republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch
republic
Independence date
1 September 1991 (from Soviet Union)
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
Muslim 88% (mostly Sunnis), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3%
Muslim including Shaf'i (Sunni) and Zaydi (Shia), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu
Languages
Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1%
Arabic
Exports
cotton, gold, energy products, mineral fertilizers, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, textiles, food products, machinery, automobiles
crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish
External Debt
$8,570,000,000 $
$6,613,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Uzbekistani soum (UZS) per US dollar - 1,317 (2008 est.), 1,263.8 (2007), 1,219.8 (2006), 1,020 (2005), 971.265 (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
3.500%
6.600%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
6
0
Location
Central Asia, north of Afghanistan
Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia
Area
447,400 km sq
527,968 km sq
Coastline
0 km
1,906 km
Climate
mostly midlatitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid grassland in east
mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east
