1987 Edition

Boundary disputes

international boundary/indefinite boundary/no defined boundary with PDRY; international boundary/no defined boundary with Saudi Arabia

international boundary/indefinite boundary/no defined boundary with YAR; Administrative Line with Oman; no defined boundary with

Climate

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

Coastline

523 km

1,383 km

Comparative area

slightly smaller than South Dakota

about the size of Nevada

Contiguous zone

18 nm

24 nm

Continental shelf

200 meters

edge of continental margin or 200 nm

Environment

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

Extended economic zone

200 nm

Land boundaries

1,528 km total

1,802 km total

Land use

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

Special notes

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

12 nm

Total area

125 km Boundary representation 1s. nol necessarily authoritative

195,000 km?; land area: 195,000 km?

332,970 km; land area: 332,970 km?

Ethnic divisions

90% Arab, 10% AfroArab (mixed)

Infant mortality rate

152/1,000 (1983)

Labor force

about 30% expatriate laborers; remainder almost entirely agriculture and herding

Language

Arabic

Life expectancy

men 37.3, women 88.7

Literacy

15% (est.)

Nationality

noun—Yemeni(s); adjective— Yemeni

Population

6,533,265 (July 1987), average annual growth rate 2.93%

Religion

100% Muslim (Sunni and Shi‘a)

Administrative divisions

1] provinces

Branches

President, Prime Minister, Cabinet; People’s Constituent Assembly

Capital

Sanaa

Communists

small number

Government leaders

Col. ‘Ali ‘Abdallah SALIH, President (since 1978); ‘Abd al- ‘Aziz ‘ABD AL-GHANI, Prime Minister (since 1983)

Legal system

based on Turkish law, Islamic law, and local customary law; first constitution promulgated December 1970, suspended June 1974; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Member of

Arab League, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB—lIslamic 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

Official name

Yemen Arab Republic

Political parties or pressure groups

no legal politica) parties; in 1983 President Salih started the General People’s Congress, which is designed to function as the country’s sole political party; conservative tribal groups, Muslim Brotherhood, and leftist factions—pro-Iraqi Ba‘thists, Nasirists, National Democratic Front (NDF) supported by South Yemen—exert political influence

Type

republic; military regime assumed power in June 1974

Agriculture

sorghum and millet, qat (a mild narcotic), cotton, coffee, fruits and vegetables, livestock

Budget

(1985 est.) total receipts, $942 million; current expenditures, $946 million; development expenditures, $580 million

Electric power

254,000 kW capacity; 556 million kWh produced, 240 kWh per capita (1986)

Exports

$9.5 million (f.o.b., 1985); aat, cotton, coffee, hides, vegetables

Fiscal year

1 July-30 June

GDP

$3.1 billion, $520 per capita (1984)

Imports

$1.2 billion (f.0.b., 1985); textiles and other manufactured consumer goods, petroleum products, sugar, grain, flour, other foodstuffs, and cement (one of the worst export/import ratios in the world)

Major industries

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

Major trade partners

exports (1985)— 41% US, 14% PDRY, 12% Japan; imports (1985)—10% Italy, 9% Saudi Arabia, 9% Japan, 8% UK

Monetary conversion rate

7.44 rials=US$1 (November 1986)

Natural resources

petroleum, rock salt, marble; small deposits of coal, nickel, and copper

Airfields

20 total, 14 usable; 4 with permanent-surface runways; 7 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 4 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

9 major transport aircraft

Highways

4,000 km total; 1, 775 km bituminous; 500 km crushed stone and gravel; 1,725 km earth, sand, and light gravel

Ports

1 major (Al Hudaydah), 3 minor

Railroads

none

Telecommunications

system poor but improving; new radio-relay and cable networks; 50,000 telephones (0.8 per 100 popl.); 3 AM, no FM, 5 TV stations; 1 Indian Ocean, 1 Atlantic Ocean, and 1 ARABSAT satellite station; tropospheric scatter to South Yemen

Branches

Army, Navy, Air Force, Police

Army, Navy, Air Force, People’s Militia, People’s Police

Military manpower

males 15-49, 1,183,000; 672,000 fit for military service; about 83,000 reach military age (18) annually Yemen, People’s Democratic Republic of (South Yemen) —A00km Boundary representation is not necessarily authoritative Arabian Sea Socotra Gulf of Aden

males 15-49, 491,000; 277,000 fit for military service