Part 908

Military

Military branches: ground, maritime, and air forces at all levels of technology

Military expenditures - dollar figure: aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1996 remained at about the 1995 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars in money terms (1996 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: roughly 2% of gross world product (1996 est.) ______________________________________________________________________

YEMEN

@Yemen:Geography

Location: Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia

Geographic coordinates: 15 00 N, 48 00 E

Map references: Middle East

Area: total: 527,970 sq km land: 527,970 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Perim, Socotra, the former Yemen Arab Republic (YAR or North Yemen), and the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY or South Yemen)

Area - comparative: slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming

Land boundaries: total: 1,746 km border countries: Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km

Coastline: 1,906 km

Maritime claims: contiguous zone: 18 nm in the North; 24 nm in the South continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east

Terrain: narrow coastal plain backed by flat-topped hills and rugged mountains; dissected upland desert plains in center slope into the desert interior of the Arabian Peninsula

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m

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

Land use: arable land : 3% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 30% forests and woodland: 4% other : 63% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 3,600 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: sandstorms and dust storms in summer

Environment - current issues: very limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification

Environment - international agreements: party to : Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

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

@Yemen:People

Population: 13,972,477 (July 1997 est.) note: other estimates range as high as 16.6 million

Age structure: 0-14 years: 48% (male 3,421,216; female 3,237,594) 15-64 years : 49% (male 3,454,912; female 3,479,395) 65 years and over: 3% (male 162,600; female 216,760) (July 1997 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.57% (1997 est.)