Total area: 195,000 km2
land area: 195,000 km2

Comparative area: slightly smaller than South Dakota

Land boundaries: 1,209 km total; Saudi Arabia 628 km, PDRY 581 km

Coastline: 523 km

Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 18 nm;

Continental shelf: 200 meters;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: sections of the boundary with PDRY are indefinite or undefined; undefined section of boundary with Saudi Arabia

Climate: desert; hot and humid along coast; temperate in central mountains; harsh desert in east

Terrain: narrow coastal plain (Tihama); western mountains; flat dissected plain in center sloping into desert interior of Arabian Peninsula

Natural resources: crude oil, rock salt, marble; small deposits of coal, nickel, and copper; fertile soil

Land use: 14% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 36% meadows and pastures; 8% forest and woodland; 42% other; includes 1% irrigated

Environment: subject to sand and dust storms in summer; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification

Note: controls northern approaches to Bab el Mandeb linking Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping lanes

NOTE: The information regarding Yemen Arab Republic on this page is re-published from the 1990 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Yemen Arab Republic Geography 1990 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Yemen Arab Republic Geography 1990 should be addressed to the CIA.