Yemen:
Geography

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Other pages in this profile of Yemen:
People, Government, Economy, Communications & Transportation, Military & Transnational Issues.


Background	Definition North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. The British, who had set up a protectorate area around the southern port of Aden in the 19th century, withdrew in 1967 from what became South Yemen. Three years later, the southern government adopted a Marxist orientation. The massive exodus of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis from the south to the north contributed to two decades of hostility between the states. The two countries were formally unified as the Republic of Yemen in 1990. A southern secessionist movement in 1994 was quickly subdued. In 2000, Saudi Arabia and Yemen agreed to a delimitation of their border.

Location	Definition Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia
Geographic coordinates	Definition 15 00 N, 48 00 E
Map references	Definition Middle East
Area	Definition - World rank and map total: 527,970 sq km land: 527,970 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Perim, Socotra, the former Yemen Arab Republic (YAR or North Yemen), and the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY or South Yemen)
Area - comparative	Definition slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming
Land boundaries	Definition total: 1,746 km border countries: Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km
Coastline	Definition 1,906 km
Maritime claims	Definition territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
Climate	Definition mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east
Terrain	Definition narrow coastal plain backed by flat-topped hills and rugged mountains; dissected upland desert plains in center slope into the desert interior of the Arabian Peninsula
Elevation extremes	Definition lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m
Natural resources	Definition petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble; small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper; fertile soil in west
Land use	Definition - World rank and map arable land: 2.91% permanent crops: 0.25% other: 96.84% (2005)
Irrigated land	Definition 5,500 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources	Definition 4.1 cu km (1997)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	Definition total: 6.63 cu km/yr (4%/1%/95%) per capita: 316 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards	Definition sandstorms and dust storms in summer
Environment - current issues	Definition limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
Environment - international agreements	Definition party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note	Definition strategic location on Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes