Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
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 24 May 1993
People Eritrea
Population: 4,465,651 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 42.9% (male 958,564; female 955,625) 15-64 years: 53.9% (male 1,192,454; female 1,213,313) 65 years and over: 3.2% (male 73,017; female 72,678) (2002 est.)
Population growth rate: 3.8% (2002 est.)
Birth rate: 42.25 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Death rate: 11.82 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Net migration rate: 7.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population note: UNHCR began repatriating about 150,000 Eritrean refugees from Sudan in 2001 following the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2000 (2002 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2002 est.)