Note: strategic location on Horn of Africa along southern approaches to Bab el Mandeb and route through Red Sea and Suez Canal
- People
Population: 8,424,269 (July 1990), growth rate 0.8% (1990)
Birth rate: 47 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 15 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: - 24 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 125 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 53 years male, 54 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 7.3 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Somali(s); adjective—Somali
Ethnic divisions: 85% Somali, rest mainly Bantu; 30,000 Arabs, 3,000
Europeans, 800 Asians