Yemen
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- What is Yemen and where is it located?
- What is the capital city of Yemen?
- What languages are commonly spoken in Yemen?
- What are the main geographical features of Yemen?
- What is the cultural significance of Yemen's traditional architecture?
- What are some traditional foods and dishes found in Yemen?
- What historical influences have shaped Yemen's culture and society?
- How does Yemen's economy function, and what are its key industries?
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Yemen,country situated at the southwestern corner of theArabian Peninsula. It is mostly mountainous and generally arid, though there are broad patches with sufficient precipitation to make agriculture successful. The people speak variousdialects ofArabic and are mostly Muslims (seeIslam).
The history,culture, economy, and population of Yemen have all been influenced by the country’s strategic location at the southern entrance of theRed Sea—a crossroads of both ancient and modern trade and communications routes. In the ancient world, the states that occupied the area known today as Yemen controlled the supply of such important commodities as frankincense and myrrh and dominated the trade in many other valuable items, such as the spices and aromatics ofAsia. Because of its fertility as well as its commercial prosperity, Yemen was the location of a number of ancient kingdoms; for that same reason, it was known to the ancient Romans asArabia Felix (Latin: “Fortunate Arabia”) to distinguish it from the vast forbidding reaches of Arabia Deserta (“Desert Arabia”). Later, Yemen was the place wherecoffee (Arabic:qahwah) was firstcultivated commercially, and, before the introduction of coffee plants to other parts of the world, it was long the sole source of thatprecious bean.
- Head Of Government:
- Prime Minister: Salem Saleh bin Braik
- Capital:
- Sanaa
- Population:
- (2025 est.) 34,355,000
- Head Of State:
- Chair of the Presidential Leadership Council2: Rashad al-Alimi
- Form Of Government:
- interim government led by transitional council1
- Official Language:
- Arabic
- Official Religion:
- Islam
- Official Name:
- Al-Jumhūriyyah al-Yamaniyyah (Republic of Yemen)
- Total Area (Sq Km):
- 455,000
- Total Area (Sq Mi):
- 175,676
- Monetary Unit:
- Yemeni rial (YR)
- Population Rank:
- (2025) 45
- Population Projection 2030:
- 35,660,000
- Density: Persons Per Sq Mi:
- (2025) 195.6
- Density: Persons Per Sq Km:
- (2025) 75.5
- Urban-Rural Population:
- Urban: (2024) 40.5%
- Rural: (2024) 59.5%
- Life Expectancy At Birth:
- Male: (2020–2025) 64.1 years
- Female: (2020–2025) 65.9 years
- Literacy: Percentage Of Population Age 15 And Over Literate:
- Male: (2004) 73%
- Female: (2023) 54%
- Gni (U.S.$ ’000,000):
- (2018) 25,287
- Gni Per Capita (U.S.$):
- (2018) 740
- Comprises eight political and military leaders representing the internationally recognized government in Aden.
- Delegated presidential powers by the former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi upon his resignation in 2022.
The present Republic of Yemen came into being in May 1990, when the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) merged with the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen). By stipulation of the unification agreement,Sanaa, formerly the capital of North Yemen, functions as the political capital of the country, whileAden, formerly the capital of South Yemen, functions as the economic centre. The two components of Yemen underwent strikingly different histories: whereas North Yemen never experienced any period of colonial administration at the hands of a European power, South Yemen was a part of theBritish Empire from 1839 to 1967. The contemporary borders are largely a product of theforeign policy goals and actions ofBritain, theOttoman Empire, andSaudi Arabia. Postunification Yemen has been burdened by chronic corruption and economic hardship. Divisions based on religion, tribalism, and geography continue to play an important role in Yemeni politics, sometimes leading to violence.
Even during the age of colonialhegemony, Yemen remained for the most part one of the most secluded regions of the world. Much the same can be said today; few outsiders travel Yemen’s rugged hinterland, many parts of which have been little influenced by central government authority. It is perhaps this splendid isolation that hascaptivated the imagination of many from abroad. For all its remoteness, Yemen is likewise a country of great physical beauty, photogenic and picturesque, with a life and verdancy in the highlands unlike that found elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula.Walter B. Harris, a journalist and traveler, visited Yemen in 1892. One of the first Westerners to see many parts of the country, he recounted his impressions in the bookA Journey Through the Yemen, in which he says:
Nothing can be imagined more beautiful than the scenery of the mountains of the Yemen. Torn into all manner of fantastic peaks, the rocky crags add a wildness to a view that otherwise possesses the most peaceful charms. Rich green valleys, well timbered in places, and threaded by silvery streams of dancing water; sloping fields, gay with crops and wildflowers; the terraced or jungle-covered slopes,—all are so luxuriant, so verdant, that one’s ideas as to the nature of Arabia are entirely upset. Well known as is, and always has been, the fertility of this region, its extent is almost startling, and it can little be wondered at thatAlexander the Great intended, after his conquest ofIndia, to take up hisabode in the Yemen.