Where is Yemen?
Yemen is located in the Middle East, on the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen shares a land border with Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the north. It also has a maritime border with Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. Its coastline is over 2000km and is spread between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
How big is it?
Yemen is the second largest country on the Arabian Peninsula and has an estimated population of 34.3 million as of 2023.
How is the country divided up?
Yemen can be divided into four distinct regions – the Eastern Highlands and Empty Quarter in the east and the Coastal Plains and Western Highlands. Yemen also has several islands in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, the most notable of which is Socotra, which many of you will have heard of, which houses immense biodiversity and has become an eco-tourist hot spot.
Since the outbreak of the civil war in 2014, Yemen has been split between three separate areas which have different governments and different foreign powers supporting them.
The green represents the Houthis, who are backed by Iran. The yellow represents the area controlled by the UAE and backed by the Southern Transitional Council. The pink represents the government of Yemen and is the most stable region of the country.
