14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)
22 May 1990 (Republic of Yemen was established with the merger of the Yemen Arab Republic [Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen] and the Marxist-dominated People's Democratic Republic of Yemen [Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen]); note - previously North Yemen became independent in November 1918 (from the Ottoman Empire) and became a republic with the overthrow of the theocratic Imamate in 1962; South Yemen became independent on 30 November 1967 (from the UK)
Religions
Jewish 76.4%, Muslim 16%, Arab Christians 1.7%, other Christian 0.4%, Druze 1.6%, unspecified 3.9% (2004)
Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shia), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu
Languages
Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language
Arabic
Exports
machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel
crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish
External Debt
$102,300,000,000 $
$6,613,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
new Israeli shekels (ILS) per US dollar - 3.56 (2008 est.), 4.14 (2007), 4.4565 (2006), 4.4877 (2005), 4.482 (2004)
Yemeni rials (YER) per US dollar - 199.76 (2008 est.), 199.14 (2007), 197.18 (2006), 192.67 (2005), 184.78 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
7.300%
6.600%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
1
0
Location
Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon
Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia
Area
20,770 km sq
527,968 km sq
Coastline
273 km
1,906 km
Climate
temperate; hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas
mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east
