Land use: arable land: 4.95% permanent crops: 0.03% other: 95.02% (2001)
Irrigated land:
220 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
frequent droughts; locust swarms
Environment - current issues:
deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of
infrastructure from civil warfare
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:
4,561,599 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 44.8% (male 1,023,898/female 1,019,389)
15-64 years: 51.9% (male 1,170,823/female 1,194,741)
65 years and over: 3.3% (male 74,312/female 78,436) (2005 est.)
Median age:
total: 17.54 years
male: 17.35 years
female: 17.73 years (2005 est.)