SOCIETY
Population: Yemen’s latest census, conducted in December 2004, reported (as a preliminary figure) a population of 19.7 million persons, reflecting an average annual population growth rate of 3.7 percent (one of the highest in the world). The U.S. government projects a population of 21.4 million persons by July 2006. Yemen’s population has more than doubled since 1975 and has grown approximately 35 percent since the 1994 census, making Yemen the second most populous country in the Arabian Peninsula. According to the United Nations, Yemen’s population in 2005 was 26.3 percent urban and 73.7 percent rural; population density was 40 persons per square kilometer.
Demography: Yemen’s population is predominantly young. According to U.S. government and United Nations estimates, in 2006 about 46 percent of the population was under age 15; slightly more than half the population, 15–64; and less than 3 percent, 65 and older. The population was almost equally divided between males and females. In 2006 the birthrate and death rate were estimated to be 42.9 per 1,000 and 8.3 per 1,000, respectively. The infant mortality rate was estimated to be higher for males than for females—more than 64 male deaths per 1,000 live births, as compared with about 55 female deaths per 1,000 live births. The overall rate was almost 60 deaths per 1,000 live births. Despite an increase of 14 years in the last decade, life expectancy at birth in Yemen has remained low compared with other developing countries— 60 years for males and 64 years for females, or 62.1 years overall. The country’s fertility rate was almost 6.6 children per woman in 2006.
Ethnic Groups and Languages: Yemen’s population is predominantly Arab, but it also includes Afro-Arabs, South Asians, and Europeans. Arabic is the official language; English is also used in official and business circles.
Religion: Virtually all of Yemen’s citizens are Muslims; approximately 30 percent belong to the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam and about 70 percent follow the Shafii school of Sunni Islam. A few thousand Ismaili Muslims, who adhere to Shia Islam, live in northern Yemen. Fewer than 500 Jews (a fraction of the former population) also live in the northern part of the country.
Yemen’s constitution declares that Islam is the state religion and that the president of the republic must “practice his Islamic duties.” The constitution also provides for freedom of religion, which the government generally respects but with limitations. The government prohibits the conversion and proselytizing of Muslims, requires permission for the construction of new places of worship, and permits non-Muslims to vote but not hold elected office. Public schools provide instruction in Islam but not in other religions, although Muslim citizens are allowed to attend private schools that do not teach Islam. In an effort to curb ideological and religious extremism in schools, the government does not permit any courses outside of the officially approved curriculum to be taught in private and national schools.
The free practice of religion has met with some government opposition. In 2004 the government used military force to quell an armed insurgency led by a Shia cleric in the northern governorate of Sadah. In early 2005, the government banned the observance of a religious holiday that is celebrated there by some Shia Muslims and reportedly limited the hours that mosques were allowed to remain open, reassigned imams thought to espouse radical doctrine, and increased surveillance and detention of members of the insurgent group. According to the U.S. Department of State, Yemen’s government, in an effort to curb extremism and increase tolerance, monitors mosques for inflammatory sermons and threatening political statements and uses police and intelligence agencies to screen the activities of Islamic organizations tied to international organizations.
Education and Literacy: According to the United Nations, the adult literacy rate for Yemen in 2003 was 29 percent for females and 70 percent for males. The overall literacy rate for the population age 15 and older was 49 percent. By comparison, low-income countries in the aggregate average an adult literacy rate of approximately 60 percent.
There is a direct correlation between the very high rate of illiteracy and the lack of basic education. Although Yemen’s laws provide for universal, compulsory, free education for children ages six through 15, the U.S. Department of State reports that compulsory attendance is not enforced. This deficiency is confirmed by United Nations statistics. In 2002 only 72 percent of Yemen’s school-age population was enrolled in primary school; enrollment was even lower for the female population— only 59 percent. In that same year, only 35 percent of the school-age population was enrolled in secondary school, including only 21 percent of eligible females. These low enrollment numbers (the lowest in the Middle East and North Africa region) are in turn a reflection of the countrywide shortage of the requisite infrastructure. School facilities and educational materials are of poor quality, classrooms are too few in number, and the teaching faculty is inadequate. In September 2004, the World Bank approved a US$65 million project to improve the quality of basic education (grades one through nine). Under this program, classroom facilities will be expanded and upgraded, curricula and educational materials improved, and the Ministry of Education’s capacity to implement new programs and resources strengthened. Yemen’s government has in recent years increased spending on education—from 4.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 1995 to 9.5 percent of GDP in 2003.
Health: Despite the significant progress Yemen has made to expand and improve its health care system over the past decade, the system remains severely underdeveloped. Total expenditures on health care in 2002 constituted 3.7 percent of gross domestic product. In that same year, the per capita expenditure for health care was very low, as compared with other Middle Eastern countries—US$58 according to United Nations statistics and US$23 according to the World Health Organization. According to the World Bank, the number of doctors in Yemen rose by an average of more than 7 percent between 1995 and 2000, but as of 2004 there were still only two doctors per 10,000 persons. In 2002 Yemen had only 0.6 hospital beds available per 1,000 persons.
Health care services are particularly scarce in rural areas; only 25 percent of rural areas are covered by health services as compared with 80 percent of urban areas. Emergency services, such as ambulance service and blood banks, are non-existent. Most childhood deaths are caused by illnesses for which vaccines exist or that are otherwise preventable. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, in 2003 an estimated 12,000 people in Yemen were living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS).
Welfare: According to the United Nations, Yemen ranks 151st out of 177 countries on the human development index (HDI), a measure of life expectancy, education, and standard of living. Yemen has the lowest HDI rank among the Arab states. Several welfare programs are in place, but they have generally been considered inadequate to meet the needs of Yemen’s impoverished citizens (estimated to exceed 45 percent of the total population). The main social assistance program is the Social Welfare Fund, initially established to compensate for reductions in economic subsidies. This program provides 650,000 beneficiaries direct cash payments capped at US$11 per month and lump-sum payments for emergencies. In July 2005, the government announced it would extend coverage to an additional 200,000 beneficiaries. The Social Development Fund and the Public Works Project were established almost 10 years ago with World Bank funds. These programs attempt to raise living standards through various community development, capacity-building, and micro-financing programs; it has been difficult, however, to obtain the necessary commercial bank credit to make these programs viable. In early 2005, Yemen’s parliament adopted a government budget requiring that the government provide additional resources for social safety nets to lessen the impact of economic reforms that might result in higher consumer prices.