_#_Climate: desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east
_#_Terrain: narrow coastal plain backed by flat-topped hills and rugged mountains; dissected upland desert plains in center slope into the desert interior of the Arabian Peninsula
_#_Natural resources: crude oil, fish, rock salt, marble; small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper; fertile soil in west
_#_Land use: arable land 6%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and pastures 30%; forest and woodland 7%; other 57%; includes irrigated NEGL%
_#_Environment: subject to sand and dust storms in summer; scarcity of natural freshwater resources; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
_#_Note: controls Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes
_*People #_Population: 10,062,633 (July 1991), growth rate 3.2% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 51 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 16 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: - 3 migrants/1,000 population (1991)