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Communications

Airports [time series]

19 total, 14 usable; 3 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 9 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 3 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air [time series]

7 major transport aircraft

Roadways (Highways) [time series]

4,500 km; 2,000 km bituminous, 500 km crushed stone and gravel, 2,000 km earth, sand, and light gravel (est.)

Merchant marine [time series]

1 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 192,679 GRT/40,640 DWT

Pipelines [time series]

crude oil, 424 km

Ports [time series]

Al Hudaydah, Al Mukha, Salif, Ras al Katib

Telecommunication systems (Telecommunications) [time series]

system poor but improving; new radio relay and cable networks; 50,000 telephones; stations--3 AM, no FM, 17 TV; satellite earth stations--1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT, 1 ARABSAT; tropospheric scatter to PDRY; radio relay to PDRY, Saudi Arabia, and Djibouti

Defense Forces

Military and security forces (Branches) [time series]

Army, Navy, Air Force, Police

Military expenditures (Defense expenditures) [time series]

$358 million (1987)

Military manpower [time series]

males 15-49, 1,289,217; 734,403 fit for military service; 79,609 reach military age (18) annually

Economy

Agricultural products (Agriculture) [time series]

accounts for 50% of GDP and 70% of labor force; farm products--grain, fruits, vegetables, qat (mildly narcotic shrub), coffee, cotton, dairy, poultry, meat, goat meat; not self-sufficient in grain

Aid [time series]

US commitments, including Ex-Im (1970-88), $354 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $1.4 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $2.9 billion; Communist countries (1970-88), $248 million

Budget [time series]

revenues $1.32 billion; expenditures $2.18 billion, including capital expenditures of $588 million (1988 est.)

Exchange rates (Currency) [time series]

Yemeni riyal (plural--riyals); 1 Yemeni riyal (YR) = 100 fils

Electricity [time series]

415,000 kW capacity; 500 million kWh produced, 70 kWh per capita (1989)

Exchange rates [time series]

Yemeni riyals (YR) per US$1--9.7600 (January 1990), 9.7600 (1989), 9.7717 (1988), 10.3417 (1987), 9.6392 (1986), 7.3633 (1985)

Exports [time series]

$853 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--crude oil, cotton, coffee, hides, vegetables; partners--US 41%, PDRY 14%, Japan 12%

Debt - external (External debt) [time series]

$3.5 billion (December 1989 est.)

Fiscal year [time series]

calendar year

Real GDP (purchasing power parity) (GDP) [time series]

$5.5 billion, per capita $820; real growth rate 19.7% (1988 est.)

Imports [time series]

$1.3 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--textiles and other manufactured consumer goods, petroleum products, sugar, grain, flour, other foodstuffs, and cement; partners--Italy 10%, Saudi Arabia 9%, US 9.3%, Japan 9%, UK 8% (1985)

Industrial production growth rate (Industrial production) [time series]

growth rate 2% in manufacturing (1988)

Industries [time series]

crude oil production, small-scale production of cotton textiles and leather goods; food processing; handicrafts; fishing; small aluminum products factory; cement

Inflation rate (consumer prices) [time series]

16.9% (1988)

Economic overview (Overview) [time series]

The low level of domestic industry and agriculture make North Yemen dependent on imports for virtually all of its essential needs. Large trade deficits are made up for by remittances from Yemenis working abroad and foreign aid. Once self-sufficient in food production, the YAR is now a major importer. Land once used for export crops--cotton, fruit, and vegetables--has been turned over to growing qat, a mildly narcotic shrub chewed by Yemenis that has no significant export market. Oil export revenues started flowing in late 1987 and boosted 1988 earnings by about $800 million.

Unemployment rate [time series]

13% (1986)

Geography

Climate [time series]

desert; hot and humid along coast; temperate in central mountains; harsh desert in east

Coastline [time series]

523 km

Area - comparative (Comparative area) [time series]

slightly smaller than South Dakota

Contiguous zone [time series]

18 nm;

Continental shelf [time series]

200 meters;

Disputes - international (Disputes) [time series]

sections of the boundary with PDRY are indefinite or undefined; undefined section of boundary with Saudi Arabia

Environment - current issues (Environment) [time series]

subject to sand and dust storms in summer; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification

Land boundaries [time series]

1,209 km total; Saudi Arabia 628 km, PDRY 581 km

Land use [time series]

14% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 36% meadows and pastures; 8% forest and woodland; 42% other; includes 1% irrigated

Natural resources [time series]

crude oil, rock salt, marble; small deposits of coal, nickel, and copper; fertile soil

Note [time series]

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

Terrain [time series]

narrow coastal plain (Tihama); western mountains; flat dissected plain in center sloping into desert interior of Arabian Peninsula

Maritime claims (Territorial sea) [time series]

12 nm

Area (Total area) [time series]

195,000 km2; land area: 195,000 km2

Government

Administrative divisions [time series]

11 governorates (muhafazat, singular--muhafazah); Al Bayda, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahwit, Dhamar, Hajjah, Ibb, Marib, Sadah, Sana, Taizz

Capital [time series]

Sanaa

Political parties (Communists) [time series]

small number

Constitution [time series]

28 December 1970, suspended 19 June 1974

Diplomatic representation in the US (Diplomatic representation) [time series]

Ambassador Mohsin A. al-AINI; Chancery at Suite 840, 600 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington DC 20037; telephone (202) 965-4760 or 4761; there is a Yemeni Consulate General in Detroit and a Consulate in San Francisco; US--Ambassador Charles F. DUNBAR; Embassy at address NA, Sanaa (mailing address is P. O. Box 1088, Sanaa); telephone [967] (2) 271950 through 271958

Executive branch [time series]

president, vice president, prime minister, four deputy prime ministers, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

Flag [time series]

three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with a large green five-pointed star centered in the white band; similar to the flags of Iraq, which has three stars, and Syria, which has two stars--all green and five-pointed in a horizontal line centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Egypt, which has a symbolic eagle centered in the white band

Independence [time series]

November 1918 (from Ottoman Empire)

Judicial branch [time series]

State Security Court Chief of State--President Col. Ali Abdallah SALIH (since 18 July 1978); Vice President (vacant); Head of Government--Prime Minister Abd al-Aziz ABD AL-GHANI (since 12 November 1983, previously prime minister from 1975-1980 and co-Vice President from October 1980 to November 1983)

Legal system [time series]

based on Turkish law, Islamic law, and local customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch [time series]

unicameral Consultative Assembly (Majlis ash-Shura)

Country name (Long-form name) [time series]

Yemen Arab Republic; abbreviated YAR

International organization participation (Member of) [time series]

ACC, Arab League, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, ITU, NAM, OIC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

National holiday [time series]

Proclamation of the Republic, 26 September (1962)

Political parties (Other political or pressure groups) [time series]

conservative tribal groups, Muslim Brotherhood, leftist factions--pro-Iraqi Bathists, Nasirists, National Democratic Front (NDF) supported by the PDRY

Political parties (Political parties and leaders) [time series]

no legal political parties; in 1983 President Salih started the General People's Congress, which is designed to function as the country's sole political party

Suffrage [time series]

universal at age 18 Consultative Assembly--last held 5 July 1988 (next to be held NA); results--percent of vote NA; seats--(159 total, 128 elected)

Government type (Type) [time series]

republic; military regime assumed power in June 1974

People

Birth rate [time series]

52 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate [time series]

17 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Ethnic groups (Ethnic divisions) [time series]

90% Arab, 10% Afro-Arab (mixed)

Infant mortality rate [time series]

129 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Labor force [time series]

NA; 70% agriculture and herding, 30% expatriate laborers (est.)

Languages (Language) [time series]

Arabic

Life expectancy at birth [time series]

48 years male, 49 years female (1990)

Literacy [time series]

15% (est.)

Nationality [time series]

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

Net migration rate [time series]

- 4 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Population [time series]

7,160,981 (July 1990), growth rate 3.1% (1990)

Religions (Religion) [time series]

100% Muslim (Sunni and Shia)

Total fertility rate [time series]

7.6 children born/woman (1990)