Yemen is one of the most
water-scarce areas in the world.
An estimated 80% of conflicts
in Yemen are based on water.
Up to 40% of water
is used to grow 'qat' drug.
Shortages will cause a major increase
in internally displaced people.
Yemen is the poorest Arab country.
Nearly half the population
lives on less than $2 a day.
Around 50% of Yemenis are illiterate.
Yemen's population
will double by 2030.
National unemployment is 35%.
For young men
the figure is much higher.
Yemeni workers abroad send home
around $1 billion a year.
But more countries are now
rejecting Yemeni unskilled workers.
Yemen's challenging landscape
makes central control difficult.
People largely live
in one of Yemen's 135,000 villages.
Only one third of the population
lives in urban areas.
Corruption, tribalism, vague borders
also complicate governing.
Oil accounts for around 75%
of Yemen's economy.
But Yemen's oil reserves are coming
to an end, perhaps as soon as 2017.
Falling prices saw the oil revenue
drop by 75% between 2008-2009.
A state fuel subsidy for citizens
accounts for 11% of GDP.
To increase hard currency revenue
Yemen has tried to promote tourism.
But there have been numerous
attacks on Western tourists.
In 2009, 8 Spanish tourists
were killed by a car bomb.
Numerous tourists
have been kidnapped
most are released alive - but not all.
By 2009, one third of the prisoners
in Guantanamo were from Yemen.
More Islamist fighters are going
home from Afghanistan and Iraq.
In the first six months of 2005, 700
Yemeni fighters returned from Iraq.
Yemen has already been
the scene of jihad attacks,
notably on the USS Cole.
Formed in January 2009, AQAP has
launched attacks in and from Yemen.
The 2009 Christmas day 'underpants
bomber' had been trained in Yemen.
The 23 year old attended lectures at
the radical Iman University in Sana'a.
The university was established
by Osama bin Laden's mentor.
Yemen is home
to several radical Islamist clerics.
One of them is Anwar al-Awlaki,
'the Bin Laden of the Internet'.
Nidal Malik Hasan,
who killed 13 people at Fort Hood,
exchanged e-mails with Al-Awlaki.
Al-Awlaki praised Hasan's shootings
and encouraged others to follow suit.
There are increasing problems
between north and south Yemen.
Despite unification in 1990,
southerners complain
of discrimination.
The Al Houthi conflict has raged
for six years in northern Saada.
The conflict has led to at least
250,000 internally displaced people.