rable land: 4.78%
permanent crops: 0.03%
other: 95.19% (2005)

Irrigated land:
210 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards:
frequent droughts; locust swarms

Environment - current issues:
deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of
infrastructure from civil warfare

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
strategic geopolitical position along world's busiest shipping
lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline of Ethiopia along the
Red Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993

People Eritrea

Population:
4,786,994 (July 2006 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 44% (male 1,059,458/female 1,046,955)
15-64 years: 52.5% (male 1,244,153/female 1,268,189)
65 years and over: 3.5% (male 82,112/female 86,127) (2006 est.)

Median age:
total: 17.8 years
male: 17.6 years
female: 18 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.47% (2006 est.)

Birth rate:
34.33 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate:
9.6 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.95 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 46.3 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 52.22 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 40.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 59.03 years
male: 57.44 years
female: 60.66 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate:
5.08 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
2.7% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
60,000 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
6,300 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases:
degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and
typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria is a high risk in some locations (2007)

Nationality:
noun: Eritrean(s)
adjective: Eritrean

Ethnic groups:
Tigrinya 50%, Tigre and Kunama 40%, Afar 4%, Saho (Red Sea coast
dwellers) 3%, other 3%

Religions:
Muslim, Coptic Christian, Roman Catholic, Protestant

Language