Yemen

The Republic of Yemen is located in Middle East on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia, bordering Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east. It is the only republic nation on the Arabian Peninsula. San‘a’ is the capital of Yemen.

HISTORY:- Yemen was a part of several kingdoms from  2200 BC to the 6th century- like the Sabaean, Awsanian, Minaean, Qatabanian, Hadhramawtian, and Himyarite kingdoms. It was the centre of the lucrative myrrh and frankincense trade. The Romans, the Ethiopians and the Persians invaded the land in 1st century and in the 6th century. The Kingdom of Aksum of Ethiopia annexed Yemen in 520 and the Sassanids of Persia annexed the land in 570. In 628, Islam was introduced in the country. Rassite dynasty took over Yemen in the 10th century. The Ottomans conquered the land in 1538. In 1839, the port of Aden was colonized by the British. North Yemen became independent from the Turks in 1918 and in 1962 it became a republic. In 1967, the British government ceded Aden to Yemen. This region came to be known as South Yemen. In 1990, the South Yemen and North Yemen were merged.

GEOGRAPHY:- Yemen is located at 15 00 N, 48 00 E in Middle East. Yemen has occupied total 527,970 sq km area with no internal water sources. The coastline is 1,906 km long along with the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea. The lowest point is Arabian Sea (0 m) and the highest point is Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb (3,760 m). Yemen is formed of narrow coastal plains backed by low elevated hills and rugged mountains. The dissected upland desert plains in the center stoop into the desert in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula.

CLIMATE:- The climate of Yemen is mostly desert, with hot and humid climate along the west coasts, temperate in the western mountains, sometimes affected by the seasonal monsoon, and extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in the east.

GOVERNMENT:- Yemen is republic. The constitution was adopted on 16th May 1991, and was amended in September 1994 and in February 2001. The legal system is designed after the Islamic law, the Turkish law, the English common law, and the local tribal customary law. The three major branches of the government are:

Executive branch comprises the President (chief of state), the Vice President, the Prime Minister (head of government) and the cabinet. The president is elected by a popular vote on a 7-year term. The Council of Ministers is appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister. The vice president, the prime minister and the deputy prime ministers are appointed by the president.

Legislative branch comprises the bicameral legislature, consisting of the Shura Council (111 seats) the House of Representatives (301 seats).

Judicial branch comprises the Supreme Court.

 General People's Congress or GPC, Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah, Nasserite Unionist Party, National Arab Socialist Ba'th Party, Yemeni Socialist Party or YSP are the major political parties of Yemen. Suffrage is universal at the age of 18.

President      Ali Abdullah Saleh

Vice President      Abd Al-Rab Mansur Hadi

Prime Minister     Ali Muhammad Mujawwar

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Rashad al-Alimi

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS:- Yemen is divided into 20 governorates: 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 and Amanat Al Asimah.

These governorates are further subdivided into 333 districts and 2,210 sub-districts.

ECONOMY:- Yemen is one of the most impoverished Arab countries, depending mostly on its declining oil resources.

GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $52.05 billion; per capita $2,300.

Real growth rate: 3.1%.

Inflation: 12.5%.

Unemployment: 35% (2003 est.).

Arable land: 3%.

Agriculture: Grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat, coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish.

Labor force: 6.316 million; most people are employed in agriculture and herding; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-fourth of the labor force.

Budget:  

Revenues: $7.407 billion

Expenditures: $8.177 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt: 33.7% of GDP (2007 est.)

Debt - external: $6.044 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Industries: Crude oil production and petroleum refining; small-scale production of cotton textiles and leather goods; food processing; handicrafts; small aluminum products factory; cement; commercial ship repair.

Natural resources: Petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, copper, fertile soil in west.

Exports: $8.214 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish.

Imports: $5.042 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): food and live animals, machinery and equipment, chemicals.

Major trading partners: Thailand, China, Singapore, UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, India, U.S., Kuwait (2004).

Monetary unit: Rial

LANGUAGE:- Arabic is the official language of Yemen.

CITIES:- The capital of Yemen Sanaá is also the largest city of the country. Other large cities of Yemen are Aden, Taiz, Hodeida, and al-Mukalla.

POPULATION:- The estimated population of Yemen is 22,211,743 with an average growth rate of 3.5%.

Density per sq mi: 109

Literacy rate: 50% (2003 est.)

RACE:- The predominant ethnic group is Arab while Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans also reside in the country.

RELIGION:- Muslims including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shi'a) form the majority religious group, but a few believes in Jewish, Christian, and Hindu religions.

HEALTH:-

Birth rate: 42.42 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate: 7.83 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 56.27 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 62.9 years

Total fertility rate: 6.41 children born/woman (2008 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA

Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $, 2005): 88

UNICEF:- Thousands of children and women are immunized against polio, measles and tetanus and received vitamin A supplements in Yemen. By implementing Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) in all health centers, UNICEF is trying to rehabilitate total health system. Breastfeeding are being hugely promoted through several programmes. UNICEF also provides the guidelines for emergency obstetric care. UNICEF has given constant efforts in the betterment of water and sanitation systems. UNICEF rebuilt class rooms and trained hundreds of teachers. Women now can receive life skills courses and the micro-credit scheme. To combat HIV, UNICEF has ratified with a National Strategic Framework. UNICEF provides training to social workers to promote children rights and improves Juvenile Justice, establishing five Juvenile Courts in Yemen.

TRANSPORTATION:-

Railways: 0 km.

Highways: total: 71,300 km ; paved: 6,200 km; unpaved: 65,100 km (2005 est.).

Ports and harbors: Aden, Al Hudaydah, Al Mukalla, As Salif, Ras Issa, Mocha, Nishtun. Airports: 44 (2002).