Note: strategic geopolitical position along world's busiest shipping
lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline of Ethiopia along the Red
Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia on 27 April 1993
@Eritrea:People
Population: 3,578,709 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 43% (female 763,416; male 774,922)
15-64 years: 54% (female 965,124; male 965,435)
65 years and over: 3% (female 52,950; male 56,862) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 9.04% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 44.34 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 15.67 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: NA migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.) note: repatriation of up to a half million Eritrean refugees in Sudan is now underway; 100,000 are expected to return during 1995
Infant mortality rate: 120.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 50 years male: 48.28 years female: 51.78 years (1995 est.)