Carefree, Sanaa

CAPITAL CITY OF Yemen: Sanaa
LANGUAGE OF Yemen: Arabic
CURRENCY OF Yemen: Yemeni rial
COMMENTS ABOUT Yemen:
Yemen is located on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, and sharing borders with Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Cities : Sana'a (capital), Aden, Kawkaban, Shibam, Ta'izz, Hutaib
Best Places : Wadi Hadramawt, Haraz Mountains
Electricity : 220/50Hz (UK plug)
Calling Code : +967
Time Zone : UTC +3

CLIMATE OF Yemen: mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east
RELIGION OF Yemen: Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shi'a), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu
POPULATION OF Yemen: 20,024,867 (July 2004 est.) predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans>>>
HISTORY OF Yemen: 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.
ECONOMY OVERVIEW OF Yemen: Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, reported strong growth in the mid-1990s with the onset of oil production. It has been harmed by periodic declines in oil prices, but now benefits from current high prices. Yemen has embarked on an IMF-supported structural adjustment program designed to modernize and streamline the economy, which has led to substantial foreign debt relief and restructuring. International donors, meeting in Paris in October 2002, agreed on a further $2.3 billion economic support package. Yemen has worked to maintain tight control over spending and to implement additional components of the IMF program. A markedly high population growth rate and internal political dissension complicate the government's task. Plans include a diversification of the economy, encouragement of tourism, and more efficient use of scarce water resources.