| State of Eritrea National
name: Hagere Ertra President:
Isaias Afwerki (1993)
Current government officials
Total area: 46,842 sq mi (121,320 sq
km) Population (2008 est.): 5,028,475
(growth rate: 2.4%); birth rate: 33.6/1000; infant mortality rate:
44.2/1000; life expectancy: 60.0; density per sq km: 41
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Asmara, 899,000 (metro. area), 400,000 (city
proper) Other large cities: the
ports of Massawa, 30,700; and Assab, 56,300 Monetary unit: Nakfa
Languages:
Afar, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other
Cushitic languages
Ethnicity/race:
ethnic Tigrinya 50%, Tigre and Kunama 40%, Afar
4%, Saho (Red Sea coast dwellers) 3%, other 3%
National Holiday:
Independence Day, May 24
Religions:
Islam, Eritrean Orthodox Christianity, Roman
Catholic, Protestant Literacy rate:
59% (2003 est.) Economic summary:
GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $3.619 billion; per capita $800 . Real
growth rate: 1.5%. Inflation: 9.3%. Unemployment:
n.a. Arable land: 5%. Agriculture: sorghum, lentils,
vegetables, corn, cotton, tobacco, coffee, sisal; livestock, goats;
fish. Labor force: n.a.; agriculture 80%, industry and services
20%. Industries: food processing, beverages, clothing and
textiles, salt, cement, commercial ship repair. Natural
resources: gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and
natural gas, fish. Exports: $16.82 million f.o.b. (2007 est.):
livestock, sorghum, textiles, food, small manufactures (2000).
Imports: $565.9 million f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery,
petroleum products, food, manufactured goods (2000). Major trading
partners: Australia, France, Malaysia, Italy, Sudan, Saudi Arabia,
Jordan, Germany, China, Brazil, U.S., Turkey (2006). Communications: Telephones: main lines in
use: 37,700 (2006); mobile cellular: 62,000 (2006) Radio broadcast
stations: AM 2, FM 1, shortwave 2 (2000). Television broadcast
stations: 1 (2000). Internet hosts: 1,446 (2007).
Internet users: 100,000 (2006). Transportation: Railways: total: 306 km
(2006). Highways: total: 4,010 km; paved: 874 km; unpaved:
3,136 km (1999 est.). Ports and harbors: Assab, Massawa.
Airports: 18 (2007). International
disputes: Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by 2002
Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision,
but despite international intervention, mutual animosities,
accusations and armed posturing prevail, preventing demarcation;
Ethiopia refuses to withdraw to the delimited boundary until technical
errors made by the EEBC that ignored "human geography" are addressed,
including the award of Badme, the focus of the 1998-2000 war; Eritrea
insists that the EEBC decision be implemented immediately without
modifications; since 2000, the UN Peacekeeping Mission to Ethiopia and
Eritrea (UNMEE) monitors the 25km-wide Temporary Security Zone in
Eritrea. It is extended for six months in 2007 despite Eritrean
restrictions on its operations and reduced force of 17,000; Sudan
accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebel groups; Eritrea protests
Yemeni fishing around the Hanish Islands awarded to Eritrea by the ICJ
in 1999.
Major sources and definitions
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