Yemen Military - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Government forces are organized as the Yemeni National Army (YNA); the YNA is supported by a variety of militias

prior to the civil war, Yemen's armed forces consisted of Land Forces, Air/Air Defense Forces, Naval Forces/Coastal Defense, Border Guards, and a Strategic Reserve (Presidential Protective Forces, Missile Defense Command, Special Operations Command) (2021)

note: by some estimates, up to 70 percent of Yemen's military, police, and paramilitary forces joined the Houthi-Saleh alliance at the beginning of the civil war in 2014

Military expenditures

4.3% of GDP (2014)

4.3% of GDP (2013)

4.7% of GDP (2012)

5% of GDP (2011)

4.8% of GDP (2010)

note - no reliable information exists following the start of renewed conflict in 2015

Military and security service personnel strengths

N/A; note: prior to the civil war, Yemeni Government armed forces had approximately 70,000 active personnel (2021)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the inventory of the Yemeni Government forces consists primarily of Russian and Soviet-era equipment, although much of it has been lost in the current conflict; since the start of the civil war in 2014, it has received limited amounts of donated equipment from some Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia and UAE (2020)

Military service age and obligation

18 is the legal minimum age for voluntary military service; conscription abolished in 2001; 2-year service obligation (note - limited information since the start of the civil war) (2019)

Maritime threats

the Maritime Administration of the US Department of Transportation has issued Maritime Advisory 2020-017 (Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean-Violence Due to Regional Conflict and Piracy) effective 14 December 2020, which states in part the "Conflict in Yemen continues to pose potential risk to US flagged commercial vessels transiting the southern Red Sea, Bab al Mandeb Strait, and Gulf of Aden. Threats may come from a variety of different sources including, but not limited to, missiles, rockets, projectiles, mines, small arms, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned surface vessels, or waterborne improvised explosive devices. These threat vectors continue to pose a direct or collateral risk to US flagged commercial vessels operating in the region. Additionally, piracy poses a threat in the Gulf of Aden, Western Arabian Sea, and Western Indian Ocean."

NOTE: The information regarding Yemen on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Yemen 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Yemen 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.