, 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.)

Birth rate: 44.83 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Death rate: 9.17 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 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: 0.75 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 68.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 60.31 years
male : 58.9 years
female: 61.78 years (1997 est.)

Total fertility rate: 7.18 children born/woman (1997 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Yemeni(s)
adjective: Yemeni

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

@Yemen:Government

Country name:
conventional long form : Republic of Yemen
conventional short form: Yemen
local long form: Al Jumhuriyah a