Discover
Yemen Country Profile
Yemen is a country in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula (Arabia). Tall mountains divide Yemen's coastal stretches from a desolate desert interior. Yemen is bounded on the west by the Red Sea and on the south by the Gulf of Aden (an arm of the Arabian Sea, which is part of the Indian Ocean), and is separated from Africa by the narrow strait of Bab al Mandab. To the north and northeast lies Saudi Arabia and to the east is Oman. Yemen covers about 527,970 sq km. The Republic of Yemen was created in 1990 out of the unification of the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY). Sana'a is the Republic of Yemen's capital and largest city. Other major cities are Aden, Taiz, Hodeidah and Mukalla.
Yemen is sparsely populated -half of the country is uninhabitable-and its Arab people are largely rural. The site of several prosperous civilizations in ancient times, Yemen declined in importance. The discovery of oil in the area in the late 20th century held out the prospect of economic development and an easier life for the people of Yemen. Indeed, the economy is very dependent on its oil resources, which are rapidly depleting. Foreign development aid remains to be an important factor for the social and economical progress of Yemen. Annual foreign aid has reached 700 Mill. Euros, which is 10 % of Yemen's GDP.[1] Yemen is one of the least developed countries in the world with a poor standard of education (i. e. high level of illiteracy) and public health (i. e. low life expectancy, poor maternal health), a population rate of over 3 %, a low service accessibility and widespread poverty with an estimated 35 % of the population living under the poverty line.
The economic and social development of Yemen is linked to the broadly based structural, economic, administrative reform programs that Yemen has undertaken. Still, the reform pace is slow and much remains to be done in various aspects of the reform.
Source: http://ec.europa/comm/external_relations/yemen/csp/index.htm, 19.06.2006