Natural resources: geothermal areas

Land use: 0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 9% meadows and pastures;
NEGL% forest and woodland; 91% other

Environment: vast wasteland

Note: strategic location near world's busiest shipping lanes and close to Arabian oilfields; terminus of rail traffic into Ethiopia

- People
Population: 337,386 (July 1990), growth rate 2.6% (1990)

Birth rate: 43 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 17 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 119 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 46 years male, 49 years female (1990)