l, fish, rock salt, marble; small deposits of coal, gold, lead,
nickel, and copper; fertile soil in west
Land use:
arable land 6%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and pastures 30%; forest and
woodland 7%; other 57%; includes irrigated NEGL%
Environment:
subject to sand and dust storms in summer; scarcity of natural freshwater
resources; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
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:
10,394,749 (July 1992), growth rate 3.3% (1992)
Birth rate:
51 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
16 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
-3 migrants/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
118 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
49 years male, 52 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate:
7.3 children born/woman (1992)
Nationality:
noun - Yemeni(s); adjective - Yemeni
Ethnic divisions:
North - Arab 90%, Afro-Arab (mixed) 10%; South - almost all Arabs; a few
Indians, Somalis, and Europeans
Religions:
North - Muslim almost 100% (45% Sunni and 55% Zaydi Shi`a); NEGL Jewish;
South - Sunni Muslim, some Christian and Hindu
Languages:
Arabic
Literacy:
38% (male 53%, female 26%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
Labor force:
North - NA number of workers with agriculture and herding 70%, and
expatriate laborers 30% (est.); South - 477,000 with agriculture 45.2%,
services 21.2%, construction 13.4%, industry 10.6%, commerce and other 9.6%
(1983)
Organized labor:
North - NA; South - 348,200 and the General Confederation of Workers of the
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen had 35,000 members

:Yemen Government

Long-form name:
Republic of Yemen
Type:
republic
Capital:
Sanaa
Administrative divisions:
17 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Abyan, `Adan, Al Bayda',
Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahrah, Al Mahwit, Dhamar, Hadramawt, Hajjah, Ibb,
Lahij, Ma'rib, Sa`dah, San`a', Shabwah, Ta`izz
Independence:
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