Yemen | Facts & Information

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff
Infoplease has everything you need to know about Yemen. Check out our country profile, full of essential information about Yemen's geography, history, government, economy, population, culture, religion and languages. If that's not enough, click over to our collection of world maps and flags.

Facts & Figures

  • President: Abdel Rabbo Mansour Hadi (2012)

    Prime Minister: Khaled Bahah (2014)

    Total area: 203,849 sq mi (527,969 sq km)

    Population (2014 est.): 26,052,966 (growth rate: 2.72%); birth rate: 31.02/1000; infant mortality rate: 50.41/1000; life expectancy: 64.83; density per sq mi: 115.7

    Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Sanaá, 2.419 million

    Other large cities: Aden, 784,000; Tiaz, 596,672; Hodiedah, 548,433

    Monetary unit: Rial

    Republic of Yemen

    National name: Al-Jumhuriyah al-Yamaniyah

    Current government officials

    Language: Arabic

    Ethnicity/race: predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans

    Religions: Islam 99.1% (official; virtually all are citizens, an estimated 65% are Sunni and 35% are Shia), other 0.9% (includes Jewish, Baha'i, Hindu, and Christian; many are refugees or temporary foreign residents) (2010 est.)

    Literacy rate: 65.3% (2011 est.)

    Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $61.63 billion; per capita $2,500. Real growth rate: 3.8%. Inflation: 11.8%. Unemployment: 35% (2003 est.). Arable land: 2.2%. Agriculture: grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat, coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish. Labor force: 7.1 million (2013 est.); most people are employed in agriculture and herding; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-fourth of the labor force. Industries: crude oil production and petroleum refining; small-scale production of cotton textiles, leather goods; food processing; handicrafts; aluminum products; cement; commercial ship repair; natural gas production. Natural resources: petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, copper, fertile soil in west. Exports: $6.694 billion (2013 est.): crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish, liquefied natural gas. Imports: $10.97 billion (2013 est.): food and live animals, machinery and equipment, chemicals. Major trading partners: Thailand, China, UAE, India, South Korea, Switzerland, EU (2013).

    Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 1.1 million (2012); mobile cellular: 13.9 million (2012). Radio broadcast stations: state-run TV with 2 stations; state-run radio with 2 national radio stations and 5 local stations; stations from Oman and Saudi Arabia can be accessed (2007). Radios: 1.05 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 7 (plus several low-power repeaters) (1997). Televisions: 470,000 (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 33,206 (2012). Internet users: 2.349 million (2009).

    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: 57 (2013).

    International disputes: Saudi Arabia has reinforced its concrete-filled security barrier along sections of the fully demarcated border with Yemen to stem illegal cross-border activities

    Major sources and definitions

See also: