Yemen
population: Official estimate (1 Jul 2023) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 8 metros tracked
🏙️ 8 tracked metros
📋 At a glance
- Official language
- Arabic
- Currency
- Yemeni Rial (YER)
- Government
- Presidential system
- Legislature
- Parliament of Yemen
- Constitution
- 1991, 3 amendment events since
- Demonym
- Yemeni
- Time zone
- UTC+03:00
- Driving side
- Right
- Calling code
- +967
- Internet TLD
- .ye
- ISO 3166
- YE
- Established
- 1990
- Highest point
- Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb (3,666 m (12,028 ft))
- National anthem
- National anthem of Yemen
Facts via Wikidata.
🗣️ Languages of Yemen
Standard Arabic first; one language carries the country; 1 official.
| Language | Share | Status | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Arabic | 74% | Official | CLDR, country |
| English | 9% | None | CLDR, country |
Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.
- English reach
- 9%
- Tier 3 country
- Effective languages
- 1.8
- Official-language gap
- 26%
- Standard Arabic is spoken by 74%
📰 In the news4 stories
Reuters · 6 Oct 2026
Yemeni government forces seize district by Bab el-Mandeb, military sources saySaudi-backed Yemeni forces pushed the Houthis back from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, limiting their reach over Red Sea shipping but risking a wider war.
The Washington Post · 6 Oct 2026
Pentagon officials’ heated debates foreshadowed problems in IranPentagon disputes over weapons stocks and unclear goals when the US began bombing the Houthis in 2025 foreshadowed the problems in the Iran war.
Semafor · 17 Sept 2026
Few took the Houthis seriously. A coalition is now needed to stop them.A former White House envoy warns US inaction risks empowering Houthis who now threaten a key oil route.
The Guardian · 17 Sept 2026
US officials decide against backing Saudi Arabia after meeting Houthi leadersUS officials decided not to back Saudi Arabia after meeting Houthi leaders as fighting in Yemen escalates.
💹 Economy and developmentLow income
Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.
Alliances & Organisations2 full memberships
Political & Economic
Regional
Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer
🏛️ Leadership History25 leaders · click to expand
marks a monarch.
Other
Yemen Arab Republic
Mutawakkilite Kingdom
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.
⚔️ Wars and conflicts8 interstate wars · click to expand
| Conflict | Years | Against | Combat deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yemeni civil war (2014–present)● | 2014–present | Al-Qaeda and allies,AQAP,Ansar al-Sharia,Council of Scholars of Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama'ah,Hadhrami Domestic council,Dhi Na'im tribe,Al-Hamiqan tribe,Islamic State,Yemen Province | — |
| Iraqi Kurdish Civil War | 1994–1997 | PUK,PKK,SCIRI,KCP,Iraqi National Congress,Iran (from 1995),Ba'athist Syria Syria,United States (1996),KDP,Iraq Iraq (from 1995),Turkey (from 1997),Iran (before 1995) | 2,500+ |
| Yemenite War of 1979 | 1979 | South Yemen | 1,084+ |
| Ogaden War● | 1977–1978 | Somalia | 39,836+ |
| North Yemen Civil War● | 1962–1970 | Kingdom of Yemen,Saudi Arabia | 53,500+ |
| 1948 Arab–Israeli War● | 1948–1949 | Israel | 13,073–26,373 |
| Saudi–Yemeni War (1934) | 1934 | Saudi Arabia | 2,100+ |
| Third Yemeni–Asiri War | 1924–1926 | Idrisid Emirate of Asir | — |
Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.” Figures marked “COW battle deaths” are Correlates of War battle-death counts, which run lower than total deaths.
👥 Population over time
Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.
👥 To 2100
The UN’s probabilistic projection for Yemen: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.
What drives it
Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.
Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.
🏆 National Teams
Yemen on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.