70 km2; land area: 332,970 km2; includes Perim, Socotra

Comparative area: slightly larger than New Mexico

Land boundaries: 1,699 km total; Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 830 km,
YAR 581 km

Coastline: 1,383 km

Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 24 nm;

Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm;

Extended economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: sections of boundary with YAR indefinite or undefined;
Administrative Line with Oman; no defined boundary with Saudi Arabia

Climate: desert; extraordinarily hot and dry

Terrain: mostly upland desert plains; narrow, flat, sandy coastal
plain backed by flat-topped hills and rugged mountains

Natural resources: fish, oil, minerals (gold, copper, lead)

Land use: 1% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 27% meadows and pastures;
7% forest and woodland; 65% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Environment: scarcity of natural freshwater resources; overgrazing;
soil erosion; desertification

Note: controls southern approaches to Bab el Mandeb linking
Red Sea to Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes

- People
Population: 2,585,484 (July 1990), growth rate 3.2% (1990)

Birth rate: 48 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 14 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: - 2 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 110 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 50 years male, 54 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 7.0 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Yemeni(s); adjective--Yemeni

Ethnic divisions: almost all Arabs; a few Indians, Somalis, and Europeans

Religion: Sunni Muslim, some Christian and Hindu

Language: Arabic

Literacy: 25%

Labor force: 477,000; 45.2% agriculture, 21.2% services,
13.4% construction, 10.6% industry, 9.6% commerce and other (1983)

Organized labor: 348,200; the General Confederation of Workers of the
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen has 35,000 members

- Government
Long-form name: People's Democratic Republic of Yemen; abbreviated PDRY

Type: republic

Capital: Aden

Administrative divisions: 6 governorates (muhafazat,
singular--muhafazah); Abyan, Adan, Al Mahrah, Hadramawt, Lahij,
Shabwah

Independence: 30 November 1967 (from UK)

Constitution: 31 October 1978

Legal system: based on Islamic law (for personal matters) and English
common law (for commercial matters)

National holiday: National Day, 14 Oc