Part 827

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

Land use: arable land: 6% permanent crops: 0% meadows and pastures: 30% forest and woodland: 7% other: 57%

Irrigated land: 3,100 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment: current issues: very limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification natural hazards: sandstorms and dust storms in summer international agreements: party to - Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban; signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity, Climate Change

Geographic note: controls Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes

People ------

Population: 13,483,178 (July 1996 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 48% (male 3,302,489; female 3,122,246) 15-64 years: 50% (male 3,327,682; female 3,364,787) 65 years and over: 2% (male 158,018; female 207,956) (July 1996 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.56% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 45.22 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Death rate: 9.59 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female all ages: 1.01 male(s)/female (1996 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 71.5 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 59.58 years male: 58.23 years female: 60.99 years (1996 est.)

Total fertility rate: 7.29 children born/woman (1996 est.)

Nationality: noun: Yemeni(s) adjective: Yemeni

Ethnic divisions: predominantly Arab; Afro-Arab concentrations in western coastal locations; South Asians in southern regions; small European communities in major metropolitan areas

Religions: Muslim including Sha'fi (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shi'a), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu

Languages: Arabic

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.) total population: 38% male: 53% female: 26%

Government ----------

Name of country: conventional long form: Republic of Yemen conventional short form: Yemen local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah local short form: Al Yaman

Data code: YM

Type of government: republic

Capital: Sanaa

Administrative divisions: 17 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Abyan, Aden, Al Bayda, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahrah, Al Mahwit, Ataq, Dhamar, Hadhramaut, Hajjah, Ibb, Lahij, Ma'rib, Sa'dah, San'a', Ta'izz note: there may be a new governorate for the capital city of Sanaa

Independence: 22 May 1990 Republic of Yemen was established on 22 May 1990 with the merger of the Yemen Arab Republic {Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen} and the Marxist-dominated People's Democratic Republic of Yemen {Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen}; previously North Yemen had become independent on NA November 1918 (from the Ottoman Empire) and South Yemen had become independent on 30 November 1967 (from the UK)