| 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
land: 121,320 sq km
water: 0 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: 4.95%
permanent crops: 0.03%
other: 95.02% (2001) |
| 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. |
