How Much Do You Know about Yemen?Yemen, officially known as the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. It is located near the southernmost point of the Arabian Peninsula, bordered by Oman to the northeast and Saudi Arabia to the north. Somalia, Djibouti, and Eritrea flank it on the sea. With a landmass of 555,000 square kilometres (214,000 square miles) and a coastline extending for more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles), Yemen is the second-largest Arab sovereign state on the Arabian Peninsula. Sanaa is both the country’s capital and largest city. The country’s population is anticipated to reach 34.4 million in 2023. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab League, and the United Nations all recognise Yemen as a member.
South Yemen, once the British colony of Aden, became independent in 1967. The region is scorchingly dry, and the interior gradually turns into a desert. There are numerous verdant valleys and oases in the area, and irrigation is widely used. Oil is refined, and cotton is grown in South Yemen for export. There are a lot of important activities, like fishing and cattle raising, but there aren’t many industrial developments or mineral resources.
The ancient Sabaeans originated in Yemen and were a commercial group that included parts of present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. Judaism had an impact on the Himyarite Kingdom in 275 AD. Christianity first appeared in the fourth century, and Islam quickly developed in the seventh, with Yemenite troops playing a significant role in the early Islamic conquests. Numerous dynasties rose to power from the ninth to the sixteenth centuries.
In the 1800s, several regions of the country were under the administration of the Ottoman and British empires. After World War I, the Yemeni Mutawakkilite Kingdom was established, and the Yemen Arab Republic was established in 1962. South Yemen became independent in 1967. In 1990, the two Yemeni states joined to form the current Republic of Yemen (al-Jumhryah al-Yamanyah). From the time the nation was established in 2011 until his resignation amid the Arab Spring in 2012, Ali Abdullah Saleh presided as its first president.
Yemen is the second-poorest country in all of the Middle East and North Africa. One of the world’s countries with the highest rates of poverty is Yemen. Yemen has a high level of national poverty, with an estimated 28 percent of its population living below the poverty line. 18.4% of Yemen’s population, or 55 percent of the population, is thought to live in extreme poverty, according to estimates from the United Nations Development Programme.
Both women and rural dwellers are more likely than urban residents to be poor. Yemen has a population that is one-third illiterate and a high unemployment rate, with 20% of the population being either unemployed or underemployed. The causes of poverty are numerous and intricate. Some academics contend that Yemen’s poverty is brought on by:
Lack of jobs
High unemployment rates.
High growth rates and an increase in the number of employees.
Corruption is just one of the reasons contributing to Yemen’s extreme poverty. Corruption affects everyone in society, from high government officials to regular businesspeople. Those who want to start their own businesses also face difficulties since they need money that they do not have. After the Arab Spring, Yemen was in ruins. The economy is in shambles, and a lot of people live in poverty. In Yemen, one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes in the world, children are being robbed of their futures.
Since 2011, Yemen’s political crisis has been typified by street protests over poverty, unemployment, corruption, and President Saleh’s plan to change the country’s constitution and eliminate the presidential term limit. The government of President Hadi (later known as the Presidential Leadership Council), the Supreme Political Council of the Houthi movement, and the secessionist Southern Movement’s Southern Transitional Council all fought for control of the country as a result, and the country slid into civil war. Yemen’s people are suffering from a severe humanitarian catastrophe as a result of the protracted conflict’s damaging impacts.
Yemen still has one of the greatest humanitarian situations in the world, with over 11 million children in need of relief. After eight years of conflict, Yemen’s national socioeconomic systems are still in danger of collapsing, and as a result of the conflict, extensive population displacement, and periodic climate shocks, families are more vulnerable to epidemics of infectious illnesses. In addition, outbreaks of illnesses including cholera, measles, diphtheria, and others that can be avoided by vaccination continue to occur often throughout the country. Numerous youngsters lack access to services for healthy water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Since the start of the conflict, many children have perished or been hurt, and many more have been recruited to fight. Yemenis need mental health and psychosocial support in their millions as a result of years of conflict, suffering, and loss.
Children and women are now more vulnerable to domestic and gender-based violence, child marriage, psychosocial distress, and the recruitment and use of children as combatants and other support roles by parties to the conflict as a result of the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Due to the war, Yemen’s present starvation crisis has gotten worse. More than 2 million children suffer from acute malnutrition, including over 540,000 who have severe acute malnutrition, a condition that could be fatal if ignored. The destruction and closure of schools and hospitals have also made it more difficult for people to get medical and educational services. More than 2.7 million children are not in school, which further weakens them.
Content for this question contributed by Lori Rux, resident of Anderson, Grimes County, Texas, USA
