Geography-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: 3,842,436 (July 1998 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 43% (male 826,686; female 818,323) 15-64 years: 54% (male 1,026,922; female 1,042,156) 65 years and over: 3% (male 66,222; female 62,127) (July 1998 est.)
Population growth rate: 3.39% (1998 est.)
Birth rate: 42.52 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Death rate: 12.57 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Net migration rate: 3.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.) note: it is estimated that between 200,000 and 350,000 Eritrean refugees were still living in Sudan in mid-1997
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1.06 male(s)/female (1998 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 78.51 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)