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State of Eritrea

Hagere Ertra

former: Eritrea Autonomous Region in Ethiopia
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© 1996-2006
Bob Starkgraf

INTRODUCTION

Background:
 Eritrea was awarded to Ethiopia in 1952 as part of a federation. Ethiopia's annexation of Eritrea as a province 10 years later sparked a 30-year struggle for independence that ended in 1991 with Eritrean rebels defeating governmental forces; independence was overwhelmingly approved in a 1993 referendum. A two and a half year border war with Ethiopia that erupted in 1998 ended under UN auspices on 12 December 2000. Eritrea currently hosts a UN peacekeeping operation that will monitor the border region until an international commission determines and demarcates the boundary between the two countries.
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GEOGRAPHY

Location:
 Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan
Geographic coordinates:
 15 00 N, 39 00 E
Map references:
 Africa
Area:
 total: 121,320 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 121,320 sq km
Area - comparative:
 slightly larger than Pennsylvania
Land boundaries:
 total: 1,626 km
border countries: Djibouti 109 km, Ethiopia 912 km, Sudan 605 km
Coastline:
 2,234 km total; mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km, islands in Red Sea 1,083 km
Maritime claims:
 territorial sea: 12 NM
Climate:
 hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually); semiarid in western hills and lowlands; rainfall heaviest during June-September except in coastal desert
Terrain:
 dominated by extension of Ethiopian north-south trending highlands, descending on the east to a coastal desert plain, on the northwest to hilly terrain and on the southwest to flat-to-rolling plains
Elevation extremes:
 lowest point: near Kulul within the Denakil depression -75 m
highest point: Soira 3,018 m
Natural resources:
 gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish
Land use:
 arable land: 3.87%
permanent crops: 0.02%
other: 96.11% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land:
 220 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
 frequent droughts; locust swarms
Environment - current issues:
 deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of infrastructure from civil warfare
Environment - international agreements:
 party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
 strategic geopolitical position along world's busiest shipping lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline of Ethiopia along the Red Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993
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PEOPLE

Population:
 4,465,651 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure:
 0-14 years: 42.9% (male 958,564; female 955,625)
15-64 years: 53.9% (male 1,192,454; female 1,213,313)
65 years and over: 3.2% (male 73,017; female 72,678) (2002 est.)
Population growth rate:
 3.8% (2002 est.)
Birth rate:
 42.25 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Death rate:
 11.82 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Net migration rate:
 7.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: UNHCR began repatriating about 150,000 Eritrean refugees from Sudan in 2001 following the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2000 (2002 est.)
Sex ratio:
 at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2002 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
 73.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
 total population: 56.57 years
female: 59.13 years (2002 est.)
male: 54.09 years
Total fertility rate:
 5.8 children born/woman (2002 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
 2.87% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
 NA
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
 NA
Nationality:
 noun: Eritrean(s)
adjective: Eritrean
Ethnic groups:
 ethnic Tigrinya 50%, Tigre and Kunama 40%, Afar 4%, Saho (Red Sea coast dwellers) 3%, other 3%
Religions:
 Muslim, Coptic Christian, Roman Catholic, Protestant
Languages:
 Afar, Amharic, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages
Literacy:
 definition: NA
total population: 25%
male: NA%
female: NA%
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