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Yemen is a Country of Asia. Located in the southwestern
tip of the Arabian Peninsula, it covers an area of 527
970 km2. It is bathed by the Arabian Sea to
the south and the Red Sea to the west and is bordered by
Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the east. The
country also includes the island of Socotra, in the
Indian Ocean. The most important cities are Saná, the
capital, with 1 471 30000 inhabitants (2004), Adém (537
800 inhab.), Ta'izz (448 200 inhab.) And Hodeida (395
600 inhab.). The climate is hot desert inland and
semi-arid on the coast. Precipitation is less than 250
mm annually, raining a little more in the higher
regions.
Economy
Yemen has an economy based on the oil industry
(extraction and refining). In agriculture, the main
crops are sorghum, potato, tomato, wheat, grape,
watermelon, banana, onion, corn and papaya. Manufactures
include flour, bran, canned tomatoes, cotton fiber,
rubber, bottles, beer, fabrics and cigarettes. Yemen's
main trading partners are Saudi Arabia, the United
States of America, Japan and India. Environmental
indicator: the value of carbon dioxide emissions, per
capita(metric tons, 1999), is 1.1.
Population
The population, in 2006, was 21 456 188 inhabitants,
which corresponds to a density of approximately 39.26
inhab./km2. The birth and death rates are
respectively 42.89% and 8.3%. Average life expectancy is
62.12 years. The value of the Human Development Index (HDI)
is 0.470 and the value of the Gender-adjusted
Development Index (IDG) is 0.424 (2001). It is estimated
that, in 2025, the population will be 39 644 000
inhabitants. The inhabitants are mostly Arab and
faithful to the Muslim religion, of which 53% are Sunnis
and 47% are Shiites. The official language is Arabic.
History
In 1914, an Anglo-Turkish treaty determined the border
between the northern and southern parts of Yemen (the
latter under British administration). After the Turkish
defeat in the First World War, the North gained
independence and claimed the right to the entire
territory, including the southern zone. A bloody civil
war ensued, and in 1962, the North proclaimed itself the
Arab Republic of Yemen. The southern zone was included
in the Federation of Southern Arabia, created in 1963,
with the promise of the British Government to grant
independence five years later. But in 1967, the
Marxist-oriented National Liberation Front gained
control of the federation. That year, with the help of
the Soviet Union, the South became the People's Republic
of South Yemen and, in 1970, the Democratic People's
Republic of Yemen.
Relations between North Yemen and South Yemen became
strained and were marked by conflicts between the 1970s
and 1980s. South Yemen suffered from chronic
instability, with some coups d'état and a civil war, in
1986, which caused thousands of deaths. At this point,
the country severed relations with the Soviet Union. In
1989, the two Yemeni agreed to become a single country,
and a year later, after the two parliaments approved the
union, a new nation emerged. But he soon found it
difficult to support Iraq during the Gulf War. In 1993,
the first free multiparty elections took place in which,
for the first time in the Arabian Peninsula, women also
voted. However, political antagonisms between the North
and the South continued. Despite promises of political
dialogue, civil war broke out in 1994.
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