Country Facts - Eritea

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 border war with Ethiopia that erupted in 1998 remains unresolved.

The People

Nationality

Eritrean(s)

Ethnic Composition

Ethnic Tigrinya	50%
Tigre and Kunama	40%
Afar	4%
Saho (Red Sea coast dwellers)	3%
Other	3%

Religious Composition

Sunni Muslim	50%
Coptic Christian	43%
Roman Catholic	3%
Protestant	2%
Other	2%

Languages Spoken

Afar, Amharic, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages.

Education and Literacy

25 percent of the total population is assumed literate.

Labor Force

Total: N/A

By occupation:

Agriculture	80%
Industry	10%
Services	10%

Geography

Land Mass Total

46,841 sq mi (121,320 sq km)

Land

46,841 sq mi (121,320 sq km)

Water

0 sq mi (0 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 1,010 mi (1,626 km)
Border countries: Djibouti 67 mi (109 km), Ethiopia 566 mi (912 km), Sudan 375 mi (605 km)

Coastline

1,388 mi (2,234 km) total; mainland on Red Sea 715 mi (1,151 km), islands in Red Sea 672 mi (1,083 km).

Maritime claim

territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate/Weather

Hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands with up to 24 in (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: near Kulul within the Danakil depression 246 ft (75 m)
Highest: Soira 9,901 ft (3,018 m)

Natural Resources

Gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish.

Land use

Arable land	4%
Permanent crops	0%
Other	96%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Frequent droughts and locust storms.

Environment - current issues

Deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of infrastructure from civil warfare.

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

Demographics

Population

4,465,651 (July 2002)

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

Growth Rate

3.8% (2002)

Life Expectancy

56.57 years (2002)
female: 59.13 years
male: 54.09 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$740 (2001)

Infant Mortality

73.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

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)

Net migration rate

7.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)
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.

Economy & Trade

Since independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993, Eritrea has faced the economic problems of a small, desperately poor country. Like the economies of many African nations, the economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture, with 80 percent of the population involved in farming and herding. The Ethiopian-Eritrea war in 1998-2000 severely hurt Eritrea's economy. GDP growth in 1999 fell to less than 1 percent, and GDP decreased by 8.2 percent in 2000. The May 2000 Ethiopian offensive into northern Eritrea caused some $600 million in property damage and loss, including losses of $225 million in livestock and 55,000 homes. The attack prevented planting of crops in Eritrea's most productive region, causing food production to drop by 62 percent. Even during the war, Eritrea developed its transportation infrastructure, asphalting new roads, improving its ports, and repairing war damaged roads and bridges. Eritrea's economic future remains mixed. The cessation of Ethiopian trade, which mainly used Eritrean ports before the war, leaves Eritrea with a large economic hole to fill. Eritrea's economic future depends upon its ability to master fundamental social problems like illiteracy, unemployment, and low skills, and to convert the diaspora's money and expertise into economic growth. In 2000, Eritrea was showing a --1 percent GDP growth rate, but by 2001 it had jumped to a +9 percent growth rate with the same percentage of expansion in 2002. For all of this apparent good news, the economy still suffers from double-digit inflation and unemployment levels that are so high that the government declines to release statistics.

Unemployment

N/A

Inflation Rate

15% (2001)

Industries

Food processing, beverages, clothing, and textiles.

Exports

US$34.8 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports

US$470.5 million (c.i.f., 2000)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$3.2 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

Sudan 27.2%, Ethiopia 26.5%, Japan 13.2%, UAE 7.3%, Italy 5.3% (1998)

Top Import Partners

Italy 17.4%, UAE 16.2%, Germany 5.7%, UK 4.5%, Korea 4.4% (1998)

Top Exports

Livestock, sorghum, textiles, food, small manufactures.

Top Imports

Machinery, petroleum products, food, manufactured goods.

Debt - external

US$281 million (2000)

Economic aid

Recipient: US$77 million (1999)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year.

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8:30a.m. to 6:00p.m.	Closed
Retail	Winter hours: Monday 9a.m. to 12:30p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday 8a.m. to 7p.m. Thursday 9a.m to 12:30p.m. Friday and Saturday 9:00a.m. to 2p.m. Summer Hours: Monday to Saturday 8:00a.m. to 1p.m. and 4p.m. to 7p.m.	Open Saturday during winter. During summer, Saturday is considered a day off, but some shops are open.
Banks	9:30a.m. to 4:30p.m.	Closed
Government	Monday to Thursday 7a.m. to noon, 2p.m. to 6p.m. Friday 7a.m. to 11:30a.m., 2p.m. to 6p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Epiphany	January 6	January 6	January 6
Festival of Sacrifice (Eid Al Adha)¹	February 12	February 2	January 21
Women's Day	March 8	March 8	March 8
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Liberation Day	May 24	May 24	May 24
Birthday of Prophet Mohammad (Mawlid an Nabi)³	May 14	May 2	April 21
Martyr's Day	June 20	June 20	June 20
Start of the Armed Struggle	September 1	September 1	September 1
Start of Ramadan	October 27	October 15	October 4
End of Ramadan	November 26	November 14	November 3
Christmas Day	December 25	December 25	December 25

¹	Culmination of the Haj or Holy Pilgrimage.
²	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
³	The Birthday of the Prophet Mohammad is celebrated on the twelfth day in the month of Rabi'l of the Islamic calendar.
*¹	Ramadan (the month of fasting) begins with the first appearance of the new moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic Hijra calendar, and lasts 30 days. Dates for the start of Ramadan will vary from country to country, depending on the first appearance of the moon.
*²	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for three days.
*³	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press