🇾🇪 Yemen

Yemen is the Arab world's poorest country and has been devastated by civil war since 2014. The population of 34 million faces what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis — over 21 million people need humanitarian assistance, and about 4 million are internally displaced. GDP has collapsed from about $40 billion to an estimated $20 billion. The country is split between the Houthi-controlled north (including the capital Sana'a) and the internationally recognized government in the south. Yemen's strategic location at the Bab el-Mandeb strait (through which about 10% of global trade passes) gives it outsized geopolitical importance. The Houthis' attacks on Red Sea shipping since 2023 have disrupted global trade routes.

The formal economy has largely collapsed. Oil production, once the main revenue source, has fallen from 450,000 to about 50,000 barrels per day. Agriculture (qat — a mild stimulant chewed by most Yemeni men — coffee, honey) employs most of the population. Remittances from the Yemeni diaspora are the main source of foreign exchange. The rial has collapsed, with different exchange rates in Houthi and government-controlled areas. Humanitarian aid is a major part of the economy — the UN's Yemen response plan requests over $4 billion annually.

Yemen's Socotra Island has been called the "Galápagos of the Indian Ocean" — about a third of its plant species are found nowhere else, including the bizarre dragon blood tree. The old city of Sana'a, a UNESCO site, has been inhabited for over 2,500 years and contains some of the world's oldest skyscrapers — mud-brick tower houses up to 9 stories tall. Yemen was the original source of Mocha coffee — the port of Mocha was the world's coffee trading center for centuries.

Yemen's crisis is one of the world's worst and most neglected. The Houthi Red Sea attacks have raised the country's profile but not improved prospects for peace. Recovery will require a political settlement that remains elusive.