Yemen - geography
Yemen - Geography, Yemen is located on the southwestern, mountainous and most
fertile corner of the Arabian Peninsula, Arabia Felix (Happy
Arabia). The borders of the neighboring states run through uninhabited deserts
and are not precisely determined.
Along the coast lies Tihama, a flat, dry plain where temperatures are often
around 40 °C. Farming in Tihama is only possible with irrigation. On the other
hand, there are good fishing resources off the coast, and fishing is an
important profession. Within Tihama, the country rises to an altitude of
1000-3000 m, with heavily eroded mountains forming the transition to the central
highlands. On the southern coast off the Gulf of Aden lies Aden, the former
capital of South Yemen. The highlands have the most pleasant climate of the
Arabian Peninsula. In the capital Sana (2300 masl), the average temperature in
June is approximately 22 °C, and the annual rainfall reaches 800-900 mm in the
highest mountains. The area is one of the most important agricultural areas in
the Arabian Peninsula, but cultivation requires terracing the steep slopes and
transportation is difficult.
From the mountains along the Red Sea, the terrain drops steadily to the east,
and precipitation decreases. The landscape slides into the desert al-Rub
al-Khali and Hadramawt. To the east lies the isolated island of Socotra in the
Arabian Sea.
Infrastructure
Pga. the widely varied and in many places impassable landscape, the road
network is poorly developed. The ports are characterized by a lack of
maintenance and modernization. This is especially true of Aden, where the civil
war in 1994 and the floods of the same year caused great
destruction. International airports are located in Aden and Sanaa.
Yemen's oil reserves are significant (4-5 times Denmark's), and production
doubled through the 1990's. Since 1987, North Yemen has been an oil exporter, and
since then several oil discoveries have been made, especially in the south.
Population
According to AllCityPopulation.com, Yemen is the most populous state in the Arabian Peninsula, and half of the
population is under 15 years of age; annual growth is estimated at 3.45%
(2005). Ethnically, the vast majority are Arabs. Pga. the close connections to
Africa across the Red Sea are part of the residents of African descent,
especially in the Tihama area.
- Countryaah:
Do you know how many people there are in Yemen? Check this site to see
population pyramid and resident density about this country.
Agriculture
Only a small part of the area can be cultivated. Agriculture employs 2/3 of
the workforce but contributes only of GDP and Yemen must still cover about 70%
of its food needs through imports.
During the 1990's, production shifted from subsistence farming to more
market-oriented cultivation, in particular of the slightly euphoric
plant khat. There are no reliable figures for how large the khat production is,
how much land the cultivation occupies, or how much water is used, but that khat
cultivation poses an even very big problem not only for the development of
agriculture but for the whole Yemeni community is no in doubt, nor the
government. In addition to khat, cereals, vegetables, fruits, spices and tobacco
are grown, as well as to a modest extent coffee. Prior to the merger, Sydyemen's
production was state - owned and primarily based on agriculture organized in
cooperatives, while Nordyemen had a market economy based on private property
organized in small utility units. The harmonization and integration of two such
different systems has led to large costs for rationalization and modernization.
Yemen's lack of support for the Western and Arab alliance against Iraq in the
Gulf War (1991) meant that a large number of Yemenis (at least 800,000) working
in the Gulf states, mainly in Saudi Arabia, did not get their work and residence
permits extended and therefore had to return back to Yemen. In 1990 and 1991, it
spawned a flow of foreign currency into the country because the guest workers
brought their saved money and thus contributed to the financing of imports. In
the longer term and with effect as early as 1991-92, this meant that Yemen lost
transfer revenues in the order of probably 1 billion. dollars annually.
Another important consequence of Yemen's stance in the Gulf War was that the
republic missed out on much of the foreign aid that the country desperately
needed and needed. In the late 1990's, however, the aftermath of the Gulf War
seemed to have been overcome, with Saudi Arabia once again increasingly allowing
Yemenis to obtain work permits here; in addition, relations with the United
States and other donors have improved significantly.
It is assumed that the unregistered economy in Yemen is at least as large as
the formal one. Among other things. there is an extensive smuggling network with
contacts to Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Oman and Djibouti.
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