djibouti

Branches

Army, Navy, Air Force, Police

Defense expenditures

$358 million (1987)

Military manpower

males 15-49, 1,289,217; 734,403 fit for military service; 79,609 reach military age (18) annually

Agriculture

accounts for 50% of GDP and 70% of labor force; farm products--grain, fruits, vegetables, qat (mildly narcotic shrub), coffee, cotton, dairy, poultry, meat, goat meat; not self-sufficient in grain

Aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (1970-88), $354 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $1.4 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $2.9 billion; Communist countries (1970-88), $248 million

Budget

revenues $1.32 billion; expenditures $2.18 billion, including capital expenditures of $588 million (1988 est.)

Currency

Yemeni riyal (plural--riyals); 1 Yemeni riyal (YR) = 100 fils

Electricity

415,000 kW capacity; 500 million kWh produced, 70 kWh per capita (1989)

Exchange rates

Yemeni riyals (YR) per US$1--9.7600 (January 1990), 9.7600 (1989), 9.7717 (1988), 10.3417 (1987), 9.6392 (1986), 7.3633 (1985)

Exports

$853 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--crude oil, cotton, coffee, hides, vegetables; partners--US 41%, PDRY 14%, Japan 12%

External debt

$3.5 billion (December 1989 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GDP

$5.5 billion, per capita $820; real growth rate 19.7% (1988 est.)

Imports

$1.3 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--textiles and other manufactured consumer goods, petroleum products, sugar, grain, flour, other foodstuffs, and cement; partners--Italy 10%, Saudi Arabia 9%, US 9.3%, Japan 9%, UK 8% (1985)

Industrial production

growth rate 2% in manufacturing (1988)

Industries

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

16.9% (1988)

Overview

The low level of domestic industry and agriculture make North Yemen dependent on imports for virtually all of its essential needs. Large trade deficits are made up for by remittances from Yemenis working abroad and foreign aid. Once self-sufficient in food production, the YAR is now a major importer. Land once used for export crops--cotton, fruit, and vegetables--has been turned over to growing qat, a mildly narcotic shrub chewed by Yemenis that has no significant export market. Oil export revenues started flowing in late 1987 and boosted 1988 earnings by about $800 million.

Unemployment rate

13% (1986)

Climate

desert; hot and humid along coast; temperate in central mountains; harsh desert in east

Coastline

523 km

Comparative area

slightly smaller than South Dakota

Contiguous zone

18 nm;

Continental shelf

200 meters;

Disputes

sections of the boundary with PDRY are indefinite or undefined; undefined section of boundary with Saudi Arabia

Environment

subject to sand and dust storms in summer; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification

Land boundaries

1,209 km total; Saudi Arabia 628 km, PDRY 581 km

Land use

14% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 36% meadows and pastures; 8% forest and woodland; 42% other; includes 1% irrigated

Natural resources

crude oil, rock salt, marble; small deposits of coal, nickel, and copper; fertile soil

Note

controls northern approaches to Bab el Mandeb linking Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes

Terrain

narrow coastal plain (Tihama); western mountains; flat dissected plain in center sloping into desert interior of Arabian Peninsula

Territorial sea

12 nm

Total area

195,000 km2; land area: 195,000 km2

Administrative divisions

11 governorates (muhafazat, singular--muhafazah); Al Bayda, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahwit, Dhamar, Hajjah, Ibb, Marib, Sadah, Sana, Taizz

Capital

Sanaa

Communists

small number

Constitution

28 December 1970, suspended 19 June 1974

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador Mohsin A. al-AINI; Chancery at Suite 840, 600 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington DC 20037; telephone (202) 965-4760 or 4761; there is a Yemeni Consulate General in Detroit and a Consulate in San Francisco; US--Ambassador Charles F. DUNBAR; Embassy at address NA, Sanaa (mailing address is P. O. Box 1088, Sanaa); telephone [967] (2) 271950 through 271958

Executive branch

president, vice president, prime minister, four deputy prime ministers, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

Flag

three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with a large green five-pointed star centered in the white band; similar to the flags of Iraq, which has three stars, and Syria, which has two stars--all green and five-pointed in a horizontal line centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Egypt, which has a symbolic eagle centered in the white band

Independence

November 1918 (from Ottoman Empire)

Judicial branch

State Security Court Chief of State--President Col. Ali Abdallah SALIH (since 18 July 1978); Vice President (vacant); Head of Government--Prime Minister Abd al-Aziz ABD AL-GHANI (since 12 November 1983, previously prime minister from 1975-1980 and co-Vice President from October 1980 to November 1983)

Legal system

based on Turkish law, Islamic law, and local customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

unicameral Consultative Assembly (Majlis ash-Shura)

Long-form name

Yemen Arab Republic; abbreviated YAR

Member of

ACC, Arab League, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, ITU, NAM, OIC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

National holiday

Proclamation of the Republic, 26 September (1962)

Other political or pressure groups

conservative tribal groups, Muslim Brotherhood, leftist factions--pro-Iraqi Bathists, Nasirists, National Democratic Front (NDF) supported by the PDRY

Political parties and leaders

no legal political parties; in 1983 President Salih started the General People's Congress, which is designed to function as the country's sole political party

Suffrage

universal at age 18 Consultative Assembly--last held 5 July 1988 (next to be held NA); results--percent of vote NA; seats--(159 total, 128 elected)

Type

republic; military regime assumed power in June 1974

Birth rate

52 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate

17 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Ethnic divisions

90% Arab, 10% Afro-Arab (mixed)

Infant mortality rate

129 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Labor force

NA; 70% agriculture and herding, 30% expatriate laborers (est.)

Language

Arabic

Life expectancy at birth

48 years male, 49 years female (1990)

Literacy

15% (est.)

Nationality

noun--Yemeni(s); adjective--Yemeni

Net migration rate

- 4 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Population

7,160,981 (July 1990), growth rate 3.1% (1990)

Religion

100% Muslim (Sunni and Shia)

Total fertility rate

7.6 children born/woman (1990)