Yemen

Emirate of Yemen
إمارة اليمن
The Old City of Sana'a
Information
Government	Unitary totalitarian absolute monarchy
Capital	Sana'a
Anthem	Wala Zaman Ya Selahi ("It is the time of my weapon")
National Language	Arabic
Emir	Ayyub Fahad al-Ansari
Prime Minister	Malik Yahaya
Formation	Unification - 22 May 1990 Current Constitution - 9 February 2025
Land Area	455,503 sq km
Population	35,289,823 (2033 census)
Currency	Yemeni Riyal (YRL)
GDP (per capita)	$19,322 (113rd)
HDI	0.438 (low)
Gini co-efficient	0.772 (very high)

Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the northeast, the Red Sea to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the south, sharing maritime borders with Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia across the Horn of Africa. Covering roughly 455,000 square kilometers(176,000 square miles), with a coastline of approximately 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), Yemen is the second largest country on the Arabian Peninsula. Sana'a is its constitutional capital and largest city. Yemen's estimated population is 34.7 million, mostly Arab Muslims. It is a member of the Arab League, the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Owing to its geographic location, Yemen has been at the crossroads of many civilisations for over 7,000 years. In 1200 BCE, the Sabaeans formed a thriving commercial kingdom that included parts of modern Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 275 CE, it was succeeded by the Himyarite Kingdom, which spanned much of Yemen's present-day territory and was heavily influenced by Judaism. Christianity arrived in the fourth century, followed by the rapid spread of Islam in the seventh century. Yemenite troops played a crucial role in early Islamic conquests.

Various dynasties emerged between the 9th and 16th centuries. During the 19th century, the country was divided between the Ottoman and British empires. After World War I, the Kingdom of Yemen was established, which in 1962 became the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) following a coup. In 1967, the British Aden Protectorate became the independent People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), the first and only officially socialist state in the Arab world. In 1990, the two Yemeni states united to form the modern Republic of Yemen, with Ali Abdullah Saleh serving as the first president until his resignation in 2012 in the wake of the Arab Spring.

From 2011 to 2025, Yemen endured a political crisis, marked by street protests against poverty, unemployment, corruption, and President Saleh's plan to amend Yemen's constitution and eliminate the presidential term limit. By 2015, the country became engulfed by an ongoing civil war with multiple entities vying for governance, including the Presidential Leadership Council of the internationally recognized government, and the Houthi movement's Supreme Political Council. This conflict eventually escalated to involve various foreign powers, including Iran, Israel, the United States and Russia, and led to a severe humanitarian crisis.

The civil war was brought to an end in February 2025 when General Ayyub Fahad al-Ansari staged a coup against President Rashad al-Alimi and his Presidential Leadership Council and negotiated a ceasefire with the Houthi-led Supreme Political Council. In April 2025, al-Ansari formed a unity government with Houthi leader Mahdi al-Mashat with himself as President. In August, he declared martial law, banned all political parties and declared himself Emir.

Since becoming Emir, al-Ansari has prioritized the extraction and export of fossil fuels, including oil, natural gas, cobalt and copper. This led to the accrual of massive wealth by al-Ansari's government as well as the rise of an oligarch class. Under al-Ansari's rule, Yemen has also evolved into one of the world's most oppressive countries.