Yemen

Republic of Yemen ٱلْجُمْهُورِيَّةُ ٱلْيَمَنِيَّةُ (Arabic) al-Jumhūriyyatu l-Yamaniyyatu (formal, nominative) al-Jumhūriyyah l-Yamaniyyah (informal)
Flag Emblem
Motto: ٱللَّهُ، ثُمَّ ٱلْوَطَنُ، ٱلثَوْرَةُ، ٱلْوَحْدَةُ Allāhu, thumma l-Waṭanu, ath-Thawratu, al-Waḥdatu "God, then Country, Revolution, Unity"
Anthem: الجمهورية المتحدة al-Jumhūriyyatu l-Muttaḥidatu "United Republic"
Location in the Eastern Hemisphere Yemen and its neighbors
Status	Yemeni Civil War Presidential Leadership Council recognized by United Nations
Capital and largest city	Sanaa[n 1] 15°20′54″N 44°12′23″E / 15.34833°N 44.20639°E / 15.34833; 44.20639
Capital-in-exile	Aden[n 2]
Official language and national language	Arabic[2]
Ethnic groups (2000)[3]	92.8% Arabs 3.7% Somalis 3.5% other
Religion (2020),[4] also see Religion in Yemen	~99.1% Islam (official) 65% Sunni 35% Shia ~0.9% other
Demonym(s)	Yemeni Yemenite
Government	Unitary provisional republic
• Chairman	Rashad al-Alimi (disputed)[n 3]
• Prime Minister	Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak (disputed)[n 4]
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Shura Council
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Establishment
• Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen establisheda	30 October 1918
• Yemen Arab Republic established	26 September 1962
• South Yemen independenceb	30 November 1967
• Unification	22 May 1990
• Current constitution	16 May 1991
• Yemeni civil war	16 September 2014
Area
• Total	530,000[a] km2 (200,000 sq mi) (49th)
• Water (%)	negligible
Population
• 2023 estimate	34,449,825[6] (48th)
• Density	65.0/km2 (168.3/sq mi) (152nd)
GDP (PPP)	2023 estimate
• Total	$69.963 billion[7] (109th)
• Per capita	$2,053[7] (180th)
GDP (nominal)	2023 estimate
• Total	$21.045 billion[7] (123th)
• Per capita	$617[7] (184th)
Gini (2014)	36.7[8] medium
HDI (2021)	0.455[9] low (183rd)
Currency	Yemeni rial (YER, ﷼)
Time zone	UTC+3 (AST)
Driving side	right[10]
Calling code	+967
ISO 3166 code	YE
Internet TLD	.ye, اليمن.
From the Ottoman Empire. From the United Kingdom.

Yemen (/ˈjɛmən/ ^ⓘ; Arabic: ٱلْيَمَنْ, romanized: al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,^[b] is a sovereign state in West Asia.^[11] Located in the southern Arabian Peninsula, it borders Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the northeast, and the Indian Ocean to the south, sharing maritime borders with Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia across the Horn of Africa. Covering roughly 528,000 square kilometres (203,861 square miles),^[12] with a coastline of approximately 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles), Yemen is the second largest country on the Arabian Peninsula.^[13] Sanaa is its constitutional capital and largest city. Yemen's estimated population is 34.7 million, comprised mostly of Arab Muslims.^[14] It is a member of the Arab League, the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Owing to its geographic location, Yemen has been at the crossroads of many civilisations for over 7,000 years. In 1200 BCE, the Sabaeans formed a thriving commercial kingdom that included parts of modern Ethiopia and Eritrea.^[15][16][17] In 275 CE, it was succeeded by the Himyarite Kingdom, which spanned much of Yemen's present-day territory and was heavily influenced by Judaism.^[18] Christianity arrived in the fourth century, followed by the rapid spread of Islam in the seventh century. Yemenite troops playing a crucial role in early Islamic conquests.^[19] Various dynasties emerged between the 9th and 16th centuries.^[20] During the 19th century, the country was divided between the Ottoman and British empires. After World War I, the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was established, which in 1962 became the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) following a coup. In 1967, the British Aden Protectorate became the independent People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), the first and only officially socialist state in the Arab world. In 1990, the two Yemeni states united to form the modern Republic of Yemen (al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), with Ali Abdullah Saleh serving as the first president until his resignation in 2012 in the wake of the Arab Spring.^[21][22]

Since 2011, Yemen has been enduring a political crisis, marked by street protests against poverty, unemployment, corruption, and President Saleh's plan to amend Yemen's constitution and eliminate the presidential term limit.^[23] By 2015, the country became engulfed by an ongoing civil war with multiple entities vying for governance, including the Presidential Leadership Council of the internationally recognized government, the Houthi movement's Supreme Political Council, and the separatist Southern Movement's Southern Transitional Council. This conflict, which has escalated to involve various foreign powers, has led to a severe humanitarian crisis.^{[24][25][26][27][28][29]}

Yemen is one of the least developed countries in the world,^[30] facing significant obstacles to sustainable development,^[31] and is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East and North Africa.^[32] In 2019, the United Nations reported that Yemen had the highest number of people in need of humanitarian aid, amounting to about 24 million individuals, or nearly 75% of its population.^[33] As of 2020, Yemen ranked highest on the Fragile States Index^[34] and second-worst on the Global Hunger Index, surpassed only by the Central African Republic.^[34] Additionally, it has the lowest Human Development Index out of all non-African countries.

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