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:
1,630 km
border countries:
Djibouti 113 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: NA
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:
12%
permanent crops:
1%
permanent pastures:
49%
forests and woodland:
6%
other:
32% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: 280 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: frequent droughts and locust storms
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
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