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)