Yemen Population 2023 (Live)

According to current projections, Yemen’s population will surpass 50 million people in 2055 and will peak at 55.08 million in 2080. After 2081, the population will begin to slowly decline.

Yemen is currently growing at a rate of 2.28% per year. This growth rate has decreased consistently since 1990 and will continue to decrease further closer to 2080.

Yemen has a low median age of 20.2 years and a high fertility rate of 3.84 births per woman. The fertility rate is significantly lower than it was in 2010, when it was 5 births per woman, contributing to the slowing population growth rate.

Rapid population growth could deplete what little resources Yemen has. Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab peninsula, challenged with widespread poverty, unemployment, and a diminishing supply of oil resources and water.

Yemen Area and Population Density

Yemen's border is roughly half land, half water with its edges touching Saudi Arabia, Oman, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The area of the country is 203,850 square miles (527,951 square kilometers) and has a population density of 138.6 people per square mile (53.5 people per square kilometer).

Largest Cities in Yemen

The urban population of Yemen is a relatively low 35.19%, but they have a couple of sizable cities. The capital of Sanaa has an impressive 3,937,000 residents. The cities of Ta-izz, Al Hudaydah, and Aden all have populations close to 500,000.

Yemen is an Arab country on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula and the second-largest country in the region with a 2,000 kilometer coastline. It's also one of the oldest civilization centers in the Near East, and the first country in the Arabian peninsula to give women the right to vote.

Yemen Demographics

Most Yemenis are of Arab origin, as most minorities left when the former states of north and south Yemen were established. The country remains, for the most part, a tribal society with about 400 Zaydi tribes in the northern region and hereditary caste groups in urban areas, most notably Al-Akhdam.

There are 10-30,000 Turkish people still living in Yemen after their arrival with the Ottoman colonization, and there's a rather large community of Yemenite Jews. There are also large groups of Indonesians, Malaysians, and Singaporeans of Arab descent. Yemen hosts about 160,000 refugees and asylum seekers as well, mostly from Somalia, Iraq, Ethiopia and, more recently, Syria.

Yemen Religion, Economy and Politics

Yemen is very much an Islamic nation with roughly 98% of the population practicing the religion. 56% belong to the Shafi'i Sunni school of thought and the remaining 42% follow Zaydi Shia principles. There is thought to as few as 1,000 Christians and 50 Jews in all of Yemen.

Oil accounts for nearly 85% of Yemen's exports, and 75% of its GDP. Their oil reserves are small compared to other countries in the area, but it is a significant source of revenue for them.

Yemen has been plagued by civil unrest and war for a long time now, which has negatively impacted almost all aspects of life including economics and politics. The government relies heavily on grants just to meets its basic needs.

Yemen Population History

Yemen is one of the least developed countries in the world with the vast majority of its population in rural and tribal areas, and it's seen many conflicts and civil wars in recent history. The population is more than 5x larger than its 1950 population of 4.3 million, and Yemen has a young population as well, with almost half of its people under 15.